“Beyond the Curtain: Voices That Refused to Stay Quiet”

 

“Beyond the Curtain: Voices That Refused to Stay Quiet”

By Amany El-Sawy 

Critical Review of the Theatre Performances of Term 2 students, College of Language and Communication – Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport

The outstanding theatrical performances of Term 2 students were not simply academic exercises—they were visceral, transformative experiences that challenged both performers and audiences to engage with questions of identity, silence, resistance, and truth. Because each production emerged from a careful adaptation of classic or original texts, the results were not only creative but deeply reflective of contemporary concerns. Whether reimagining a feminist tragedy or reframing an ancient myth, the students approached their work with remarkable thematic clarity and emotional commitment.

Although the productions varied in narrative structure and source material, a thread of urgency ran through them all. In A Bound Soul, for example, the audience was drawn into the stifled world of Minnie Foster before her silence became permanent. Because the staging was confined to a kitchen—her symbolic prison—every detail, from the birdcage to the scattered kitchen items, pulsed with meaning. This deliberate minimalism allowed the performers to focus on emotional nuance, inviting the audience to witness the quiet devastation of a woman unraveling under neglect.

Just as A Bound Soul gave voice to the unheard, My Only Son exposed the rot beneath the surface of familial loyalty. By transforming Noah—the illegitimate son—from a passive, forgiving figure into a bold and assertive truth-teller, the play invited us to question the legacies we inherit and the silences we protect. Because the props (a box of poison, a mysterious envelope, the grandfather’s will) were treated not only as objects but as metaphors, the tension rose steadily toward confrontation. Here, familial love was not celebrated blindly but interrogated with moral precision.

Meanwhile, Torn, a fusion of Simply María and Trifles, offered one of the most daring conceptual blends of the season. Although the play began in silence, it did not remain there. By giving María two spectral companions—Obedience and Freedom—the performance externalized her internal war between tradition and selfhood. Since every visual symbol was carefully selected (the torn dress, the mirror, the letter), the audience witnessed not just a personal journey but a cultural reckoning. María’s final decision to claim her voice was not framed as rebellion but as survival, a choice made in the face of centuries of inherited silence.

This same exploration of generational silence continued in The Last Thread, a modernized take on Trifles that relocated the story to a 1950s living room. While the setting may have changed, the emotional stakes remained the same. Minnie Foster, now a seamstress with dreams long buried, inhabited a domestic space filled with subtle clues: a sewing machine representing independence, a knife as rebellion, and a rocking chair echoing instability. Because the play asked whether Minnie was a murderer or a victim, it did not offer easy answers—it offered a haunting question that lingered long after the curtain fell.

Although these works focused primarily on gendered silence and emotional repression, Le Kawny Insan (For Being Human) widened the scope into political and philosophical terrain. By adapting elements from Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus and merging them with regional sociopolitical references, the play created a surreal world where gods mirrored corrupt political systems. Since Sisyphus was unjustly accused and yet cleverly resisted through wit and subversion, the performance became a metaphor for human dignity under systemic oppression. What could have been an abstract allegory was rendered deeply relatable through layered dialogue, dark humor, and compelling ensemble work.

The absurd took an even darker turn in El Ashaa El Akhir (The Last Supper), where familial dysfunction was pushed to the edge. When the death of the patriarch reveals a twisted condition in his will—that one family member must die for the rest to inherit—the play descends into a morally chaotic spiral. Because the writing balanced suspense with psychological depth, and because the actors portrayed greed and guilt without caricature, the performance left audiences with a chilling sense of how easily love collapses under the weight of inheritance.

Closing the lineup was Feathers, a subtle yet deeply affecting tribute to Trifles. While the men in the play dismissed domestic clues as insignificant, the women uncovered the emotional truth of a life unraveling. Because the production emphasized empathy and solidarity over drama, it avoided sensationalism and instead opted for a quiet power. The final act, in which the women choose silence as protection rather than complicity, served as a reminder that sometimes, what is unsaid is the loudest resistance of all.

To conclude, all of these performances, despite their differing styles and source materials, shared one core achievement: they turned the stage into a place of reckoning. Because the students were not afraid to challenge, to reinterpret, and to feel deeply, the result was not just an academic showcase, but a series of deeply personal and socially conscious artistic statements. Each group chose to speak where silence once reigned, and in doing so, reminded us that theatre is not a luxury or a performance of skill—it is a necessity, a mirror, and a call to awareness. And although the stories have ended, their echoes remain—within the audience, within the performers, and within a generation learning that the power of voice, once claimed, is unstoppable.