Although their home was on fire, they were all busy watching the ghost, except for Mansour, who shouted, “Please help us, our home is on fire.” Mansour, the protagonist of ‘Fi Baitena Shabah' (There's a Ghost in our House), shouts this phrase in the final scene of the play, while his relatives surrender to the ghost, without even putting up a fight. The play, written by Lenin el-Ramli in 2003, published in 2006 and directed by veteran director Essam el-Sayyed in 2012, aptly describes what the Egyptians are experiencing these days. The play tells the story of eight relatives, who, when their grandfather dies, find themselves having to get to know each other for the first time. According to their grandfather's will, they must live together in his big old house without any disputes and they cannot sell it. During their first night in the house, they start to feel that something strange is happening. The first one to notice this strangeness is Fakhr (played by promising young actor Wesal Abdel-Aziz), a psychic who suffers from hysteria. He tells the others that he has seen “something strange”, and the religious hypocrite (impressively played by veteran actor Sami Maghouri), who has just come back from the Gulf with his wife and has many odd beliefs, says this “something” is a ghost. And they all agree with him. Another member of the family is the journalist who always remains neutral, afraid to say what he really thinks. Then there is the rich businessman whose only concern is money. Except Mansour, played by Maged el-Kedwani, they all begin to believe that this ghost exists and it becomes part of their everyday lives. When the wife of the religious hypocrite commits adultery with Ezz, the rich man played by veteran actor Ashraf Abdel-Ghaffour, she tells her husband, who catches her in bed with him, that it's the ghost, not Ezz, and he believes her. Then some of the expensive treasures in the house, such as the carpets and antiques, start to disappear and of course they blame the ghost, which comes to be blamed for everything. But who is the ghost? Is it a metaphysical spirit? And what is this haunted house? During his play, the director answers these questions, but in an ‘interrogative' way. His main aim is to urge the audience, many of them ordinary families with children and young people, to think. "I don't like to give my opinion, as I would rather let the audience do this. I want the audience to ask themselves who saw the ghost first and who interpreted Fakhr's 'something' as a ghost. “You have to think why the lawyer kept pushing them to sell the house. The house is like a cake and all of them, except Mansour, Amal and Mowafak, want a slice of the cake, just like the opportunists do nowadays in our homeland," says the director, Essam el-Sayyed. Ezz regards the house as a big bag full of money, which he can benefit from, even if this means demolishing it and replacing it with a huge hotel or business project. Most of them go rooting around among the masses of books their grandpa has left them, looking for treasure. Little do they realise that many of these books, according to el-Ramli, are very ancient and precious, treasures in their own right. Egypt is just like this house, haunted by ghosts, one of the biggest being ignorance. The eight relatives believe in ghosts because they are ignorant. The characters try to appease the ghost; they don't care about the house (Egypt), as it goes up in flames. In his play ‘Fi Baitena Shabah', the director, in a simple and sensitive way, delivers his message to the audience, without being direct or superficial. His play appeals to all kinds of people, because el-Sayyed's comic touches are very professional and it's a good story full of deep, but not complicated, ideas, very relevant to Egyptian society today. In 2004, when el-Sayyed was director of theatre for Egyptian TV, he was going to direct this play, but then he resigned and it was postponed. In 2006, he started working on the same play in the Comedy Theatre, but again the project was postponed for reasons that remain unclear. "After the revolution, the National Theatre asked me to put on a new play and this is the result," el-Sayyed says, adding that he faced a lot of problems. "These are not theatres; it's like working in a garage or a stable. The theatres are technically poor. The aisles are very narrow and the lighting is very antiquated.” Despite these serious problems, the performances have been impressive, helped by a light plot and good décor. "We have tried our best. We have really worked very hard," he explains. The actors in the play are some of Egypt's finest and of various ages. It's great to see them working together. “It's fun working with them. They love theatre and are very co-operative,” says el-Sayyed. The décor by Hazem Shebl and costumes by Na'ema Agami are very appealing, while the set features an old house full of antiques and lighted by candles. It's all very realistic and simple.
‘Fi Baitena Shabah' is being performed every night at the Miami Theatre in downtown Cairo at 9:00, except on Fridays, when the performance is at 7pm, and Tuesdays, when there is no performance.
