The actress took the stage as one of the honorees of this year’s festival. She focused on the names that initiated the Egyptian independent theatre movement, with which she also identifies.

“The independent troupes of the 1990s represented an important movement in the Egyptian theatre,” Aly explained, adding that the insufficient archiving methods did not allow them to shine and be recognized by today’s theatre followers.

She traced the development of independent troupes from the late 1960s through the 1970s, highlighting those who embraced performers from small villages, giving them space for improvisation.

Such was the case with the Al-Gorn Theatre troupe founded by Ahmed Ismail and Youssef Ismail in Shubra Bakhoum, a village in Egypt’s delta. Al-Gorn refers to a threshing floor for corn or other grains. 

Aly mentioned another troupe formed by Hanaa Abdel-Fattah in Denshawai, a village known for the massacre perpetrated by British Army officers against Egyptian villagers in 1906. The success of the troupe's performances under Abdel-Fattah drove it to perform a play depicting the tragedy of Denshawai at Cairo's National Theatre in the 1970s.

Furthermore, she pointed out the role played by Menha El-Batrawy and Abdel-Aziz Makhyoun, who founded troupes that performed in Cairo and Abu Hummus, a town in Beheira Governorate. “Ahmed Kamal, Nasser Abdel-Moneim, Sayed Ragab, and Abla Kamel were among the young actors in this troupe,” Aly continued, enumerating today’s important names in the Egyptian theatre scene.

She also paid tribute to Hassan El-Geretly who formed the El Warsha company in the 1980s, ushering in an era that saw the emergence of other troupes in the following years.

“Here we need to thank the former culture minister Farouk Hosni, Fawzi Fahmy [late academic and former head of the Academy of Theatrical Arts], and Hoda Wasfy, the founding director of the Hanager Theatre,” Aly noted.

Farouk Hosni launched the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre (CIFET) in 1988. Fawzi Fahmy became its longstanding president in its second round in 1989. After he left the position, Fahmy remained supportive of the festival throughout its following editions. The festival opened doors to young Egyptian theatre makers and even forged connections with Arab and international theatre.

Hoda Wasfy was appointed the first director of the Hanager Theatre which, since the late 1980s, embraced the growing independent theatre troupes on its stages.

“Following the launch of the CIFET, the number of the Egyptian theatrical troupes began increasing. We learned new ways of creating theatre and began looking for various theatrical formats,” Aly explained.

She went on to underline many who contributed to the theatrical meanders and were no longer with us. These included late director Mohamed Aboul Soud, renowned late actors Khaled Saleh and Mansour Mohamed, and late actress and producer Vanya [Vanya H.S. Exerjian].

In addition, Aly mentioned others of her colleagues, including, among others, actress Caroline Khalil, directors Mahmoud Abou Douma, Ahmed El-Attar, Tarek Said, Hany El-Metennawy, Nora Amin, Abeer Aly, Effat Yehia, playwright Rasha Abdel-Moneim, director and scriptwriter Mohamed Abdel-Khalyk, actors Khaled El-Sawy, Boutros Boutros Ghaly, Ahmed Kamal, Sayed Ragab, Sayed Fouad, Mohamed Abdel-Azim, Hamada Shousha, actresses Hanan Youssef, Moataza Abdel-Sabour, Azza El-Husseiny, and light engineer Abou Bakr. 

She kept reading a list of renowned names who have shaped the theatrical scene over the past decades.

While giving names of theatre critics, scenographers, light engineers, and many others who have contributed to what she called the “unarchived” segment of the Egyptian independent theatre’s history, Aly also recalled the victims of the Beni Suef fire.

The tragic incident of 5 September 2005 at the theatre of Beni Suef Cultural Palace claimed over 50 lives instantly, with dozens succumbing to injuries weeks following the fire, which erupted during a performance of The Zoo Story, a one-act play by Edward Albee.

The packed auditorium included numerous founders of the Egyptian independent theatre movement. Salwa Mohamed Aly enumerated a few of those late artists including Mohsen Messelhy, Nabil Badran, Ahmed Abdel-Hamid, Medhat Abou Bakr, Hazem Shahata, among others.

She concluded by expressing her delight at naming several people who have had an enormous impact on the theatre movement, some of whom many people do not know by name.

Often referred to as “the queen of secondary roles” in cinema and television, the protagonist's mother or best friend, Salwa Mohamed Aly carved herself a name as one of the best actresses of her generation, shaping images of powerful women on the screen. 

In past years, Aly has been honoured multiple times at several film and theatre festivals in Egypt. She also sits as a jury member at many of these festivals.