Ahmed El Attar / Temple Independent Company (Egypt)
Photo: Graham Waite

This performance is based on the events of the life of director/performer Ahmed El Attar. He is both the material and the one presenting that material. In sequences based upon his personal archives – love letters, school and university grades, programmes of the performances he has attended, work documents and letters etc. – a character is drawn who shares his views on his own perceptions of himself and on how the outside world perceives him.

This production further develops the performance style that has characterised recent Temple Independent Company productions – a combination of theatre, music and visual arts. A single intense rhythmic soundtrack accompanies the performance from beginning to end. In its emphasis on the use of electronics, driving and insistent loops and riffs, and emotional synth workouts, the music, composed by Hassan Khan, is based on contemporary Cairene Shaabi forms. The soundtrack’s presence and volume varies from the barely perceptible to full-on blasts. Video clips, also by Khan, are projected behind the performer, making this a multimedia performance in what the company describes as “new and relevant Egyptian theatre that is sensitive to the contemporary context in both form and content”.
(Length: 37 min.)

Performance schedule
2 dec 20.00 | Groningen – Grand Theatre (kleine zaal)
4 dec + 5 dec 19.30 | Amsterdam – Frascati (zaal 2)
8 dec 20.30 | Rotterdam Schouwburg (kleine zaal)
9 dec 20.00 | Stadsschouwburg Utrecht

click here for tickets
click here for program schedules

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Ahmed El Attar
Ahmed El Attar is an independent theatre director, translator and playwright who lives in Cairo and works in the Middle East and Europe. He is the founder and artistic director of the Temple Independent Theatre Company in Egypt and the founder and managing director of the Studio Emad Eddin Foundation. The studio is a unique space in Egypt and the Arab world, providing rehearsal space and training to performing artists in Cairo, and residencies to visiting trainers and artists. El Attar has a BA in Theatre from the American University in Cairo and an MA in Arts and Cultural Management from Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle. He is currently a Chevening scholar on the Clore Leadership Programme (UK). El Attar has been chosen by the Arabic edition of Newsweek as one of 42 personalities who influence change in the Arab world. Recent productions include F**K Darwin, How I’ve Learned to Love Socialism (2007), Othello Who’s Afraid of William Shakespeare (2006) and Mother I want to be a Millionaire (2004). His pieces, which address socially relevant themes, have been performed to public and critical acclaim throughout the Arab world and the West.

Director: Ahmed El Attar
Performer: Ahmed El Attar
Concept: Ahmed El Attar in collaboration with Hassan Khan & Hussein Baydoun.
Music: Hassan Khan
Video: Hassan Khan
Set designer: Hussein Baydoun
Costume designer: Hussein Baydoun
Light Designer: Charlie Alstrom
Ahmed El Attar’s performance directed by: Nevine El Ibiary
Sound engineer on tour: Hussein Sami
Production manager: Alan Wright
Light assistant: Saber El Sayed
Production assistants: Farag Hemida, Ashraf Saeed, Mohamed Abou El Fadl
Production accountant: Ahmed Nagui
Sound recording: Soundesign studios Cairo
Sound engineer: Bassem Shaheen
Poster & program design: Sherif Sami
Photography: Graham Waite
Special rhanks to: Yehia Mekawi, Nadine Khan, Brita Papini, Ninni Rydsjo, Boel Höjeberg, Wika productions, Frank Bradely, Stancil Campbel, David Wlodarski, Sami Shawky, Hana El Laham, Tarek Abou El Fotouh, Mohamed Talaat, Mohamed Abdel Fatah, Saad Samir, Isabelle Fauvel, May El Ahawany, Claudine Dussolier, Laetitia Manach, Philippe Foulquié, Sara Deschryver, Shaymaa Mohamed, Mahmoud Serry, Mohamed Tohami, Mohamed Mohsen, Hisham Saeed, Ahmed Abdel Khalek, & The participants in the lighting workshop organised by Studio Emad Eddin Foundation.

This performance is produced by the 9th Sharjah Biennal (UAE) & Orient productions (Egypt) with the support of Dramatiska Institute/SIDA – Tamasi group (Sweden).
The Temple Company’s aritsts residency in Marseille in August 2008 to prepare for the performance was partly supported by La Friche Belle de Mai while the travel costs of the artists was partly supported by the Roberto Cimetta Mobility Fund.
All rehearsals took place at Studio Emad Eddin Foundation and the preview performances were made at Rawabet Theater 2009 in Cairo.
Very special thanks to the performing and visual arts department of the American University in Cairo for their generous technical support.