“Speed” from Iraq was presented at the Cairo International University Theater Forum...at the Rawd Al-Farag Culture Palace.
Yesterday, the Rawd Al-Farag Culture Palace witnessed the presentation of the theatrical performance “Speed”, from Iraq, as part of the official competition performances of the Cairo International University Theater Forum in its fifth session, in the presence of the president of the forum, director Amr Kabil, the performances jury, the artist Mohsen Mansour, the director Tamer Karam, and Ahmed Abu Rahima, Director of the Theater Department at the Department of Culture in Sharjah (UAE), researcher Muhammad Rashid Rashoud from the UAE, writer Magdy Mahfouz, and many Egyptian, Arab and foreign playwrights, journalists and media professionals.
The play “Speed” is an adaptation of the text “Night of the Assassins” by Cuban writer Jose Trijana for the team of the Theater Department at the College of Fine Arts, University of Baghdad, Iraq.
The play “Speed” deals with the effect of the drug methamphetamine on young people, which is a very strong stimulant of the central nervous system. It is a recreational drug and is used in second-line treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and in cases of obesity. The show explains how this drug has become popular among young people. Recently, it entered our society without warning.
In the play, the children turn, as events escalate, into addicts to this stimulant drug, due to the pressure of the father, who abuses his daughters and sons with all kinds of physical, verbal, and psychological violence. He makes his boy children copies of himself and treats the girls as if they were dolls and toys, and he has the right to do with them whatever he wants, and the mother becomes weak in personality. She does not move a finger and does not defend her daughters and sons, and the mother and father leave the house, one time, so that the children play all the roles and every night they kill their parents, which makes the children addicted and the play turns into hallucinations due to abuse, and this is all a game, to emphasize the manifestations and influence of patriarchal authority, in various societies
The play is starred by: Tabarak Hamed, Catherine, Sajjad Afar, Hussein Muhammad, music is performed by Mawaddah Khalaf, assistant director and set decoration is Safa Ali, assistant director, costumes and make-up are Fatima Kazem, production and decor is managed by Muhammad al-Naqqash, and music is directed by Zaydoun Hussein, about “Night of the Killers” written by Directed by Laila Fares.
The jury for the official competition performances is composed of the distinguished artist Azza Labib (Egypt), the actress and artist Randa Al-Asmar (Lebanon), the actor and director Karim Rashid (Sweden), and the theater critic and interior designer Dr. Aida Allam, Professor of Theater Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Helwan University (Egypt), Doctor. Dr. Tahani Al-Gharibi from (Saudi Arabia)
It is worth noting that the fifth session of the forum, bearing the name of the distinguished artist Farida Fahmy, is held under the slogan “Life is Ours,” and witnesses 11 theatrical performances, Egyptian, Arab and foreign, including 9 performances in the official competition. During this week, the audience of the forum will see three Egyptian performances and six Arab performances. From Iraq, the Sultanate of Oman, the Emirates, Tunisia, Morocco, Kuwait, and a performance outside the official competition for the Taibah Academy team, and a theatrical performance at the closing ceremony.
The Cairo International Forum for University Theater will be organized from 21 to 27 October. It is chaired by the founder of the forum, director Amr Kabil, and its higher committee is chaired by Professor Dr. Hossam Badrawy. Its membership includes the star artist Tariq El-Desouki, the writer and author Fatima Naout, and the writer Dr. Amal Siddiq Afifi, and Professor Dr. Samar Saeed, Dean of the Higher Institute of Folk Arts, Secretary-General of the Forum, and Artistic Director of the Forum, the star artist Hossam Dagher.
The forum continues its sessions after the success and great international resonance of the first international gathering of its kind in Egypt for university theatre, where the first session was launched in October 2018, under the patronage of Mr. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The forum is organizing its fifth session, in the period from 21 to 27 October. 2023, under the official sponsorship of Prof. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, for the third session in a row, with the support and sponsorship of the Ministry of Culture, headed by Prof. Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, headed by Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, the Tourism Promotion Authority, and the Egyptian Artists Foundation for Culture and Arts.
