The National Theatre's most successful show of the season, Al-Motafael (The Optimist), will tour across Egypt governorates after being staged for 75 full-house nights in Cairo with 35,000 total attendees.

 

Directed and adapted for theatre by Islam Imam, the play, whose Cairo run was extended three times, will start its tour in Alexandria followed by Tanta then Qena and Aswan, before returning to Cairo.

 

 

The Egyptian adaptation of the classic novella Candide, written by French author François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire) in the 1750s, stars comedian Sameh Hussein who launched his artistic career in the theatre before moving to cinema.

 

Hussein's debut was in 2002 in Khaled Galal's direction of Lenin El-Ramly's Teheb Tshoof Maasah? ("Do You Want to Witness a Tragedy?"). He appeared in some 150 plays in various private and state theatres since.

 

 

In Al-Motafael, the 43-year-old actor shares the stage with Sahar El-Sayegh, Youssef Ismail, Ezzat Zein, Sawsan Rabie, Ayat Magdi, Tamer El-Kashef, Amgad El-Haggar, Zakaria Marouf, singer Mostafa Sami, and a group of the National Theatre's youngsters.

 

Al-Motafael's music is composed by Hisham Gabr, with poems and lyrics written by Tarek Ali.