A Relatively Short Sojourn in Egypt
My unexpected invitation from Mazen El Gharabawy, president of the Sharm El Sheikh International Festival for Youth (SITFY) to represent the UK on the Jury for the Ensemble Production proved to be an enlightening, inspiring and transformational experience for me.
Like most people, I was feeling the heavy load of my impotence regarding the war on Gaza weighing me down. Like many I was nervous about going to the Middle East not knowing much about the area. I needn’t have been.
What greeted me was a warmth, a profound political awareness, and a deep belief in the power of theatre to change the world. The slogan for the festival was “Theatre For Humanity”. It was apt.
Of course, such an endeavour like this festival was bound to have a woman behind it too. When we arrived at Sharm airport we were met by and driven to our hotel by Mazen’s co-partner and wife the academic and supersonic organiser and administrative manager Engy El Bestawy. Navigating her teams and her children I was in awe of her stamina and vivacity.
As the days progressed the machinery of this remarkable event unravelled before my eyes. As well as vibrant young theatre makers and veteran stalwarts from the Arab world working collaboratively alongside academics, teachers, I realised I was surrounded by an army of volunteers all totally committed to the success of the festival. Amidst this were tourism providers, local government officials, and press delegates along with a team of photographers and videographers all within the campus of the Dreams Beach Resort in Sharm, within Sharm’s streets and town squares and at its Culture Palace Theatre in the centre of town. Buses and cars were always on hand to get from A to B until the early hours of the morning.
I didn’t know quite how to record this phenomenon so I decided to share a short fable on Facebook and Instagram to capture the immediate experiences while I was there. I was in the land of my Sunday School days and didn’t quite know what to do with it:
“Once upon a time in the land where the palm trees grow… …two intrepid travellers set foot on a Southern point at a fork in the beautiful sea that is red. Coincidentally, it was their 26th wedding anniversary!
They were there for a festival, a festival of youth, a theatre for humanity, a theatre for peace, a theatre for development, a theatre of Love.
Then the watching began, and the nights became long, very long, melting into morning.
One by one, ensemble by ensemble, brave young companies from Europe, and East Asia, and all over the Arab world performed their work with embodied love, showing and telling stories of war, separation, extinction, oppression, death, laughter at death’s door, the crisis for humanity and the hope of Youth.
After the watching time came the quiet time of deliberations and actions towards understanding. For many different languages were spoken in the gathering and it took time to understand one another.
And after much deliberation, then came the prize giving for wonderful creative works from the heart and the imagination. And all were happy in that place because all received something for their great endeavours.”
But the fable of course didn’t suffice so to fill in the gaps, here is my short compilation film that tries to do justice to an incredible experience. Please click the link below.
Images: Sitfy official photographers, and Richard Talbot and Carran Waterfield