CAIRO - “Once upon a time, there was a land in which people had forgotten how to tell stories. In that No Story Land, no-one talked much because every question had to be answered with ‘yes' or ‘no'. After all, an explanation is a story. And eventually, even that ‘yes' or 'no' became no more than just a nod or shake of the head. "In that land no-one sang, because all songs tell a story. Even the food was dull and mostly uncooked, because there was no story about the first fire. There were no newspapers, no books, no radio and no television. There were no names for things. "How could you explain water coming down the mountain in a creek that fed into a river without a story? How could you talk about the sun that rose in the east and set in the west? What could you possibly say about why two people got married and babies were born? "Finally, people started disappearing from No Story Land," said Adora Dupree, an African American storyteller, actress, writer and director, who died in 2004. Adora was known for using her dramatic and spiritual training to enhance her storytelling work. The above words are extracts from one of her stories, first published in the autumn of 1993. Unlike many arts such as sculpture, classical music or ballet, storytelling is accessible to everyone. We all tell stories every day, as well as sharing the events and happenings of our lives with each other. It is essential for our lives, as it's a magical way by which we can feel in a better mood. In its latest performance last week, el-Warsha troupe gave a performance that traced the changes in the image of women through the ages. Their storytelling performance included sketches and duets by the members of the troupe, all about women. The performance in Cairo had an Egyptian folkloric flavour, as the majority of the performers and musicians are from Upper Egypt. The use of instruments like the rababa and mezmar heightened the very Oriental atmosphere. "Since I founded el-Warsha in 1987, folktales have been part of our performance. I realised that, by focussing on storytelling, we were emphasising an aspect of life that defies absurdity and death. We imitate what Sheherazad did every day to prolong her life," said the founder of el-Warsha troupe, director Hassan el-Geretly. He graduated from Bristol University in the UK with a first class honours degree in Drama and French. In his troupe el-Warsha, el-Geretly has freely adapted and ‘Egyptianised' Western plays, then moved on to interacting with Egypt's traditional cultures. He has also spent some years looking into Cairo's everyday life as a source for theatre, as well as putting on 20th Century masterpieces. The performance started with a monologue by Rabie Zain, a young man from Upper Egypt. Zain narrated for the audience the famous love story of Hassan and Naeema, similar to the love story of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but set in the Egyptian countryside. Unlike the story of Romeo and Juliet, this folkloric story is not internationally. Zain, who has a strong voice, narrated and sang mawaweel (folkloric songs) that helped develop the plot of this emotional story, leading the audience into another world. "Storytelling is a natural way of preserving and transferring ideas from one generation to another," el- Geretly said. The story, that tells of the sufferings of the two lovers, also highlights the fact that girls in Upper Egypt used to be deprived of their rights and were totally subjected to their fathers' will. But Naeema is a brave symbol for women in that era, as she chooses to elope with Hassan and follow her heart, no matter what her father might do. "Upper Egypt has changed a lot nowadays. I used to train young people there and I lived with them and knew more about them. I was brought up in a liberal society; we used to meet girls, dance and go out, but there was always a strange feeling. "We used to feel that there was something wrong. But, after dealing with young Upper Egyptian men, I realised that girls and boys treat each other like friends, in a very peaceful way. "Their interaction, I believe, is healthy for our society," added the director who has been working for the past 40 years in the performing arts, first in France then in Egypt. A very nice duet, sung in a theatrical manner by Mohamed Ismail and Dalia el-Gendi, followed the story of Hassan and Naeema. It tells the story of an unhappy married couple. "This duet is also from Egyptian folklore. It was often performed in the 1920s. It is old but also very contemporary," said el-Geretly. "Today, many women still quarrel with their mother-in-law, making life for their husband unbearable. Many poor husbands are torn between their mother and their wife. It's very contemporary." Another song entitled Da Wa'atik Da Yomik (It's your Time, It's your Day) was first performed in a play entitled Elections by Ali el-Kassar troupe in 1923. The song, which was also sung in a theatrical matter, was composed by Sayyed Darwish (1892-1923), the famous musician and composer. It's a rebellious song, urging women to claim their rights and participate in political and social life, like European women. "The first half of the song urges women to be liberal, while men used to fight for the rights of women. In the second half, however, we see that when women became convinced about being liberal, men tried to dominate them, as they didn't want women to be better than them," added el-Geretly. "It's true the women have experienced some changes through ages, but they are still fighting the same battle." Every minute of the two-hour performance was a result of a deep research, reading and training. El- Geretly had taught his storytellers how to use voice and body language to bring ancient tales to life, letting their presence enhance rather than overshadow the plot. They blended with the stories, becoming the story itself. "We called this performance ‘el- Warsha Nights'. It was like a rehearsal for a big performance we're preparing for," stressed el- Geretly, who obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Media Production from the Sorbonne (Paris) in 1981. El-Geretly worked in France as an actor, assistant director and then director at the Centre Dramatique National du Limousin, where he worked on plays by Shakespeare, Strindberg, Camus, Vitrac and Brecht. Then he ran his own professional company, Les Treteaux de la Terre et du Vent, also in the heart of France, from 1975 to 1980. This company put on plays of its own, dealing mostly with the cultural, historic, economic and linguistic specificity of the Limousin region and its inhabitants. This period also included much theatre-in-education work and some activity related to Egypt: a tour by the Centre Dramatique National du Limousin of the Middle East, a peasant theatre project in the Governorate of el-Beheira and a Franco-Egyptian production of Phèdre at the National Theatre in Cairo. In 1982, Hassan el-Geretly returned to Egypt to work in a theatre sponsored by the State, before assisting Youssef Chahine on two of his films: Adieu Bonaparte and The Sixth Day, and Youssry Nasrallah on Summer Thefts, which opened the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Festival in 1988. In 1992, el-Geretly resigned to devote himself to independent theatre, feeling that institutions were resisting any real change. "Theatre is never a dying art. I believe there is a future for theatre, wherever it is. It has a great past that may influence its hard future. I believe its stagnation is just a matter of time and it will reappear strongly again," said the director, who is currently working on another storytelling project.
