Play itagain,Sam

In a new departure, a video-taped message from American playwright Arthur Miller was played at the opening ceremony of CIFET, which took place at the Main Hall of the Opera House on 1 September under the patronage of Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni. In his message Miller said:

"I think the experimental theatre festival can be very important... and I'm glad it's happening in this part of the world.

The theatre is in a stage of great change, at least in this country. I think the playwrights are trying to resettle the quick, crazy changes in the world and the traditional means of presenting such things on stage have run out. We are now in a stage where everything is possible. And I hope that the good people of the conference will explore the new ways of presenting theatre and organising theatre.

I, most recently with Mr. Peter's Connections, which I wrote about two years ago, intend to embrace the chaos of life in our time and to extract from it some kind of value, some kind of human value. It will be run in many different countries now and, though probably it's not to the taste of everyone, I enjoyed writing it. I hope it's done some time in Egypt and finds its way soon. I'm sorry for not being able to attend this festival this time, as I have another commitment. It is a difficult play, since it didn't follow the traditional line of a story, but these are days that don't follow traditional time, traditional needs of developing. We're in a new world now and everything is not granted.

Egypt's Al-Kohl Pillow

I have been to Egypt a couple of times with my wife and daughter and we enjoyed it very much. I hope to return and see the great history of Egypt soon.

Good luck and my best wishes for the Experimental Theatre Festival in Cairo.

Thank you."

Dr. George Bartiniett, from the US, heads the 11-member international jury this year which includes representatives from Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, Chile, Tunisia, Bolivia, the UK and Egypt. The Egyptian member is Dr Abdel-Aziz Hamouda, professor of drama at the English Department, Cairo University. The last time an American headed the jury was two years ago when Egypt walked off with the award of best director.

After four days of intensive theatre viewing, at the rate of four shows a day, the five-member Egyptian Selection Committee, headed by Samir Sarhan, have chosen Intisar Abdel-Fattah's O, Supple Branch, rechristened Al-Kohl Pillow, and Hassan El-Gretli's Spinning Lives to represent Egypt in the international competition. The latter enters under the umbrella of the Cultural Development Fund; nevertheless, this is the first time an independent theatre group, in this case Al-Warsha, has been chosen to represent Egypt officially. Al-Kohl Pillow is an innovative, polyphonic musical work which projects, in a series of evocative images, the plight of women in conservative, patriarchal societies. The blend of African and oriental music is interspersed with Kawthar Mohamed's outspoken, poignant lyrics in the Upper Egyptian vernacular, and the setting is Upper Egypt.

Spinning Lives is part of a daunting, ongoing project to dramatise Al-Sira Al-Hilaliya, an inordinately long folk epic which narrates the fortunes of the Hilaliya tribe in their migration from the Arab peninsula, through Egypt to Tunisia. The project entailed long and arduous training in the art of narration and folk singing, as well as memorising chunks of the Sira by heart, under the direction of the great Sira bard, Sayed El-Dawi, mastering the art of stick-dancing and learning to handle several folk musical instruments.

The outcome is a work intensely dramatic and captivating. The prototype for the work is Greek tragedy, and it is the nearest the Egyptian theatre has ever come to its pathos and grandeur and to its intricate confluence of acting, chanting, stylised dancing and narration.

Ukraine's Venus in Furs and Egypt's The Song of the Whales photo: Sherif Sonbol