The latest Egyptian theater adaptation of “Hamlet starts with a short film of a young Egyptian man finding his way in the crowded streets of Cairo, negotiating a path through the puddles of water, fantasizing over the photos of weddings in a shop window, then discovering a copy of “Hamlet in a pile of old books.
As the film ends, the young man, with his copy of the play, appears on stage in a crowded metro, with the other characters of “I’m Hamlet setting the scene to this exploration of the common ground between the old and the new, the classical tale and contemporary politics, 17th century Denmark and 21st century Egypt.
This play is an outcome of the training workshops organized by the Cairo Opera House’s Artistic Creativity Center, whose last production “Ahwa Sada (Unsweetened Coffee) became an unexpected hit last year. The current production uses some of the same performers, and is directed by Hani Afifi, who is a member of the second class of the directing workshop.
Afifi adapted Shakespeare’s play based on the four available Arabic translations. In the program Afifi writes: “Hamlet and I are partners, in sorrow, in pressures, in confusion, in searching for the truth, in hesitation, in asking for justice, in facing corruption, and maybe in facing the same dark fate. Hamlet I am also Hamlet. Hamlet I am Hamlet.
The main concept behind the reworking of the classical text, Kareem Arafah told Daily News Egypt, is finding connections between the dilemma of the Prince of Denmark and the Egyptian youth: both are suffering yet are not able to take action. There is so much to change in their respective worlds, but they talk rather than do.
The play’s main character is depicted reading “Hamlet in what appears to be his room in Cairo, decked in furniture that reflects his modest economic background. He uses the metro for transportation, and encounters some of the characters on his metro rides, including his confidant, Horatio.
The metro is used to create a visual connection between the classical and the modern throughout “I’m Hamlet; the set reflects the centrality of the metro using a large map of the metro, with the familiar large “M adorning the right side of the stage, while on the left side, below Hamlet’s room, are two of the generic blue metro seats down stage.
In addition to the scenes on stage simulating Cairo metro, the actual tunnels are filmed and projected on screen. After Ophelia’s death, her brother is filmed in one of the stations alone after the metro carrying her left the station.
Comedy is one of the main elements of this production that is stuffed with one-liners and improvised jokes.
But although the comedy is amusing, it nevertheless breaks the flow of the drama and meddles with the logic of the play.
For instance, when Polonius delivers some messages to the king, it comes from Norway in a scroll. The note from Hamlet to Ophelia, on the other hand, is a text message on her phone. This mix occasionally works, though it does not add much to the fabric of the play. What does not work is when the performer breaks the logic of the play for the sheer sake of a laugh.
The ambitious project of finding a connecting thread between Hamlet’s anguish and the distress of Egyptian young men is epitomized through the language of “I’m Hamlet which mixes Egyptian colloquial with fusha (classical Arabic) throughout the performance, often in the same sentence.
Hamlet’s soliloquies start in simple street language then jump to fusha without clear justification or preparation. Most surprisingly is how the famous soliloquy starts with Hamlet’s confiding in the audience, then unexpectedly shouting in English “to be or not to be, eliciting laughter rather than compassion with his impasse of not being able to live, or to commit suicide. The merging of the three languages creates an odd mélange that detaches the audience from Hamlet’s torment, regardless of whether he is a Danish prince or a suffering Egyptian youth.
The revisions and attempts to modernize reach many aspects of the play, apart from the role of women. Gertrude still represents the classical mother/whore, while Ophelia is infantilized by all the men in her life: namely her brother, her father and Hamlet. Presenting the old patterns within the modernized tale is unsettling as it does not examine the dated dynamics between men and women, hence accepts and re-enforces them. Meanwhile, it implies that the suffering of Egyptian youth is confined to Egyptian young men alone, leaving women out of the equation.
Afifi’s ambitious project of Egyptianizing “Hamlet works visually, but does not affect the core of the play, creating confusion and ambiguity in some of the scenes where it is not clear if the main character is reading the play, or acting it, or living it. Toward the end, the text disappears from his hands and the tale of the Bard takes over, proving that, regardless of location, the powerful spirit of the master storyteller, Shakespeare, can be louder than even the noise of the Cairo metro.
“I’m Hamlet is screening daily at 7 pm at the Cairo Opera House’s Artistic Creativity Center until Monday, July 6. Tel: (02) 2736 3448.
