Giovanna Montalbetti attends the closing ceremony of the fourth Egyptian National Theatre Festival The sun sets quickly in Cairo, giving way to warm summer nights, and then the city-scape is bathed in a golden haze. Pragmatic souls will attribute this phenomenon to the latitude, sand particles drifting in from the desert, even air pollution (which also gives the sky a honey tinge). Still, walking about the dimly lit streets, with an amber moon shinning high above, it is hard not to sense a certain gilded quality about the Cairo night. Gold was predominant at the Egyptian National Theatre Festival's closing ceremony, organised by the Cultural Development Fund, a division of the Ministry of Culture. The occasion took place last Saturday, 11 July, in what turned out to be an electrifying event. The main hall of the Cairo Opera House was filled with members of the Egyptian theatre community; many young professionals saluted each other, a feverish tension burning in their eyes. Although kisses and best wishes kept going to and fro, the common desire for public recognition that this 4th edition of the Egyptian National Theatre Festival awards represent could be felt among the attendants. Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni's entrance was greeted with applause, marking the official beginning of the ceremony. Khaled Galal, whose Black Coffee was among last year's winners, was appointed Festival manager of this year's edition, conceiving an original opening number for the gala, in which two clowns dressed in tails revealed, through music and tap- dance, the golden stage display to the spectators. Located on different levels of the stage, representatives of the different theatrical forms succeeded each other offering a sample of their art to the audience, with the clowns serving as the conductor thread between them: Theater, hip hop, Egyptian folklore dances, ballet and a puppet show (Al-Laila Al-Kabira) were finally joined together in a single choreography, all under the gaze of the thespian masks of comedy and tragedy, both present as part of the decoration and in a central medallion-like device that would later serve to introduce the honorific awards. Lovely Poussy Shalaby played host to the night and promptly introduced this year's jury members, proceeding to present the honorific awards to the "symbols of theatrical creativity". All the gala awards were to be given by Faoruk Hosni and Dr. Ashraf Zaki, president of the festival. This year's honours acknowledged the work of late author and script-writer Bahgat Qamar, whose first play was the very famous Ana fein wenti fein (Where are you, where am I, 1964). The award was received by his son, the successful songwriter Ayman Bahgat Qamar. Salah Al-Saka, the creator of the puppets of Al-Laila Al-Kabira, was the night's last honoured guest. So was Dr. Hoda Wasfi. The whole theatre stood up to deliver a deep and sincere ovation to Adel Emam, the night's last honored guestwho, true to his principles, delivered an acceptance speech full of humor and wit, in which he once more insisted on the need for art to remain independent of religious control. He cited the figure of Moliere in recounting the story of the late Karam Mutawi', who on encountering censorship from the religious authorities regarding his play Al-Hussein Shahidan, decided to perform general rehearsals open to the public for thirty nights in order to allow the audience to watch the play despite the prohibition, achieving full house every time. Adel Imam also dedicated a few words to the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, on behalf of his appointment as UNESCO representative. The evening moved on to a more frantic rhythm, as the winners of the night were made public. Most of the audience had some kind of bond to the competing plays and artists, so the prize announcements were met with unrestricted joy or complete desolation, depending on who one looked at. As the different names were called from the stage, sections of the audience erupted in cheers, literally jumping up and down, chorusing victory mottos and hailing the winners in a display of passion rather more suited to a football match than a theatre awards soiree. It was difficult not to get carried away by all those bursts of happiness as the winners returned to their seats with their gigantic prizes. Yet next to me, a young lady hid her face in sorrow as Eugene O'Neil's The Hairy Ape rose indisputably triumphant. She left quickly, as she would not stay to watch the play that had been awarded gold. Maybe she would find solace in the warmer gold of the Cairo night. photo: Sherif Sonbol
