The winners of the 2B Continued theatre and contemporary dance festival's fifth edition – held on 16, 18 and 19 January – were announced early on Thursday by Studio Emad Eddin.

Best Sound and Best Light were awarded to Mohamed Kamal for What is Left, a dance performance choreographed by Mohamed El-Deeb. The raw and rather aggressive piece tackled the harsh dynamics of human relationships in today's society.

The festival's two plays, Mirror by Yasmine Emam and Triangles Are My Favourite Shape by Seif Abdel-Salam, tied for Best Performance.

Choreographed by Mounir Said, the dance piece A Room Filled with Smoke displayed, according to the voters, the Best Set and Costume Design, executed by Maha Fahmy and Wafaa Abdel-Latif.

After the four performances – which featured four performances tackling largely bleak themes, including suicide, oppressive gender roles and deteriorating values in contemporary society – on each of the festival's three nights, the audience was requested to vote for best sound, performance, set and costume, and lighting. 

Conceived by Studio Emad Eddin’s director of workshops and residencies Nevine El-Ibiary, 2B Continued is an incubator for emerging performing artists. Its fifth edition, held at downtown Cairo's Falaki theatre, spotlighted its rolled in challenging and supporting up and coming performance companies.

Read Ahram Online's review of the 2014 2B Continued theatre and contemporary dance festival here, and check out photos of the event in this gallery.