Hzlkom in Saudi Arabia .. Is Egyptian art back to the time of construction?

Hossam Fahmy-Cairo

What drives a successful Egyptian artist to experience his first theater experience outside the Arab Republic of Egypt? A question that makes sense, especially since we are talking here about Egyptian artist Ahmed Makki, who is undoubtedly one of the most popular Egyptian comedians.

It seems to be a question when the news about Makki playing a play tournament called "Hzlqom" will be shown during the activities of the Riyadh entertainment season, which will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the months of October and November next.

The news was announced by the organizers of the Riyadh season, headed by the head of the Saudi Entertainment Authority Turki Al-Sheikh, and then celebrated by Ahmed Mekki by posting a picture of him in the "Hzlqom" on his official page on Instagram.

Makki, Henedy and Al Fakharani
Mekki, of course, is not the only Egyptian artist to participate in the Riyadh season. In addition to that, Egyptian artist Mohamed Henedy is shown again in the play "3 Days in the Coast", in addition to the great Egyptian artist Yehia El Fakharani through the play "King Lear".

The most important difference here is that Henedy and Fakhrani have, with the difference, previous experiences in the theater, and that the current plays to be presented in Riyadh have already been presented inside Egypt to the Egyptian public, and Henedy and Fakhrani already have plays with a text and a team and the author and director, on the other hand it seems Mackie strange and surprising, as if untidy him.

Entertainment Riyadh
It seems as usual since Turki Al-Sheikh came to Egypt and then departed from it, linked to a particular image this man paints, namely his pride in bringing the most expensive months to his club or the events he is currently organizing, regardless of what they will offer, which is based mainly on the mindset devoted to sports In its competitive spirit, art is emptied of its value as content that is expected to provide social or political criticism, according to critics of the Sheikh.

Perhaps this is supported by the fact that the Al-Sheikh brought a number of plays that critics believe are devoid of any serious or experimental content from the works of the "Theater of Egypt" by Ashraf Abdel Baqi and his companions.

The Art of Contracting Time
What we fear, then, is that Makki's participation will be another sign of the return of the art of contracting, a name given by a number of art critics to films that were massively produced during the 1980s when oil money invaded the Gulf states, and with it the videos became a profitable business, which eventually led to To make a huge number of poor-quality Arabic movies, almost without script, just to fill as many videos as possible.

A large number of Egyptian artists were involved in this tragedy, tempted by the product money, which was marketed as a quick and easy gain, in return this poor production haunted them as a black point in their artistic history to this day.

It is similar to what is happening now when we see Makki suddenly come up with the character "Hazlakom", which originally appeared in his film "No retreat nor surrender" in 2010, written by Sharif Najib and directed by Ahmed al-Jundi.

Makki then returned and used it again in the final seasons of his successful Ramadan series "The Great Oi", to cast it without preparation to the stage of a Saudi theater without the announcement of the author, director or team of the play.

So there is nothing wrong with playing your plays anywhere, but the most important thing is that you care about the story of your play and your team, theater is the word, and money cannot change this equation.