After she gives him all her love, help and support, her husband leaves her and marries a high rank police officer's daughter for power and money. Not a Greek Woman is a modern adaptation of the Greek play Medea by Euripides, which reflects Egypt's conditions after January 25th Revolution. At the end of the day, the revolutionaries have given a lot but taken nothing. This play, directed and adapted by Youssra el-Sharkawy, starred by Samah Abdel Aal, Raymond Noshi and John Milad was performed recently in the Rawabet Theatre in downtown Cairo in the Independent Artists Festival. In the original play, Medea is a Greek woman with special powers that enable her to do a lot for her husband Jason, gaining him more privileges and making him an important man. But, despite all she does for him, he goes off and marries the King's daughter, becoming a member of the royal family. This prompts a vengeful Medea to kill their two sons and Jason's new bride. The revolutionary youth sacrificed their lives in order to regain their freedom and dignity, and to build a new, democratic Egypt, guaranteeing the people their full rights. But, after the revolution succeeded in toppling Mubarak, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, took control of everything. The FJP didn't side with the revolutionaries while the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) ran the country. But they made a lot of deals with the SCAF, now the Muslim Brotherhood are in power and they have yet to do anything to implement the revolution's demands, according to the director's point of view. Youssra noticed a great similarity between this play and what is going nowadays in Egypt, so she decided to adapt it for Egyptian society. “Art should always be linked to what is going on in reality. That is why I chose this text. There are many similarities between the characters and the events; they can deliver what I want to say in a very gentle way," says Youssra (26). “I've called it Not a Greek Woman, as Medea could be an Egyptian woman or refer to many other things – not only a woman and not only a Greek," the young director added. The play starts with a woman being told by the officer that he has given orders for her to leave the country as she is divorced and has no reason to stay. He tells her that her sons will stay with their father, but she begs him to let them stay for just one night, and in the end the officer agree. Then she starts thinking how she can get her revenge on her husband and the officer. She decides to kill their sons because she knows very well that their father cannot do without them, and also to kill the bride, the officer's daughter, to tear her father's heart apart. “I use the idea of revenge in its cruellest form to highlight the tragic consequences of injustice," said Youssra. The play then focuses on the woman and her unfaithful husband. At first, she is very tough and aggressive with him, blaming him for what he has done to her after all the sacrifices she has made for him. But, in order to get her revenge, she starts being very kind to him, so she can trick her way into the police officer's home. Her husband helps her get disguised, so the police officer doesn't recognise her, thinking that she wants to give the officer's daughter a present of a beautiful wedding dress. No sooner does she step into the officer's house than she kills the daughter, before returning home to kill her two sons. The play ends with the father discovering the death of his sons, while their mother goes half-crazy.
