The Experimental Theatre Club competition is a new initiative launched within the 28th edition of the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre (CIFET).

Spearheaded by the festival's president Gamal Yakout, the initiative aims to shed light on experimental theatre practices outside Cairo.

The competition comprises nine performances with troupes performing in Minya, Beni Suef, Damietta, Kafr El Shukr, Wadi El Natrou, Port Said as well as Cairo's Sayed Darwish theatre and at the Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts.

The jury of the competition consists of renowned Egyptian theatre figures: director Ahmed Taha, actor and director Shady El Daly and theatre critic Fady Nashaat.

The plays are being staged between 14 and 18 December.

The 28th edition of the CIFET takes place between 14 and 19 December.

The 28th edition is presided over by Yakout, with artistic directors Mohamed Abdel-Rahman El-Shafei and Saeed Kabeel. It bears the name of Fawzy Fahmy, a late renowned Egyptian theatre academician, who for many years served as president of the Cairo’s Academy of Theatrical Arts and also headed the festival’s many editions in the 1990s. Fahmy, who was the event’s honorary president in its 27th edition (2020), passed away in October.

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