“Do you remember … I wonder …. our green fence ….where birds roamed”

She stood there, face in the fullness of the stage light, facing the public and giving a BIG HUGE smile … that nevertheless was a complex load of sadness, pain and hatred.

“That day our love was a legend in our neighborhood … the legend of roses … the hymns of flowers”

Her large terribly sad smile turned into a fixed sad gaze on the public … the deeper feelings of pain, sadness and hatred all sprang up unhidden by any fake smile.

“Do you remember … I wonder … my blond hair … the silk shawl?”

The large fake smile started again, this time even bigger and animated, and a sprinkle of tear shone through her eyes comprising the deep effect on the audience even stronger.

The scene described here is from the short play “The Lady Who Came at 6″, showing a modern theatre representation of the story by the same name for Gabriel Garcia Marquez. An independent theatre group came together under the young director Reem Hegab, creating this short 50minutes piece and bringing it to life at Al Ghadd theatre in Agouza. The depiction of the story included acting and dancing, with music in the background creating the atmosphere.

The talented actress described above is Nevine el Tuny, a tall slim lady whose role for most parts was completely funny and hilariously scenically connected to the otherwise-too-serious play. She shocked us all only in this scene-before-last with only her face portraying the deepest feelings of the human soul while showing on the outside simple features which normally would hide those feelings even in direct contact with people in normal life… not to mention on a stage!!!

She brought to my mind a saying I once heard from Yousri Nasralla the able director, “A great actor is at the top of his honesty when facing the audience.” I never understood what that meant till I saw Nevine’s performance … a VERY HONEST performance that reached every heart and left me singing the rhythm of Fairouz the rest of the weekend.

Big Congrtulations Nevine. I hope we can see more of this talent in other plays soon before our minds forget what great acting can bring into our lives.

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The play is still running for ONE WEEK till next Friday in AL Ghadd Theatre in Agouza, at 9pm all nights. There are only 30 seats so make sure you go on time to book. You will not regret it!