A few minutes into the show,other than faint classical Egyptian music playing in the background, we see an otherwise silent scene in which the two characters on stage each seem to be killing time in their own ways – the audience is then suddenly met with a ringing “ya din omi (similar to “oh my God!”),” by one of these mysterious characters. As the play pans out, we discover the two characters’ relation to each other: they have been sharing a room for quite some time and they are work colleagues. We discover later that their names are Amir and Sherif and they are hit-men awaiting further orders regarding their next mission. In the almost bare room portrayed on stage, consisting of just two beds, an obscure group photo hung on the wall, two doors and a small table, there is also some sort of unexplained small square door right in the middle of the back wall. The door, we later come to realize, is a small freight elevator – hence the derived Arabic title of the play. An Egyptian counterpart of a western play Harold Pinter’s ‘The Dumb Waiter’ is…
Theatrical Play ‘El Asanser’ Adapts Harold Pinter’s ‘The Dumbwaiter’ to Egyptian Audiences
February 28, 2020
