CAIRO - Oppression, murder, sexual harassment, hope, dreams and many other ideas were discussed in ‘Eats, Drinks and Sings out of Tune', directed by John Milad and performed last week at the Catholic Centre in Mohamed Farid Street. Wa Lessa Troupe for Arts won seven awards in Afak Masrahia, a theatre festival held last month in the Balloon Theatre in el-Agouza. The troupe won awards for the Best Performance, Best Director, Best Dancer, Best Two Actors and Best Music, and then the Catholic Centre invited them to repeat their performance in the centre. The performance reviews the many kinds of human rights violations that are happening in Egyptian society these days, criticising all forms of discrimination, including religious and sexual discrimination. The performance shows that, if people are treated badly, they begin to hate others, themselves and even their own bodies. "As well as mental harassment, there is sexual harassment. This makes people lose the good nature that they were born with and start harassing others," said John Milad, a 35-year-old director and art therapist. ‘Eats, Drinks and Sings out of Tune' depends mainly on bodily expression and dancing with very few words. "Eastern societies don't believe so much in the body expressing and delivering a message without words. That is why I am trying to prove how important the body is and how it can be a tool for delivering an important message," Milad added in an interview with the Egyptian Mail. "It has taken a long time and much effort to train the actors, especially the girls among them, in how to use their bodies and dance freely to express their pain and oppression. It was very important to break through their shyness first, especially as this was the first time for most of them to be on stage. "It was not easy for them to speak openly about the oppression they face every day in their homes, schools and universities, but it is part of my work as an art therapist to give them psychological training so they can do this," he added. The sketches in the performance highlight the idea of oppression – how the old oppress the young, who in turn oppress the very young. "Oppression is one of the worst forms of corruption in our Eastern societies," explained Milad, who, with his team, started to prepare for this performance last summer. "The performance is a product of a number of different workshops for writing, dancing, singing and improvising. "I prefer to make plays like this, rather than readymade plays, because this kind of theatre paves the way for energetic youngsters to express themselves and discover their talents." The performance contains a few texts by great poets and writers, such as the Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish, Lebanon's Joubran Khalil Joubran and Syria's Saad Allah Wanos. "Silence is one of the most serious crimes that society commits against its people. For example, when a girl is being sexual harassed in the street, no-one will defend her; in fact people might simply laugh at her plight." Milad stresses the idea of sexual harassment with a special dancing sketch that shows the deep pain and estrangement felt by any girl who suffers this terrible experience. ‘Eats, Drinks and Sings out of Tune' also highlights the idea of religious discrimination in a funny way with a scene that occurs in a university or school, where someone asks someone else his/her full name, in order to determine his/her religion, if he/she is not wearing any significant religious symbol, such as a hijab or the Cross. Wa Lessa's performance criticises people for blindly following ideas that are wrong, as well as the fact that the media lie to the people all the time; they do not tell the truth and are not being transparent enough, blatantly violating people's minds. "The violence perpetrated against people makes them feel that killing is normal, whether it is killing in the name of God or defending the country. When we start killing each other, we become inhuman." ‘Eats, Drinks and Sings out of Tune' starred Irene Samir, Michael Thabet, Fady Samir, Sandy Emad, Nermin Naem, Antonios Amin and Abanoub Magdi. "When I first worked on this play, I dreamt that it might be held just once or twice in good theatres, but when we held it for the first time in Fayoum it attracted a great deal of attention from other theatres. “They wanted us to perform and it was a joy for the team to see our message travelling from place to place." Milad believes that culture, especially theatre, is a vital tool for defending citizens' rights at this critical time. "Theatre should tackle and discuss every aspect in life, not only social or political issues. Theatre is just a microcosm of our life."
