We must admit, the title of theater guru Lenin Al Ramly’s comeback play is hackneyed. “Take off the Masks sounds too predictable. In a world that has been dominated by double-dealing, hypocrisy and materialism for decades, the mask metaphor is overused. But a word of advice for those who may have dismissed the billboard without a second thought: think again. We live in a world where you’re the odd one out if you don t wear a mask. This is perhaps one of the bitterest, yet most acceptable, of all realities. The fresh insight Al Ramly adds to this concept is one of the reasons why his award-winning play takes pride of place this season. A zealous cast brings the play to life, united by their passion for working with Al Ramly.
For the second time, the cast has staged a success, which two years ago carried off the Mediterranean Sea award for best performance at the Cairo Festival for Experimental Theater. The play reaped this prize for being the best Arabic text to deal with one of the hottest issues of our time, assistant director and actor Yasser Badawy told The Daily Star Egypt. The script will be translated into Italian and will represent the national theater at the National Theatrical Festival that will be organized next July. The play is another milestone in Al Ramly’s career. “Ahlan Ya Bakawat (Welcome Lords), his first hit, which, although written in 1989, continues to be a cult favourite. “‘Take Off the Masks’ is perhaps one of the very few shows people flock to for the script writer rather than the stars. The ensemble cast of Abu Nadara, the name Al Ramly s troupe, is the backbone of the performance. The cast remains fuelled by Al Ramly s text which focuses on an issue that relates more to the masses than to one individual. The group is the hero, remarked Badawy. The structure of the play is quite intriguing.
It is actually three plays in one. The first prelude to “Take Off the Masks, is “Al Muhadara (The Lecture), a monodrama by a pseudo-scientist. The second is the thematically related “Kulina Ayzeen Sura (We All Want a Photo) that tackles Egyptians fear being photographed by a stranger s camera, the fear of shame and exposure. “We All Want a Photo is simply a precursor to the critical question of masks. Here we encounter an impoverished district where corruption and contradictions eat into the fiber and ethics of the residents. There are drug addicts, hookers, fraudsters but people are only mindful of a stranger who lands in their neighborhood with his camera and starts clicking away at the scandalous scenes. Even when he swears he s taking these pictures for his personal portfolio, he has to face a flood of accusations including being a spy or an ill-intentioned reporter. The thematic peak, however, comes in “Take Off the Masks, set against the backdrop of the “One Thousand and One Nights, driving home the fact that double-faced people have existed at every time and place. Osman and his wife Kahramana return to their native land loaded with masks that capture the public s attention. These masks soon become the height of fashion and everyone starts wearing them when need be.
With the masks on, “the ugly is beautiful and the devil becomes an angel. On the religious platform, it’s “the mask of the pious man and the virtuous sister. But it s also a parody of these days’ makeup ads that conceal women s original features. Shockingly the sale of masks spreads like wildfire and soon starts to interest the rulers, the families and regrettably the country s top imam. But this work isn t meant to be just about politics, commented Badawy. The discrepancy between appearance and reality is reflected on the social, political and religious levels. The father forces his daughter to put on the mask to marry her off to her beloved; rulers use them to levy new taxes and make business along with the merchants; for the imam it is the only option left in a place where deserting the face-cover is considered weird behavior, added the assistant director. Technically the performance echoes works co-produced by Al Ramly and Mohamed Sobhi. In both “Take Off the Masks and “We All Want a Photo the plotline is propelled by the bard. In the former the bard is the traditional medieval storyteller Scheherazade; in the latter it is Abdel Shakur Zalan, a lecturer whose words precede the first piece. His presence is meant to be an ironic premonition of what will follow. He is a scientist with no knowledge, a researcher who needs knowledge only to boost his image. The question of masks is today s dilemma. It preoccupies Al Ramly and many other intellectuals. How long one can swim against the current, Al Ramly seems to be asking. His treatment of this age-old dilemma is one of the most relevant to our times.
