Five human-sized puppets and five individuals dressed in similar attire to the puppets interview an official sitting behind a screen on a very high chair on top of a TV set. Initially, it’s not clear who is conducting the interview. The scene, in its entirety, is repeated in double-speed, injecting the stage with a more puppet-like feel. Amid the chaos of what looks to be a press conference, a mother appears in the moment she discovers that her son is a terrorist.
“At Your Service is director Laila Soliman’s second work. The play merges two texts: “The Mother by Franka Rama and Dario Fo and Harold Pinter’s “The Press Conference. Soliman presented Pinter’s play twice first before turning to “The Mother, utilizing the journalists and their puppets from the first play to maximum dramatic effect in the second.
The exciting visual aspect of this production stems mainly from the use of the human/puppets and the dramatic stage lighting.
Waleed Taher designed the puppet and the costumes, under the artistic supervision of Nagi Shaker, better known for his puppetry work in the highly popular operetta “El Leila El kebeera (The Big Night). Taher created parallels between the human actors and puppets through similar costumes, creating running themes between each puppet and the actor manipulating it, even deforming the human body to match the appearance of the dummies. Soliman succeeded in physically matching the human with the inanimate, moving all 10 figures on stage in a way that that translates to powerful images on stage.
The resemblance between the actors and their dummies is strengthened by Ihab Mahrous’s skillful make-up which adds more puppet quality to the actors’ faces, blurring the boundaries between human and doll.
The visual impact of “At Your Service is fully realized through the dramatic and often poetic lighting by Saad Samir which gives puppets a human feel, while making the actors feel more like puppets. Samir swiftly moves the play from the almost magical appearance and disappearance of the high official, to the soft light of doubt as the mother reminisces on her child’s transformation, from the nightmarish fears to the glaring brutality of prison visits.
Yet the poignant visuals seemed at times pointless, with the content falling being less powerful. A look at the production history could give us some clues.
“At Your Service is staged at Hanager Art Center, which did not, however, produce it. The funding for this production comes from a host of institutions: The British Council, Goethe Institute, The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Studio Emad Eddin, and the Jesuits and Brothers Association for Development.
This raises questions about the independence of independent theater, at least in its artistic choices. Money from foreign cultural centers in Egypt is dedicated to producing art pertaining to these cultures. It is a simple formula for young, and not so young, artists: choose a French text and you will have access to the funds and the facilities of the French Cultural Center, adapt a British play and you will get the British Council sponsorship. This could explain the scarcity of contemporary Egyptian texts on stage: there is simply no Egyptian cultural center to back it.
The European funding does not fully explain the non-Egyptian aesthetic of “At Your Service. The work of Franka Rama and Dario Fo has been successfully adapted to the Egyptian stage before. “Wake-Up Call was translated by Menha El-Batrawy, directed by Hassan El-Gretly, and superbly performed by Abla Kamel before television trapped her in performing the same exact role for more than 15 years.
Rama’s work, with her strong Italian sentiments and her attentive eye for detail when it comes to the cultural and socio-economic impact of gender roles, is easily adapted to an Egyptian setting. Yet this is not the case with the current production. Though the text of “The Mother translated and “Egyptianized by Zainab Mubarak is abundant with Egyptian references, including wars and various uprisings, the performance lacks an authentic Egyptian feel.
What adds to this incongruence is the performance of the protagonist, Amira Ghazala. A seasoned actress, most of Ghazala’s experiences have been on a European stage. Though her Egyptian accent is without a glitch, her cadence lacks a local feel. A couple of moments of true brilliance in her monologue emphasize her acting range and capabilities, heightening the loss of what could have been a virtuoso performance under the guidance of a veteran director.
Despite the defects of “At Your Service, Soliman handles the two challenging texts well, while managing a mixed cast of humans and puppets. She starts her play with stage images of unique visual qualities, but the ending left a lot to be desired.
Soliman, one of a handful of Egyptian female theater directors, is a welcome addition to the Egyptian theater scene. But will she be able to develop a voice that is truly Egyptian?
“At Your Service is showing daily at Hanager Art Center at 9 pm until July 25. The play will have a short run the following week in the Jesuits Theater in Minya.
