This blog documents the work - in - progress of Spring Awakening, a theatrical performance about adolescence in the context of contemporary Egypt.

Performance dates: 01. – 06.04.2010 Rawabet Theatre, Cairo / 09.,10.04.2010 Jesuit Centre, Alexandria.


March 31, 2010

WEEK 24 (25.03. - 31.03.2010)

Last week / night before premiere tomorrow - excited actors, stitched costumes, finetuned sound and lights, beaten Nancy A.

Start pressing thumbs, toi toi toi and mucha mierda...

Anyone interested in coming to the last rehearsal:
Avant-premiere tonight (31.03.) at 20.30h @ Rawabet Theater
(closing doors at 20.30h!)

along the way

rehearsal 25.03.2010


March 24, 2010

WEEK 23 (18.03. - 24.03.2010)

Great, 1: All moving to Rawabet Theater.

Great, 2: Ahmed (17), from Alwan wa Awtar (Mokattam Youth Centre), is joining the play.

along the way

24h break in Fayoum...





...with a little bit of picture-postcard-background rehearsal...



March 20, 2010

March 12, 2010

WEEK 21 (03.03. - 09.03.2010)

We proudly present: Spring Awakenings Tuk Tuk!







along the way

rehearsal 09.03.2010

March 6, 2010

WEEK 20 (23.02. - 02.03.2010)

Rehearsing now at the Factory Space of Townhouse Gallery.

along the way

rehearsal 01.03.2010



along the way

"Noor" Fanpage



- TV-Soap originally broadcasted in Turkey 2005, dubbed in colloquial arabic 2008 (Syrian dialect)
- Main characters: Muhannad and Noor
- Brought up issues include premartial sex and abortion
- August 2009: 85 ooo 000 viewers
- “We censor slightly. It´s not huge. There are no big emotional things, no graphic kisses in the first place, no love scenes, no nudity. If we find, for example, a lot of drinking shots that are not essential to the plot, we take them out. But if someone is drunk and it’s part for the story, we leave it.” Adib Khair, Manager of Syrian Sama Production
- "... replete with wickedness, evil, moral collapse and war on virtues that only God knows the truth of." Sheikh Abdul Aziz al Sheikh, mufti of Saudi Arabia
- MBC added an extra channel that broadcasted "Noor" 24h a day and is now preparing to produce a feature film out of the show.

February 21, 2010

WEEK 19 (16.02 - 22.02.2010)

1 picture, 1 ficitious character, 1 actor:

"Any woman wearing a belly dancers dress will look pretty."
"Today I got a suitor. (...) Finally there is someone who brings me red flowers and takes me out on a friday night."
"At the age of 14, I had a boyfriend. He said he would show me how much he loved me. I´m not a virgin anymore."
"If mother had been here, maybe I would have talked to her."
"It feels not normal at all, but it has to happen."

along the way

Rehearsal with Karima, 17.02.2010



along the way

February 9, 2010

WEEK 18 (09.02 - 15.02.2010)

Reading / voice collaging content of 8th grade biology book with actors.
Processing in scenography.

along the way

"Of course I take her with me in my Tuk Tuk. But we pretend that we don´t know each other." (Mostafa, 16)



Wide spread medium of transportation (Cairo: about 100 000), import started less than 10 years ago from Southeast Asia, legally speaking it does not exist.

February 7, 2010

WEEK 17 (02.02 - 08.02.2010)

Travelling to village Elkerdany for the third time. Basma (19) and Maisa (16) are getting married.

"He didn´t want to buy her a dress, so she will rent one. It still costs 1 000 pounds." (Amal, 18)
"Today the daughter doesn´t need any advice of her mother anymore." (Basma, 19)
"Which bride is more pretty? Did her dress have sleeves?" (Maisa, 16)
"We sleep, we eat, we sleep, we eat, that´s what we do." (Amal, 18)
"White is beautiful." (Heba, 18)
"The groom buys everything made out of wood. The bride buys everything else." (Yousef, 11)
"In this village costs for marriage are extremly high. Like 70 - 80 000 pounds. In another village, the adjacent for example, you can manage with 10 000 pounds. Why? Why I ask them. ´Because the other daughter got this, and they got that.` It´s all about money, all materialistic. They start life with debts. Not what´s in the head is important, but who has what. One family bought the groom a computer. He didn´t know how to use it." (Ahmed, 50)
"This febuary I´m getting married." (Seham, 16)

along the way

Henna night of Basma, 03.02.2010

Basma, Amal, Mostafa (brother), relatives and neighbors congratulating, Suad (mother)



Wedding preparation Basma, 04.02.2009

Basma; unknown girl (16) prepared for her engagement




Transport of Maisa´s furniture, 04.02.2009
friends, Seham, Amal and Mey




Maisa and Amal shop for the wedding, 03.02.2010

Going with Tuk Tuk to next bigger town, Amal and Maisa




Henna night of Maisa, 04.02.2010

Mey, Seham; Maisa, relative



Wedding Maisa, 05.02.2010

coiffeur, photostudio, party/new house, 15 min. away from Elkerdany