Plays from Egypt, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Macedonia, Serbia, Tunisia, Belgium and Iraq were staged in Alexandria as part of the coastal city’s all-new International Contemporary Theatre Festival which took place between 2 and 7 May.

The festival aims at reviving theatre practices at the BA and providing a platform for Egyptian audiences to explore contemporary art from Egypt and the international scene.

In the previously published interview for Ahram Online, Saeed Kabeel, theatre programmer at the BA Arts Centre said that "The festival [is] an exploration and a journey through many theatre languages and techniques, even if through a relatively small number of troupes that participate in the AIFCT's first edition."

He added that though the call for submissions was released late, the BA Arts Centre received over 35 applications from theatre troupes in Egypt and over 75 from international troupes.

"This is the first edition and we had quite limited capacity. Hence we had to accept a small number of applicants. We will work on expanding the festival in upcoming editons."

Photos: courtesy of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina