October 2020, initial date for National Egyptian Theater Festival’s 13th edition

CAIRO – 16 June 2020: October 2020 has been set as an initial date for launching the Egyptian National Theater Festival, as confirmed by its president veteran actor Youssef Ismail after consultations with the Higher Committee.

The festival will celebrate the 150th anniversary of establishing the Egyptian theater, and the 13th edition of the festival will have its own special characteristics.

Hence, the Higher Committee is currently working on developing visions for the activities of this celebration through seminars, dialogue sessions and publications that will be included in the new edition of the festival.

It is worth mentioning that the head of the national festival did not rule out the existence of a dialogue on the problems of the theatrical movement, including the one concerning the historical aspect of the Egyptian theater, which has been raised recently.

This is despite his firm conviction that the Egyptian theater started in 1870 at the hands of Jacob Sanoua, who presented translated theatrical performances, before it was mentioned to Khedive Ismail on the pretext that one of his plays mocks the Khedive's marriage to two women.

This caused Sanoua to be exiled out of the country for four years. However, this did not stop him from playwriting from abroad; his plays were presented in Egypt by Khalil and Ismail el-Qabbani.

Ismail further indicates that this dispute does not prevent the event from being celebrated because the Egyptian theater's history, which extends over a time span of 150 years, deserves to be celebrated.