Child's play

Can puppets convey a new social awareness? Reham El-Adawi looks on
Mustafa is hunched over his oud, testing the microphone. Further down the hallway others are busy sprucing up the mobile puppet theatre, while Asma' is lining her lips with a pencil. El-Shinawi plucks his semsemiya (a stringed instrument from the Suez Canal zone) and Mezo, the Nubian percussionist, sits apart from the crowd with his tabla for company. Orders flying left and right from El-Sawi were mingling with the notes of Swedish flautist and singer Jacob, who was warming up. Backstage, Samar, Mayssoun and Salma are singing their hearts out.
These are the members of Al-Samer Puppet Theatre and Popular Music troupe, which is affiliated to the Alternative Development Studies Centre (ADSC). They have two hours to go before their performance in the new Souq Al-Fustat in Old Cairo, part of the agenda of cultural activities organised by the Les Français Aiment Le Caire Festival.
The occasion was an opportunity for the troupe, a group of young people who volunteer their services, to show off the skills they have developed over the past four years. The idea, they all agree, is to go beyond entertainment. According to Essam Fawzi, the social researcher who founded ADSC, "Our overall aim is to search for various alternatives from within society to solve its problems without relying on governmental aid."
Hence the puppet theatre, a means by which to revive cultural heritage as well as pass on "alternative solutions." The choice of the puppet here is quite apt. The karaqoz, popularly known as aragoz, is the indigenous glove puppet. A mainstay of folklore, the aragoz gained popularity during the British occupation of Egypt, when puppeteers used this medium to criticise both occupation and the corrupt monarchy.
It has a particularly alluring appeal for children, a main target audience of El-Samer. Opening with folk songs from Port-Said, the troupe soon had its audience in the mood with little children getting up to dance with Asma'. With enthusiasm running high, the aragoz was then introduced. As if on cue, all the children started cheering loudly, and became totally immersed in watching the small figure in bright clothes and shrill voice play out its antics. Even the adults could not resist, and were soon commenting and interacting with the play. When the aragoz threw garbage into the street, one six-year-old screamed out, "This is wrong, we should keep our city clean!"
The troupe concluded the performance with a puppet show entitled La'b 'Eyaal (Child's Play), which tackles the concept of reviving folklore in a bid to preserve cultural heritage. The play, directed by Mohamed Tal'at and Nasser Abdel-Tawwab, featured Hamdi, who acts as a mediator, enhancing the interaction between the spectators and the actors. "Children are currently infatuated with Walt Disney cartoons and superficial TV programmes, which don't offer any national values," lamented Fawzi, to illustrate the relevance of La'b 'Eyaal.
The play, which lasted about two hours, ended with the puppeteers sodden with perspiration and the audience leaving with a cheerful smile on every face.
But for all the enthusiasm, how effective is the troupe? Fawzi says the troupe has toured small communities, mainly in Upper Egypt. "All in all we have presented about 100 shows using a mobile theatre. We have tackled important issues such as air quality, water pollution and recycling. We have been successful in interacting positively with all the children we've encountered."
Two years ago, with the assistance and support of the Dutch Cultural Fund, the troupe also performed in the Cairene working-class districts of Shubra and Al-Wayli, as well as in middle-class Nasr City. The members were gratified on these occasions to see children leaving the theatre singing the songs which they had memorised. In one instance, they made an even greater impact. "The troupe had performed in Bulaq, projecting the images of dirt and garbage infesting the area on a screen to thousands of local residents, who interacted with the puppet actors discussing various aspects of the garbage problem. At one point, the audience started blaming the governorate for the problem," Mohamed said. As a result the governorate banned the show after its first day, even though the troupe had a permit to perform for a week.
This was just one setback. Money is another. The centre provides the actors, singers, puppeteers and musicians of the troupe with a place to train and rehearse but, when all is said and done, people need to make a living. Further, transporting equipment, the theatre and its members across Egypt to perform requires a substantial budget. "Although there are a few foreign funding organisations which support the centre's activity, we need regular financing to be able to improve our equipment and spread this mission everywhere," Fawzi argues.
In the meantime, Asma' -- who in addition to being an actress, puppet designer and singer in the troupe, is a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts -- tries to develop tools using simple materials so as to offset financial constraints. Indeed, if anything, El-Samer is an example of its young personnel's ingenuity. The puppet theatre began with a limited number of actors and glove puppets. Slowly and diligently, the group worked towards developing its act. New musical instruments such as the semsemiya and tabla were introduced, new music and plays were written and people taught each other how to sing, act and face a crowd. In spite of its problems, the show goes on.
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