CIFCET gears up for its 24th edition, exposing young theatrical talents

CAIRO - 10 September 2017: Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theater (CIFCET) is gearing up for its 24th edition, running between September 19 and September 29, featuring an array of interactive seminars, workshops, and plays, the board announced on Sunday.

CIFCET manager Nasser Abdel Moneim has revealed in the conference that over 200 theater troupes have applied to participate in this edition.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture, the festival will feature ‘Three Sister’ that was composed by the late playwright Anton Chekhov in the opening ceremony.

Three Egyptian theatrical performances will be participating including The Day they Killed Singing, The Bridge, The 40 Rules of Love, The Experiment, Shaman, The Ambassador, Women with No Tomorrow.

The festival will feature Arab theatrical performances including Jordanian Shadow of a Female, Iraqi On Private, Iraqi Cart, Moroccan Balasmya, Moroccan play Fall, Tunisian Fall Night, Tunisian play Women in Resistance and Love.

Another segment of the festival , seminars are due to begin on September 20 overviewing several themes including ‘Aesthetics of Performance and the Cultures of Observation’, ‘Theater between Heritage and City’, ‘Forms of Contemporary Theater and Issues Concerned’, and ’Dissimilating Cultural Assumptions and Mainstream Discourses’, according to CIFCET official press release.

Sameh Mahran CIFCET director has defined in the press conference contemporary and experimental theater the values of contemporary and experimental theater.

“Contemporary theater really focuses on the performer’s body language and movementdifferently than experimental theater. There is a big difference between Contemporary and Experimental theater in the concept of performer and actor,” Mahran explained.

He further elaborated that the performer is another director for the show, where he/she integrated popular dance and music throughout their performances.

Contemporary theater mixes subjective and objective aspects of the performance. The common aspects between both types of theater are the criticism of impartiality, features of the performer and objectivity, he continued.

“The features of the performer are very important. The idea of defined structure does not exist anymore. And from here we witness a conversion of conventional methods to unconventional methods. Therefore, there is an excessive cohesion between contemporary theater and experimental theater”, Mahran mentioned.


Mahran has pointed out that diversity is the core of cultural exchange where he has announced international participating theater troupesfromArmenia, Kenya, Iraq, Morocco and Belgiumamongst others. The international theatrical groups are expected establish the pillars needed for the development in Egyptian theater.

Breaking culture barriers will also be vivid through the festival’s workshops and seminars that will be conducted by international experts, critics and practitioners.

“Integrating international theaters will help improve the current Egyptian theatrical scene,” Mahran emphasized.

Dina Amin, assistant manger for CIFCET encourages the participation of youth theatrical troupes who she thinks will be able to develop by the festival throughout observation and research introduced in the free-entry workshops.

“The observation aspect will be implemented by awaiting the audiences’ feedback, following the festival’s closing ceremony, to be able to evaluate its success,” said Amin.

As for the research, the festival’s board will evaluate different angles that they think can add to the dynamics of the Egyptian theater scene,” she told Egypt Today.

Similar to other international festivals, CIFCET has also experienced obstacles throughout its organization included hosting international theater troupes and instructors in Cairo, local of technological advancements, and reassuring that the program is welcoming for debates and discussions.

“We are working with a group of young people who can transcend these obstacles and are able to organize an international festival despite obstacles that precedes many stages. This requires defining the objective and deciding how the program will meet these objectives,” Abdel Moneim told Egypt Today.

Mahran has also explained that other obstacles included funding international performances and the lack of technological equipment.

The festival will be hosting five honorary guests including theater professor at the University of Berlin Erika Fischer, artistic and literary critic Hassan El Mone’ei, American theatrologist and professor at City University of New York Marvin Carlson, theater director Myung Jin Choi, and the late playwright Mahfouz Abdel Rahman who has recently passed away.