Egyptian playwright Laila Soliman will present a performance piece at the London International Festival Theatre (LIFT) on 27 June as part of an international art collaboration examining ramifications of World War I. For the project, called "After a War", LIFT brought together 20 international artists to explore the consequences of the war from different angles. The performances mark the 100th anniversary of what has also been called the Great War. Soliman's piece, "Whims of Freedom", which she co-wrote with Zainab Magdy, Nanda Mohammed and Alia Mossallam, highlights the similarities between Egypt's 1919 revolution and current political events. Soliman said the play allows people to understand history through the present. The writers chose to highlight the 1919 revolution because, during that time, Egypt was a British colony, she said. The English used Egyptian resources and labour in their wartime efforts. She said that while writing she faced challenges during gathering information, with "no collective memory" of World War I. Many of the challenges occurred due to the length of time elapsed since the War, and the difficulty of finding information in Egypt for that time. Nanda Mohamed, who also acted in the play, said that it tackles the time of the 1919 revolution as it is the only memory that corresponds to the time of World War. There are also songs in the play that go back to the time of the 1919 revolution. On a personal level, the performance is different to others in which she has performed, she said, since it recounts stories that happened in the past and some of them that happened recently. The audience will be able to understand more about the history of Egypt around the time of the First World War and conduct comparisons between the past and current events. They will also be able to point out the similarities and differences between the two periods of time. Soliman is an independent theatre director and playwright, based in Cairo. She graduated with a degree in Theatre and Arab Literature from the American University in Cairo in 2004. She has contributed to writing other controversial plays including "No Time for Art", on the realities of living under the military junta that ruled Egypt for over 30 years. Soliman also contributed to a dance performance, "Lessons in Revolting", that reflects the emotions of the activists and artists during the time of the 25 of January revolution. In advance of the festival, the play will be presented in Egypt at The Egyptian Centre for Culture and Arts from 20 to 22 June.
