The monodramatic theatrical work “2077”, starring the Palestinian artist Emil Saba and directed by the German Simon Effeler, deserved a certificate of excellence from the “Cairo Days International Monodrama Festival” in its sixth session (October 2023), where it was shown at the Hanager Theater in the Opera House. Egyptian, and received the applause of the audience. Various monodramatic performances from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, the Emirates, Sudan, Palestine, Italy, Argentina, Germany, France and Georgia competed for the official competition prizes of the festival. The Egyptian Festival was held under the slogan “Cairo, the Capital of Monodrama,” headed by director Dr. Osama Raouf. The Supreme Committee was formed of artists Ihab Fahmy, Lotfi Labib, Safia Al-Omari, and Liqaa Al-Khamisi, while the jury consisted of: Muhammad Abu Daoud from Egypt, Bassem Qahar from Iraq, and Marwa Qaraouni from Lebanon. The “2077” show derives the elements of its difference, distinction, and transcendence of the norm from the bet it makes on moving away from the present moment towards imaginative horizons that reveal a panoramic picture of what our world will be like in the year 2077 AD. The show, with all its data and charges, is involved in drawing the features of this near future, its characteristics, slogans, laws, and details, on the one hand.
The show, on the other hand, moves towards identifying with this future and its amazing achievements and applications, making itself appear as if it were a visionary show that will also be produced in the year 2077! In order to suggest this, the show is full of everything that is experimental, innovative, revolutionary, and rebellious, in terms of idea, text, content, treatment, representational, kinetic, and physical performance, direction, scenography, and all the elements of the artistic work, its vocabulary, and its advanced mechanisms that are in harmony with each other, and consistent with the ritual, emotional, and mental state that the show crystallizes. .
Within the framework of the narratives of one actor, his monologues with himself, his personal memories, and his stories about his relationships with others around him, according to the rules of monodrama in creating and interconnecting events, the play “2077” opens a light window into that terrifying coming existence. It is an existence in which dependence on humans will inevitably be reduced to a minimum, artificial intelligence will excel to the greatest extent, and robots will undertake vast, unprecedented control, planning, and production tasks. All of this will be accompanied by an exacerbation of the fierce conflict between man and machine, a conflict whose results tend day after day to favor the monstrous machine. At some point, the scene will grow darker, and the decision for humans to continue practicing this distorted life will become suspended and ambiguous, in light of defeat, brokenness, diminishment, and gradual, systematic disappearance. “Who wants to stay? Who will continue life: us humans, or the new beings that we create?” ! The play, which mixes classical Arabic with colloquial Palestinian dialect, embodies various stages of a police investigator’s journey, during which he deals with deciphering many ambiguous and highly ambiguous cases, which usually include cases of absence, kidnapping, torture, murder attempts, and so on. In his exciting investigations and chases, which have a breathless police nature, the investigator takes on more than one face. In addition to his original character as a detective, he is also another policeman who disappears under strange, complex circumstances that no one can explain. He is also an engineered version of that person called “Adam,” who represents the beginning of a new, modified version of humanity. This modified human version is the generation of robots manufactured with artificial intelligence technology. This robot matches the human in terms of its symmetrical appearance, and is not subject to any programming control on the part of the humans who have lost control over it. It acts on its own according to the personal program with which it manages itself, and here the disaster appears. Universality is possible at any moment. The fantasy show goes on to read the changes in the new automated world, and monitor the effects of artificial intelligence on everything that goes on on the planet colonized by machines. One of these manifestations is the construction of a huge separation wall to separate two areas, so that those residing in the first area inside the wall suffer from restriction, pain, misery, hunger and deprivation, while those residing in the second area outside the walls enjoy luxury, modern technology, and a life free of obstacles and disturbances. The investigator has fought dozens of cases, most of which he failed, but he succeeds in his most dangerous case, as he is able to discover the next generation of humanity, the generation of robots. This generation continues to exercise its power and cruelty, making the decision to exterminate everyone. Here, billionaire Elizabeth resorts to kidnapping the investigator, to ask him to help find Adam, the inventor of the destructive human version, to save humans from annihilation. It turns out that she was one of those who contributed to the project to manufacture artificial intelligence children, and the investigator responds to her request, to search for Adam, whom the woman claims is her absent, missing son. Although the show leans toward the idea of machines triumphing over humans, the conflict between the Detective and Adam always gives way to the faint hope that the Detective might do something worthy of praise. This is shown by the great trust that billionaire Elizabeth has in the investigator, and her repeated attempts to persuade him to undertake the task of searching for Adam, telling him, “Adam fled after the devil. I appointed all the investigators to find him, so he killed them all except you. His intelligence will increase, and it will not be possible to stop him. Perhaps he will become “The best for humanity, or the worst for humanity, and it may be the last for humanity. Help us, Inquisitor, to bring Adam back to us. Loyalty to us, and your reward will be great!” With the closing curtain drawn on complete darkness that involves a mutual farewell greeting between the investigator and Adam together, the ending remains open, even if it is colored by the blackness resulting from the irreversible and irreversible presence of the disaster of robots and artificial intelligence upon the earth, and there is no turning back from this miserable fate for humanity, which reduces the chances of survival or… Escape from the expanding nightmarish danger created by malicious technology. What is credited to the monodramatic show “2077” is that, in addition to the attractiveness of the idea, the content, and the woven dramatic escalation of the show, it presents, in terms of artistic vision, treatment, and performance, harmonious creative aesthetics, extremely sensitive and sensitive, as well as the technical presence and supplies of excitement and dazzle according to modern theater equipment and its integrated effects. The show’s elements and vocabulary are all fused into one harmonious context. The scenography reflects the atmosphere of mystery, police investigations, and explosive conflicts, through that contrast between complete darkness and the intense lights of the investigator’s searchlight. The confessional chair in the middle of the theatrical box also plays complex roles as a place for conducting investigation sessions, recalling memories, self-monologues, dialogues with others, and so on. The music and rhythms surround all the scenes with more suspense and a hazy tone that adds heat and tension to the growing events.
The prowess of the actor Emile Saba’s acting performance is combined with his ability to impersonate more than one character in a difficult monological setting, his possession of motor, physical and gestural performance skills, especially in situations of kidnapping and chases, and his ability to pronounce clearly and expressively, in both classical and colloquial language, safely, smoothly and without affectation. Despite the difficulty of the scenario, the depth of the idea, and the multiplicity of its layers, the intelligence of the direction, the focus of the scenography, and the spontaneity of the acting performance is one of the shortest ways for the text to reach the recipient, and to produce the desired effect, both mentally and emotionally.
