Julia Varley, guest of honor in Sharm el-Sheikh Youth Theater Festival

CAIRO - 12 March 2019: World famous actress Julia Varley will be the guest of honor in the much anticipated Sharm El-Sheikh International Youth Theater Festival's fourth edition, headed by Mazen el-Gharabawy.

The festival will be held from April 1-7.

Gharabawy clarified that Varley will present an applied lecture inspired by her work on dramaturgy, and will meet with Egyptian, Arab and international actors/actresses.

The lecture aims to teach Varley’s style of acting through motion, presence, incarnation and coloring; a method that enables the actors/actresses to deal with their role independently and combine their personal perspective.

This contribution represents an important aspect of the festival's activities in that it offers a distinguished and critical perspective on the status of the actor/actress while performing.

“Julia Varley is one of the pillars of the Danish Odin Teatret founded by Eugenio Barba more than 50 years ago,” said the festival's general coordinator Noura Amin said.

“She is an actress, director and writer who has been working as an acting coach for many years. She has developed her own method of acting and worked with female actresses and performers to establish a special perspective that supports women working in theater around the world,” continued Amin.

Julia Varley was born in 1954 in London and joined Odin Teatret in 1976. Apart from acting, she is active in directing, teaching, organizing and writing. At the age of three she moved to Milan, Italy, where she did her schooling, and studied philosophy at Milan University.

Before joining Odin Teatret she worked in Milan with Teatro del Drago, Centro Sociale Santa Marta and Circolo La Comune, and earned her living from being an assistant film producer.

With Odin Teatret, Varley teaches in schools and universities and has gathered her experience in four work demonstrations: The Echo of Silence; The Dead Brother; Text; Action, Relations and The Flying Carpet.

Since 1990, she has been involved in the conception and organization of ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology) and of the University of Eurasian Theatre, both directed by Eugenio Barba.

Since its beginning in 1986, she has been active in The Magdalena Project, a network of women in contemporary theatre. She is also the artistic director of Transit International Festival, Holstebro, and editor at The Open Page, a journal devoted to women's work in theatre.

In the framework of The Magdalena Project, Julia also takes part in the collaborative project "Women with Big Eyes" which has been performed in Denmark and Cuba.