Manifold Oedipus
A successful revival of Sophocles's Oedipus Rex at the National leads Nehad Selaiha to explore the Egyptian premiere, and subsequent local versions, of the hapless king

Amazing grace
Sheikh Yassin El-Tohami, performing in Cairo this week, is one of Egypt's finest munshids, a singer of devotional songs (madih) that praise the Prophet Mohamed and that serve, above and beyond such praise, to enable the remembrance of Allah, writes Nur Elmessiri.

Muddying the waters

Plain talk
By Mursi Saad El-Din

Sweet and bright
But nothing too sticky, writes David Blake