The adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, directed by Mahmoud El-Hosseiny, won the festival's Best Production award during the closing ceremony held at Hanager Theatre last Tuesday.
The production, which premiered at the Creativity Centre Theatre, reimagines the classic tragedy through a contemporary theatrical language, combining puppetry with digital technologies, earning widespread praise from audiences and critics throughout the festival.
The production dominated the awards ceremony. El-Hosseiny shared the Best Director award, while Mohamed Salah received Best Actor for his portrayal of the Fool. The Best Actress prize was jointly awarded to Yomna Fathy for her performances as Goneril and Regan and Jana Atwa for her portrayal of Cordelia. The production also earned shared awards for Best Costume Design, presented to Shorouk El-Eissawy, and Best Set Design, awarded to Abanoub Latif. Reem Hamdy received a certificate of appreciation for her puppet design.
The Second Best Production award was shared by The Guardianship (Ain Shams University) and Temporary Suicide (Capital University). Rodent Control (Beni Suef University) and The Self (Ain Shams University) jointly received the Third Best Production award.
Abdullah El-Shenawy shared the Best Director prize for The Self, while Mohamed Nasser received the second Best Actor award for his performance in the production.
Certificates of appreciation were also presented to participants from Who Writes Whom, Ghosts, Missing Under Circumstances That Are Not Mysterious, For Zykas, and several other competing productions.
The jury, chaired by critic Atef El-Nemr and including costume designer Hala El-Zahwy, scenographer Samir Shaheen, actor Yasser El-Tobgy, and director Sameh Megahed, recommended introducing new awards for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Scenography in future editions.
The jury also called for the productions that won second- and third-place awards to be restaged on stages operated by the General Authority for Cultural Palaces, enabling them to reach wider audiences.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Minister of Culture Jehan Zaki described university theatre as one of the country's foremost incubators of artistic talent, saying it continues to renew Egypt's cultural movement by nurturing successive generations of theatre-makers.
She reaffirmed the ministry's commitment to supporting young artists and developing their skills as part of its broader goal of achieving cultural equity.
Director Khaled Galal, who attended the ceremony, reflected on his own beginnings in university theatre in the mid-1980s. Having watched most of this year's festival productions, he praised the participants' dedication and perseverance and thanked the minister for her continued support of the event.
The first edition of the festival took place in July 2014 as an initiative of director Khaled Galal, also head of the Creativity Centre.
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