Mainstream Hanager
LUCY, the belly-dancer turned mainstream actress, is currently rehearsing in preparation for her first appearance on the stage of Al- Hanager, the Opera House's experimental- alternative theatre.The play in question, Eid Al-Milad (Birthday), based on a classic by Thomas Bernhardt and adapted for the Arab stage by Ahmed Sasoukh, is directed by Mohsen Helmi and features Rushdie El-Shami and several younger actors. The actress announced that she is playing a paralysed woman subject to all manner of oppression. With this plunge into high-brow drama, she added, she hopes to gain increased credibility as an actress rather than an all-round performer.
In residence
WIKALAT Bazer'a, a historic building in Gamaliya, has been turned into an artists' residence with a total of 300 individual studios to be selected by a committee made up of Plastic Arts Department officials and members of the Artists Syndicate. The decision was approved this week by Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, Department Head Ahmed Nawwar announced, following the refurbishment of the building.
Open-air antiquities
AN OPEN-AIR Museum, to occupy the area surrounding the unfinished obelisk in Aswan, is due to open in the middle of the year. The project as assessed by Zahi Hawwas, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and Tarek Wali, the project consultant, requires a budget of LE7 million. This includes building a fence to enclose the area and installing the latest security and surveillance technology. The museum, to display mainly ancient pieces, will be administered in conjection with the Nubia Museum and the Muslim Cemeteries.
Talent factory
THE CREATIVITY Centre, Opera House grounds, is currently in the process of commencing the so-called star-making workshop, an initiative launched on 16 February with the object of discovering, and nurturing, young theatrical talents.Some 1,200 young people applied for the programme's various categories, including writing, directing and performing; those who have been selected will soon embark on a long-term project to come up with a play, to be staged towards the end of the year.
The ultimate objective of the workshop, centre director Khaled Galal announced, is to establish a major studio that will provide Egypt's theatres with outstanding practitioners, properly trained and well versed in theatrical conventions and codes of conduct.
Comedian honoured
ALAA Waleieddin, the young comedian who died two weeks ago, was at the centre of an Opera House memorial last Thursday. Organised in collaboration with the Actors Syndicate and coordinated by Mohamed Salem, the event included speeches by actors Youssef Shaaban, Ashraf Abdel-Baqi, Sherine and Mohamed Heneidi, among others, as well as critics Tarek El-Shennawi and Rafiq El- Sabban.
Upper Egypt galore
EIGHT Upper Egypt "cultural weeks", comprising a week-long programme of performances, exhibitions, seminars and lectures, were launched last Saturday in Minya. Organised by the local cultural authority in collaboration with the Cairo Atelier, and taking place in cultural palaces, the programme will also be held in Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Al- Wadi Al-Jadid and Luxor. Among the writers and artists participating are Abdel-Aal El- Hamamsi, Ibrahim Abdel-Malak and Ne'mat El-Beheiri.
Academic record
A BAHRAINI academic, Jamil Nasser, is preparing to replace his British counterpart in the Guiness Book of Records by breaking the latter's record of a 27-hour lecture without breaks. Having begun his warm-up practise with a 17-hour lecture this week, Nasser is due to give the record-breaking lecture before a panel of judges representing the Guiness Book of Records at the beginning of next year.
Women honoured
THE UPCOMING 27th round of the Cairo Film Festival (7-18 October), festival director Sherif El-Shoubashi announced, will honour Arab women directors from six countries. To mark the event, their films will be screened in a special programme entitled "Arab women directors: reality and future".The directors in question are Moufida Al- Telali, Rajaa Omari, Kulthoum Bernaz and Nadia Al-Fani (from Tunisia); Yamina Ben Jiji, Yamina Bashir Shunj, Rashida Karim and Zayda Ghurab (Algeria); Randa Shahal, Laila Assaf and Joseline Saab (Lebanon); Waha Al-Rahib (Syria); Farida Belyazid (Morocco); as well as Enaam Mohamed Ali, Inas El-Degheidi, Sandra Nashaat, Nadia Hamza, Asmaa El-Bakri and Nadia Salem (Egypt).
Mediterranean cadences
ISMAIL Serageddin, director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and Gaber Asfour, head of the Supreme Council for Culture, on Tuesday opened the three-day Mediterranean Poetry Festival.Coordinated by the vernacular poet Sayed Hegab, the festival features 43 poets from the Mediterranean basin, bringing Europe and the Arab world together in a multilingual exchange.
Egyptian participants include Farouk Guweida, Ahmed Bekhit, Ahmed Fouad Negm, Kamal Nashaat, Ahmed Suweilam and Mohamed Ibrahim Abu-Senna.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 6 - 12 March 2003 (Issue No. 628)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/628/cu6.htm