The ten plays in this collection offer unprecedented grassroots perspectives on the jubilation, terror, hope, and heartbreak of mass uprising as seen during and in the wake of the Tahrir Square demonstrations. Collectively tracing events as they unfolded in Egypt from the last days of Hosni Mubarak’s regime through Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s ascendance to the presidency, the plays present a picture of Egypt in the midst of epochal change, with all the attendant fear, hope, and uncertainty. Ranging from naturalism to documentary to more avant-garde representations, the plays collected in Tahrir Tales represent contemporary Egyptian drama at its most interesting, and, not coincidentally, most politically, committed.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Translating Egyptian Drama for the Stage
Mohammed Albakry
Introduction
Rebekah Maggor
Disparity and Corruption
They Say Dancing is a Sin
Hany Abdel Naser and Mohamed Abdel Mu’iz
The Mirror
Yasmeen Eman (Shaghaf)
Collective Awakening
Tahrir Monologues
Sondos Shabayek and the BuSSY Project
The Window
Said Solaiman
Long Road to Change
Comedy of Sorrows
Ibrahim El-Husseini
In Search of Said Abu-Naga
Ahmed Hassan Al-Banna
Internal Crisis
Report on Revolutionary Circumstances
Magdy Ek Hamzawy
The Visit
Mohamed Marros
Sorrowful City
Ashraf Abdu
Unfinished Revolution
Taxi
Based on the novel by Khalid Al Khamissi
Egyptian Theatre in Context
The Fire and the Frying Pan: Censorship and Performance in Egypt
Nehad Selaiha
Translating Egyptian Drama for the Stage
Mohammed Albakry
Introduction
Rebekah Maggor
Disparity and Corruption
They Say Dancing is a Sin
Hany Abdel Naser and Mohamed Abdel Mu’iz
The Mirror
Yasmeen Eman (Shaghaf)
Collective Awakening
Tahrir Monologues
Sondos Shabayek and the BuSSY Project
The Window
Said Solaiman
Long Road to Change
Comedy of Sorrows
Ibrahim El-Husseini
In Search of Said Abu-Naga
Ahmed Hassan Al-Banna
Internal Crisis
Report on Revolutionary Circumstances
Magdy Ek Hamzawy
The Visit
Mohamed Marros
Sorrowful City
Ashraf Abdu
Unfinished Revolution
Taxi
Based on the novel by Khalid Al Khamissi
Egyptian Theatre in Context
The Fire and the Frying Pan: Censorship and Performance in Egypt
Nehad Selaiha