He saw that his departure from the artistic scene was more generous than participating in a worthless work

Ashraf Abdel-Baqi: “The Egyptian Theater” paused to preserve the balance of our success

• Ashraf Abdel Baqi: I am glad that the Egyptian theater was a great leap in this field.

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A state of artistic activity that the artist Ashraf Abdel-Baqi is currently experiencing, as he returns with the film "Socrates and Nabila" to the cinema after an absence. He also presents more than one theatrical show such as "The Locanda" and "Blessed Morning" after the stoppage of the Egyptian Theater, which formed an important milestone in modern comedy, and presented a number Among the young comedians of today are: Ali Rabie, Hamdi Mirghani, Mustafa Khater, Aws Aws, Karim Afifi, and others.

In his interview with Emirates Today, Ashraf Abdel-Baqi revealed the reasons for the stopping of the Egyptian theater, foremost of which is the attempt to preserve the balance of the success of this promising artistic project of success among the public, which has left many stars who have filled the comedy arena in particular now.

'Socrates and Noble'

Regarding his return to the cinema through "Socrates and Nabila", the hero of "A Man and Six Women" said, "The film is directed by Hisham El Shafei and produced by Newbought Corporation, written by Abdel Fattah Kamal, and co-starring Ahmed Fathi, Sherif Abu Hamila, Muhammad Fahim, Dina, Sami Maghouri, Muhammad Abdel Azim, and a number of New faces.

The events of the work take place in a social comic framework, and it depends on the comedy of the situation and the struggle of generations, as the vision of a young man and a girl from the new generation collides with the parents, and every generation tries to prove itself despite the authoritarianism of the fathers, describing the film as a wonderful experience that wished her to achieve success, especially since it discusses a lot. An important issue.

Regarding the reason for his recent absence from television and cinema, he added, “I lover art and I do not intend to be absent. I am theatrical, television and cinematic, and I love everything related to art, but the absence has a logical reason for not being without influence, and to explain this point, I must say that I reject any presence. Not distinguished merely to prove the presence, and if there is no work of value, then the dimension is better and generous, and in the recent period there were works that I did not find influential or powerful, and they were present immediately at the time I found ideas, text and a suitable project. ”

A spirit of defiance

Abdel-Baqi recently explained his direction to theater directing, although he is mainly an actor, by saying: “I find a very special pleasure and flavor in this challenge. The directing is characterized by a strange spirit of challenge and a general and complete responsibility for work, and this has a special taste.”

After the experience of the Egyptian theater and its success over the years, 120 performances and several seasons ... why did this project, which caused a stir, which still resonates, was stopped?

A question answered by Ashraf Abdel-Baqi, saying: “I’m happy that everyone knows that the Egyptian theater was a great leap in this field, as we started with almost no potential, in addition to new faces and the lack of big stars who guarantee success, and we have actually presented six seasons that included 120 performances at Masr Theater. And all the stars of the Egyptian theater became famous people and representatives of great works and tournaments, and at some point we found that we would repeat ourselves and may be consuming from the value of our previous success and our balance among the audience, and the topic will be ridiculous, as there is nothing new, we have presented all the ideas and topics from our point of view, and it was our all choice to take The decision to stop while we are at the height of success instead of stopping in failure and the public boredom, so we stopped the project completely.

He revealed another reason for the stopping of the Masr Theater: “Frankly speaking, after the Egyptian theater actors became big stars and played tournaments and are busy in cinema and drama, it became difficult to assemble them, and I suffered in that with the last shows of the Masr Theater, so we decided to finish the project, and then we thought about making plays. Singly ».

And he considered that his relationship with the stars of the Egyptian theater is the relationship of a father with his children and everyone is bound by the same family relationship: “All the stars of the Egyptian theater are my children and my friends, and I am happy with them because they are self-made and perseverant, and they are talented and ambitious young people, and they started from scratch, and they are very loyal to their work, and they have a good relationship and spirit of cooperation A human and professional clarity, and we are all in contact more like family than colleagues at work, and we are linked by family friendship outside work and we are always in contact. ”

"Blessed morning"

Ashraf Abdel-Baqi added about the solo theater experience "Blessed Morning" that he recently presented: “I was looking for a job completely far from the style of Egyptian theater plays, so the thinking was focused on presenting a long play, different from the short works that we presented in the Egyptian theater for years, and I liked it. A blessed morning play project, and I found it suitable for what we want, so I decided to implement it.

The play was written by Ahmed Abdel Wahab and Karim Sami and the poetry of Ayman Bahjat Qamar, composed by Ahmed Al-Moji, and it brought together a number of artists, including Ali Rabie, Aws Aws, Suleiman Eid, Taher Abulaila, Husam Dagher, Ahmed Sultan, and a group of adult and young actors, and the idea of ​​the work revolves around a crime The morning of the wedding night falls, and the events revolve in a frame of excitement and comedy.

Abdel-Baqi continued: “The experience was very difficult, but we succeeded in it despite all the circumstances.

No Surrender in front of the cloud of "Corona"

On the difficult circumstances of the performance of the play “Blessed Morning” with an audience of 25% due to the Corona virus, artist Ashraf Abdel-Baqi said: “These circumstances expose us to many obstacles and still expose us to what is frustrating, but we are committed to precautionary measures, and an attendance rate of 25% in order to preserve people's health and lives, and in general. There is no despair with life, as they say, and we are a generation accustomed to difficulty in everything, whether in cinema, theater or drama. That is why it is natural that we face and risk and take risks and bear for the sake of our art and fight the most difficult circumstances, and everyone should carry an adventurous spirit, because we are in difficult circumstances.

He added, "We will not let artistic life die out of fear, and so do all art makers in the world, and God willing, conditions will be temporary, and the gloom will soon subside, but we have learned the challenge and not give up, and if we succumbed for a long time to the difficulties, we would not have existed until now."

"I am a lover of art and I do not intend to be absent .. In the recent period there were works that I did not find influential or powerful."

"All the stars of the Egyptian theater are my children and my friends, and I am happy with them because they are self-made, and they are young people who started from scratch."

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