The Cairo Opera House is celebrating spring in its own way. In its Small Theatre in Cairo, the Opera Cultural Salon is hosting the famed Egyptologist Wassim al-Sisi on Tuesday 14 April to talk about “The Egypt you don’t know”. The plastic artist Amin al-Serafi will act as moderator. Dr Sisi, who is also a prominent urologist, will talk about some little-known facts pertaining to the ancient Egyptians and their civilisation.
Blue Elephant
Also in Cairo, but this time on al-Gumhouriya Theatre in Downtown Cairo, the modern theatre dance group will give performances of The Blue Elephant for three successive evenings starting Wednesday 14 April. The show is based on a novel with the same name by Ahmed Murad, and is choreographed and directed by Munadel Antar, the artistic director of the modern theatre dance group.
The show centres around the psychiatrist Yehia who goes back to practice psychiatry at the hospital he used to work in after five years of voluntary isolation. He is stunned to find out that one of his patients is an old school friend who was awaiting a decision on his responsibility for committing a crime. Dr Yehia undergoes a personal dilemma as his friend’s and his own past unfold bearing some disturbing realisations.
The modern theatre dance group was founded in 1993 and was the first of its king in the Arab World. It has gone on to represent Egypt in several international festivals, winning prizes all along.
Love stories
In Damanhour in the west Delta, the Cairo Opera group will present on the Sayed Darwish Theatre two performances of Love Forever on Thursday and Friday 15 and 16 April. The concept and dialogue are Amal Higazy’s, and the shows are directed by Hazem Rushdy.
The performance starts with the King of the Planet of Love waking his granddaughter to celebrate the feast of spring and love. He narrates to her a sample of the most famous love stories that have formed the topics of operas, operettas, and musicals. Among them: Cats, West Side Story, Ghost of the Opera and Sound of Music.
The Cairo Opera group was formed in 1994 and has brilliantly performed classic and Egyptian operas. Its repertoire includes more than 32 operas, and its members have participated in international performances on some of the greatest opera houses in the world.
Watani International
13 April 2015