Richard was on the festival's jury, and he emphasised his amazement with the audience; and Fahd Al-Harithi added during the closing ceremony awards distribution that Richard wished there was an opportunity to present an award to the audience who showed such enthusiasm for theatre
(Alexandria International Theatre Festival Facebook page, 29/9/23)
Two shows at the Alexandria International Theatre festival got the audience on their feet and caused a big stir: Hanzala's Journey, by students from Ain Shams University, Cairo, and Lipstick from Oman.
Karim Abdu (R as Hanzala) and Nadi Jamal in Hanzala's Journey (c) AITF 2023.
Hanzala's Journey (Dir., Marwan Mahmoud) Ain Shams University was shown in the main theatre of the Alanfowshy Culture Palace.
Production Photos on AITF Facebook page 27/9/23
Photographers: Aliaa Serri - Ahmed Khaled - George Hany.
Daily power-cuts lasting one hour at fixed times meant that the technical team were in a race against time present the show. Nevertheless the audience was patient and didn't stint on their nergy once the show began.
I am looking for a word that describes what the audiences here have been doing. Enthusing and acknowledging, certainly. But in a couple of instances they also seemed to be 'endorsing' the 'message' of the play. I am setting aside observations about the usual frequent interruptions of all kinds - mobile phones going off, ushers coming in and out, the photographers noisly clicking cameras and moving tripods, random people entering right onto the stage space in the middle of the show, and so on. All of that seems to be part of an explicit 'performance of production' as part of the show and something that is generally hidden in the plays I see in the UK. I am beginning to think of this activity as part of the production, a visible manifestation of the interest in disemmination here, to neighbouring audience members, to the media. Sometimes a couple of technicians, a couple of audience members, someone on the phone talking to someone outside of the venue - these are all oblivious to difficulty of stage acting and the need for focus. Sometimes directors step up and ask people to switch off phones etc, more often other audience members hiss or call out for order, and I've seen that turn into a funny and loud argument that can upstage the actors.
Putting all that aside, the clapping and shouting from the audience in Alexandria was an unabashed kind of lobbying. Of course, there was a competition between countries participating: so people called out the name of the country behind the production.
Audience standing ovation for Hanzala's Journey, Alanfowshy Culure Palace 29/9/23. Photo, RT.
One of the jurors said it felt like arriving late and sober to a party where the other guests were already drunk. Throughout, as usual, at the end of scenes there were big outbursts of applause and cheering: acknowledgement of the investment by the actors, the expressivity, the dramaturgy. Each person will have their reasons, but the applause sometimes made me automatically lift my hands ready to clap. I had to check - like someone who doesn't know what to do between symphony movements - was this a moment in the structure that needed underlining or had something special just happened.
The play is a well known (in the Middle East) odyssey about an everyman beginning to take control of his choices in life, and Sameh El Hadary, on the jury with us, told us that the adaptation to a fairground setting, including a ringmaster and clowns was unheard of. Normally the play is presented as an existential and sober consciousness raising.
So perhaps the audience were acknowledging this surprising new interpretation as well as 'banging the drum' for Egypt. But I'd add that they were also engaging in the idea of the fairground, with its central showmen and magicians, whose direct address to the audience, was shouted forcefully throughout, as it to challenge them not to get on thir feet.
Here's a review by Alexandrian Theatre Director, Sameh El-Hadary, shared with the jury:
"Marwan Mahmoud and Ashraf Ali Sabbaheh were able to ... move events to a gaming park (amusement park) and turned into a ticket worker. ...[W]e are presented with a director with an integrated vision who was able to clearly reach his ... audience who interacted with the show greatly. ... The journey was long and arduous... But it's really worth watching" (WhatsApp message 29/9/23)
An hour earlier in the studio theatre of the Alanfowshy Culture Palace we saw the play Lipstick by an Omani company.
Walid Elmughaizwy in Isba Rouge الإصبع روج (Dir., Alsat Said) Al Shafaq Theatre Company, Oman.
The play was also about consciousness, this time the story of a trans man in an Omani family, and the struggles around the realisation and repression of gender performances. Was the play saying that the internal and external conflicts around expressing your gender identity are a symptom of a mental illness? The publicity was not clear, at least in translation and perhaps this was a strategic choice. But a large part of the audience showed their approval for the individual freedom to choose one's own identity, regardless family prejudice and social constraints.
Production Photos on AITF Facebook page 27/9/23
Photographers: Ahmed Khaled - Nada Zidan - Lina Bahnasy
As the soundtrack from Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023) played out under the curtain call I was thinking about how a 'safe' global blockbuster can stir up change that is very significant in a very different culture. For one jury member this social message was too ideological; he thought the play needed more rigor around the complex relationships and the journey of its central character. But as the actors shifts roles from child to parent and back the consequences of being locked in a singular reality become as cartoonish and disturbing as Barbie's plastic reality. In the final scene, the trans character pushes his masculine persona into the bin. It looks like they has killed their father, just as they had thrown away a childhood dolly in an earlier scene. The 'supporting' actor with a moustache had alternated between playing the outraged father, the conflicted mother. In a moment that may be forbidden in Oman in any other representational setting, the trans character is carried to bed by his father. Because of the use of role-switching is could have been two male lovers. As if to confirm this, the 'lead' actor did not put on lipstick in the final scene, and hurriedly removed the dress before the curtain call and we could see he was muscular in a way that could draw attention to his masculinity. As well as deafening applause, the audience response was very vocal. This seemed extraordinarily positive to me, not only because it's important that the story is told, but because the play had created a space for demonstration and discussion. It probably creates an optimistic and confident atmosphere for talking openingly, rather than a frustration and lethargy, although Egypt has long been a liberal and open-minded country. And one finally interesting note - there were more about 10 members in the supporting crew for simple two hander that's almost as big as the crew for the large-scale Hanzala's Journey! That's a whole team implicitly indicating their solidarity, as well as having a good excuse to be part of the tour to the festival in Egypt!