Zig Zig
Rape culture
During the British occupation of Egypt a hundred years ago, soldiers invade Nazlat al-Shobak, a small village near Giza. The villagers accuse the soldiers of gross misconduct and the matter is brought before a military court. Among the witnesses are twelve women who were raped.
The Egyptian theatre maker Laila Soliman found the transcripts in British archives. Zig Zig is a documentary theatre performance that takes the transcripts of these courageous witnesses as its starting point. Four actresses bring this historical material to life and link it to their personal experiences and to the contemporary culture of rape. A century on, has anything really changed?
• Laila Soliman is a writer, director and dramaturge. She lives and works in Cairo and studied at DasArts in Amsterdam, amongst others. She has previously appeared at the Kaaitheater with Whims of Freedom (2015).
The British soldiers entered the house in the afternoon, about 4pm. My mother-in-law asked the soldiers, “Shall we get you some geese?”, but they replied “Zig zig”.
directed by Laila Soliman | performed by Mona Hala, Reem Hegab, Zainab Magdy, Habiba Makhlouf (replacing Nadia Amin), Nancy Mounir | producer, acting coach & lighting designer Ruud Gielens | historical research Katharine Halls | director’s Assistants Hakeem Abdelnaeem, Habiba Makhlouf | costume Design Lina Aly | costume Design Assistant Nashwa Maatouk | set design Consultant Nagy Shaker | technical management Omar Madkour | technical team Mazen Mounib, Ahmed Saleh, Hassan Eid, Mohamed Talaat | English translation Katharine Halls | Arabic translation Shadi El Hosseiny | poster design Adham Bakry | website Design Ola Abulshalashel | production & promotion Ebtihal Shedid | production SHISH (Brussels/Cairo) | co-production Embassy of Switzerland in Egypt Office for International Cooperation (Cairo), HAU (Berlin), Kaaitheater (Brussels), Forum Freies Theater (Düsseldorf), BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zürich), D-CAF (Cairo) | in cooperation with Mahatat for Contemporary Art (Cairo), 15/3 Studios (Cairo), Goethe-Institut (Cairo) | A House on Fire co-production; with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union
Due to unforeseen circumstance, Nadia Amin will be replaced by Habiba Makhlouf.
– Nagesprek op 30/9/2016