CAIRO - Hankteb Destoor Gedeed (Let's Write a New Constitution), being performed every night in the Miami Theatre in downtown Cairo, is a play with a difference, as you can ask the actors to perform what you want especially for you. ‘Let's Write a New Constitution', written by Mahmoud Gamal and directed by Mazen el-Gharabawi, is an Egyptian comedy of the improvisational genre. In this popular, often topical art form, improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Improvisers typically use audience's suggestions to contribute to the content and direction of the performance as they create dialogue, setting and plot extemporaneously. The idea for the play emerged when a group of actors were thinking about what to do after the revolution. They hit on the idea of writing a new constitution. They started to perform some improvised scenes, encouraging the audience to make suggestions. Through the nearly one-hour play, the audience are introduced to a number of vivid scenes which discuss how to write a new constitution and what it should include. For example, articles allowing for freedom of expression, promoting women's rights and much else. Such things couldn't be discussed under Mubarak's 30-year rule, as people weren't allowed to express their opinions freely. The play, which consists of a number of short scenes, invites people to apply these articles to their own lives. Mazen, a graduate of the Faculty of Arts who has also studied at the Higher Institute of Theatre, uses this exhausting but interesting technique in his play to allow the actors and audience to interact. His improvised group of actors are inspired by the suggestions from the audience, which allows them to get involved and also proves that the performance is not scripted. This performance is the fruit of a one-month improvisation workshop that was supervised by Mazen and Mahmoud. The actors are aware of the basics of improvisation. They know how to listen and be aware of the other players, to communicate clearly and to make choices instinctively and spontaneously. In one of the best scenes in the play, two actors face each other and make the same movements, as if they're looking at themselves in a mirror. Although they have the same name, they are not the same person. They have the same facial features and the same movements, but one is a Muslim, the other is Christian. They say with one voice, “I'm Egyptian.” This scene stresses the fact that Egyptians should remain as one, despite the sectarian clashes. At the end of the play, the actors ask the audience to come up on stage and write (on the décor) what they think of the performance and what they'd like to see in the play the next day. They can also vote for the scenes they like. If you want to see this play more than once, you'll always find something new. Hankteb Destoor Gedeed is being performed every evening at 6:00 in the Miami Theatre, downtown Cairo. untill today.
