In the famous Ataba Square in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, near the ancient National Theater, patrons of one of the popular markets watch a scene that is repeated every night: an opera singer standing at 9 pm (6 GMT) to sing clips from international pieces, accompanied by her fellow singer to complete the meaning.
Despite the loud voices of vendors and passers-by in the crowded square, the opening scene of the play “Ataba Opera,” presented by the opera singer and her colleague, attracts the attention of passers-by and arouses the passion of the wanderers, prompting some of them to enter to find out the secret of the singers standing in this place.
The scene itself seems exciting to the audience of the play, which is being shown at the Vanguard Theater in the Ataba area and has received media attention and attracted a diverse audience since it began showing about three weeks ago. After the opening scene that begins in the street, the audience enters the theater to find itself in front of a traditional stage divided into two parts: on the right, a man arranges the corners of his library and looks like an intellectual sitting in an ivory tower, while a puzzled woman sits holding a remote control that transmits it from a satellite channel. to another, before you decide to contact the supermarket.
The woman orders multiple goods from the supermarket that reflect her hunger for consumption, and it seems that she is trapped by her pathological fear of the shortage of goods and medicines, and of the return of her husband, who works abroad, while she is depleting his savings.
The play's author and director, Hani Afifi, told the Arab World News Agency (AWP) that this work was founded on the paradox of the relationship between inside and outside; And he wanted him to "transfer the inside to the outside and vice versa." He added: "The play as a whole transfers the random noise in the neighboring markets into the theatre. It also wants to attract the audience of those markets so that they move into the theater and break their alienation from a certain type of arts that they think is elitist, while it is popular but unable to reach it."
Afifi pointed out that what he described as the siege imposed by random markets on the location of the Vanguard Theater and the National Theater was what inspired him with the idea of the show; The two theaters that represent cultural values have become isolated from society and the public, which does not realize the value of the two theaters and does not know how to reach them.
Theater critic Ahmed Khamis believes that the play engages in an everyday adventure through the scene of the opera singer who stands in the middle of the square among the street vendors and arouses their interest. He describes its idea as “courageous, because it provokes the audience, condemns the isolation of the intellectual, and reveals the ugliness of consumer culture.”
He said: "The show belongs to sketch shows that are not united by a single dramatic link or thread, but rather they present their issues to the spectator and convey what is happening in society."
During the show, which lasts about an hour, the audience watches a series of performances that reveal a state of general confusion and convey everyone’s response to the issues raised by social media sites that have become society’s top priorities. Inside the theater are the show's actors playing vendors and holding loud speakers; The text also conveys their suffering in light of the difficult economic situation.
Khamis praised the ability of the show's author and director to "pass messages and criticism with the utmost craftsmanship and skill without engaging in a direct clash with censorship, as he relied on the mechanisms of satire and comedy to reveal the randomness and its impact on society." The performance ends with all the parties surrounded by a group of boxes of goods and medicines after the outbreak of fear. The play also sheds light on the issue of the alienation of the intellectual who is stuck in his ivory tower and unable to engage with daily issues. It is immersed in a maze of philosophical terminology and completely disconnected from the challenges posed by reality.
Khamis believes that the play rejects the classification of artistic production based on the extent to which it responds to the demands of a group or segment of intellectuals or the public, and advocates accepting the idea of pluralism, “as there is no conflict between the popular and the elitist as long as it achieves pleasure.”
The characters of the play are embodied by a group of amateur actors, along with actress Doaa Mohamed Hamza and actor Mohamed Abdel Fattah (Kalabala). As for director Hani Afifi, a graduate of the Directing Workshop at the Artistic Creativity Center at the Cairo Opera House, he presented a group of performances, including “About Lovers,” “Quarrels,” and “Not in Dreams.”
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