Rashda Ragab reviews a new version of Sleeping Beauty at the Egyptian Puppet Theatre Al-Amira wal Tennin (The Princess and the Dragon ) is inspired by the classic fairy tale in which a prince rescues a princess who has been enchanted by a wicked fairy. In a new version currently running at the Puppet Theatre, Hamdoun, the hero son of an elderly vendor, saves the bint al-sultan (princess), his own sister and other victims frozen by the fairy's powers. In the Egyptian adaptation, the princess does not appear as a little girl and the play opens with the bad fairy's fire- breathing dragon killing Hamdoun's father and kidnapping his sister. Soon afterwards, the sultan has to sacrifice his daughter to the dragon to avoid the fairy's threatened destruction of the country. Too ambitious to make an attractive and enjoyable show for both children and adults, puppet director and playwright Mohamed Keshk and his wife and artistic partner, puppet designer Ayat Khalifa, have been over-anxious to add ideas and characters regardless of their harmony with the context. In the opening scene dancers wear clothes as worn by Goha, a famous comedy character in Arabic literature. However, the dancers who introduce to the audience Abul-Hekayat, an old story-teller, are supposed to wear modern clothes. Abul- Hekayat, played by director Keshk himself, wears, to my surprise, a Santa Claus outfit rather than an agreeable and appropriate Oriental costume. Keshk, who has worked on many other puppet shows since 1975 and established the Doha Puppet Theatre in which he worked for 15 years, owes his inspiration to the late, great poet Salah Jaheen's famous show Al-Leila Al-Kebira. He presents the second scene of Al-Amira wal Tennin through Jaheen's eyes. The vivid, exceptional performance with excellent puppets by Khalifa, lyrics by Gamal El-Sayed and music by Sherif Nour is the best modern imitation of Jaheen's authentic and legendary operetta Al-Leila Al-Kebira. Jaheen's operetta characters are almost recreated. The Arab souk and its gold and coppersmiths, the fatir (bakery) maker, the street performers and the café owner all spring to life. Also comparable are: the cheerful lyrics and the scene ending with the distressing kidnapping of the hero's sister; who in Jaheen's version is the lost young girl whose mother is longing to find. The audience is shocked by the ending, in which a fire-breathing dragon, attacks the souk vendors and kidnaps Hamdoun's sister. With a long history of puppet shows in which he shared and introduced dozens of works, among them My Doll, The Return of Clever Hassan and Alaa and the Magical Lantern, Keshk has managed to write a good theatrical plot adapted from Sleeping Beauty, though the fact that the play is a mere adaptation was never mentioned while advertising the play. The dramatic element of struggle is tackled well in a beginning, a middle and an end of the play, which achieves its aims and effect successfully. Many children's shows nowadays miss out on these essential dramatic aspects, and their effort to entertain loses its effect. Not so sure of his young audience's intelligence, Keshk makes his story- teller in the interval of the two-act play remind children of Hamdoun's incomplete task to save his sister. In the end, in a classical educational fashion, he preaches the young audience that kindness always wins -- a fashion many regarded as primitive for today's Internet children. Besides, Keshk added the character of Bahloul, a clown, as a hero's friend who tries to make fun of everything. A role well-played in old and new Egyptian films by famous actors Ismail Yassin, Abdel-Salam El-Nabulsi, Ahmed Helmi, Ahmed Eid and others. Bahloul, however, is a silly person, most of whose jokes win the joy of nobody. Unlike children of yesteryear, the new generation, I believe, as a mother of a seven- year-old daughter, can enjoy all kinds of arts, whether tragedy or comedy. While Keshk has to rethink about his view of the youngsters, the Puppet Theatre director has to rethink the theatre hall, which was changed into a large supermarket of street vendors before the show and in the interval, to make our young increasing theatre- loving generation respect an old and great art. Before the play opens, a short documentary film on the making of its puppets and rehearsals is shown. More attention was given to rehearsals, as if the film were supposed to pay tribute to the puppet artists rather than to show children how puppets are made. The shots were taken quickly and carelessly. Concentration on the steps of one puppet making (except the dragon) would have been more attractive for curious children. Modern techniques were used in sound and visual effects, especially in the bombs of the fire breathing dragon and white smoke of the wicked fairy. Technique tricks were supposed to be enjoyed by older children than some of the audience who were made to cry. Colourful and attractive décor and puppets of Khalifa, who has as long a history as Keshk and shared most of his successful plays, entertain everyone. Yet Hamdoun, hero of the play, is a plain and ugly puppet. Moreover, some parts of the décor fail to show the real era and environment of the events. Two lion statues looking like those which stand at both ends of Qasr Al-Nil Bridge in Cairo, in addition to a giant sun figure, most probably a sign of the Chinese calendar, were some unnecessary parts. Despite the previous points, Al-Amira wal Tennin, is an attractive and entertaining play which would be enjoyed by both old and young people.
