For writer: Nabil khalaf
1-Personal Information
Name : Nabil Soliman Soliman Khalaf.
Known as: Nabil Khalaf.
Education: Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting Section 1969
Date of birth: 15/7/1947
- Member of the National Specialized Assemblies
(Literary Branch).
- Member of the Writers' Union.
- Poet and Playwright.
2-Awards:
1- First prize for child literature from The Writers' Union
in 2003.
2- The play Mickey's Planet won the prize of best theatrical performance in addition to seven other prizes in Arab Child Theatre Festival, Jordan 2003, under the auspices of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah.
3- The Play The Red Butterfly of the Princess won the golden prize in Al-Fayoum Festival 2000.
4- The plays The Wooden Mother and The Red Butterfly of the Princess were both translated into French by
a publishing house in Paris.
5- Arab Theatre Festival Award: the play Oh Gypsies! won the prize of best theatrical performance for the year 2005.
6- Appreciation Award from Diwan Al-Arab magazine for creativity and contribution to the service of Arab culture on the sideline of The Third Annual Competition for Children’s Literature 2005-2006.
7- Excellence Award: Festival of the Mediterranean (10/8/2006 -20/8/2006 ) for Oh Gypsies! and the sum of Khalaf’s literary and art works.
8- Award from the Egyptian Consulate and the Egyptian Union in Frankfurt as an appreciation from the Egyptian Consulate and Egyptian Union of the artistic and humane ideas and visions included in Oh Gypsies!, a play which enforces communication between Arab and German cultures. Nabil Khalaf was also awarded honorary membership of the Egyptian Union as an expression of gratitude from the Egyptian community in Germany, and in appreciation of his sophisticated plays and works of art written in Arabic and translated into German.
9- Golden Key for Oh Gypsies! as best theatrical performance participating in the Weeks of Multiple Cultures in Leipzig (September 17th- October 1st 2006).
3-Activities:
- Translation:
The stories of The Wooden Mother and Sun Fish were translated into German and included as part of the curriculum for children in primary years of education.
-Intensive Egyptian cultural activity in Germany:
. A full page in the most popular newspaper was dedicated for Nabil Khalaf, in addition to more than 10 pages in Simurgh magazine published by The Center of European and Eastern Cultures.
. Edison Hamody publishing house offered to re- print Nabil Khalaf’s works in a new book to be available in The Book Fair 2009.
- New Cultural agenda for 2009:
The last cultural meeting was organized by The Eastern European Center and it took place in the museum of the city of Hanau, near Frankfurt. The focus of this meeting as well was Simurgh magazine and its intensive focus on the works of Nabil Khalaf.
4-A critical view:
The novels, plays and poetic works of Nabil Khalaf depict the emergence of the coming phase of civilization while still in its first stage and at the very moment of its coming out from the cocoon of the amazing scientific advancements. In fact, modern science -with its achievements, techniques and sudden leaps- raises many questions about the individual, his abilities and his potentials of control over his own destiny.
The only thing which alarms the observer is not the degree of scientific progress, for Nabil Khalaf neither denies such progress nor adopts an antagonistic attitude towards knowledge. He is rather antagonistic towards the still-present stupidity with which human beings employ science and use the tools of modern cultural achievement, stressing the idea of human responsibility for progress.
This is due to the fact that every scientific advancement that does not take human requirements into consideration will not last for long in the face of time, and will be dropped quickly from the memory of history. Thus, in his works, Nabil Khalaf declares war, adhering to the spirit of resistance and intrepidity with the aim of promoting noble human values, the values disregarded and long forgotten by the material world.
This world has lost the ability to fascinate and the capacity to amaze.
The universe has lost its virginity. Nabil Khalaf is trying to make us touch the wonders and feel the spots of beauty and magic concealed behind those extrinsic changes. He also observes the secrets of the future hidden behind the annunciations of change and scientific advancement, the fetus sleeping in the womb of time, a fetus whose features are becoming more definite as it approaches birth.
Nabil Khalaf stands astonished at the scientific advancement with its serious implications and he feels perplexed towards future knowledge whose importance in providing appropriate solutions to the human dilemma he is so much aware of.
He hoped that science would develop in the direction of bringing out the best in Man and would aim at the psychological, cultural and spiritual elevation of Man, and at the making the of a better creature enjoying an abundant ability to choose and control destiny in order to have a limitless type of liberty and excellence.
5-Works:
1- Plays and operettas:
- The Wooden Mother 1999.
- The Red Butterfly of the Princess 2000.
- A Rabbit, a scorpion and an elephant 2002
- Mickey's Planet 2003.
- The Chess Revolution 2004.
- Oh Gypsies! 2005.
2- Stories and novels for children:
- Giving novel for children 1990.
- The Wooden Mother story for children 1993.
- Sun Fish story for children 1993.
- Raven Man in the Jungle of Mist
science fiction for boys and girls
Publisher: Dar Al- Shorouk 1996.
- Lotus Flower and the Ox Frog
novel for children 2001.
- The Red Butterfly of the Princess
science fiction for boys and girls
Publisher: Dar Al- Shorouk 1998.
- The River Which Plays Music
novel for children 2002.
- The Revolution of the Children
Publisher: Dar Al- Shorouk 2002.
- The Clay Mountain
Publisher: Dar Sharqiat 2003.
3- Poetry:
- The Painter Boy
first edition 1985
second edition 2001.
- The Sugar Cone 1998.
- The Young Prince 2001.
- Clown of Love and Tenderness 2001.
- Love is Like Hunger 2001.
- When Will the Universe Become Old and Die? 2001.
- The Dream of the Ant 2001.
- Tripartites 2001
2002 - A Virgin
- It’s Not Too Late 2004.
4- scenario:
1- Rama and Gina
scientific television series, 2002.
2- Hitler in the Red Sea
movie for children, 2001
(Not done yet)
3- 3030
scientific movie for children, 2000
(Not done yet).
5- Studies:
1- The Role of Art and Literature in Protecting Children against Addiction (in print).
2- Child of Dreams or Child of Nightmares?
A New Forming of the Scenario of Violence. 2002.
6- The comments of newspapers and magazines on the plays:
1- The Wooden Mother:
Prof. Mohammad Sheiha - our children and the mother's embraces – Al Masrah magazine 1998:
The performance poses a lot of questions. It is a successful performance that managed to attract the attention of the children and to urge them to follow it till the end although it is directed to children at a late stage of childhood (above 10 years old).
We agree with the author that Egyptian children are more intelligent than what some might think. They can understand the deepest scientific issues not through watching the techniques and theories of science presented in a theatrical performance but by forming an overall view of science and its effect on development and progress and also by adopting an attitude of awareness towards some scientists who manipulate science to achieve their own interests and purposes among human beings.
The creativity of poet Nabil Khalaf is undoubtedly a true gain not only to child theatre but to the theatre of adults as well.
Hanan Moog – a chick changes the shape of the world in the coming century- Radio and Television magazine 1999:
It is easy to bet on many things, but it is very difficult to bet on a child's mind specially that the child today is the pupil of computer and internet. This is why Nabil Khalaf, author of the operetta The Wooden Mother, is considered a daring writer whose bet might seem for the first sight uncalculated, especially that the performance is written in an elegant poetic language, a language that is very simple and very deep at the same time.
Al-Sada magazine, Emirates – The Wooden Mother is a performance that exposes technology – 1999:
Following the last Cairo theatre season we found many performances presented by both the public theatre and the private sector.
In spite of the multiplicity and excellence of these performances, we found that they have ignored a large and important section of society namely, the children. Although children must always be paid attention, we find only one theatrical performance The Wooden Mother presented by Child National Theatre. I was attracted to this play not only because it was the only one to address children but also because of a number of other aspects the most important of which is the author Nabil Khalaf. The star of Nabil Khalaf sparkled in writing for theatre with the operetta The Wooden Mother beside many other stories the most important of which are The Red Butterfly of the Princess, Raven Man in the Jungle of Mist, and sun fish.
Al-Akhbar – Egypt in Carthage Festival and The Wooden Mother – 28/10/1999:
Child National Theatre participates with the play The Wooden Mother in two festivals in Tunisia.
The first is Nabeul Festival (October 29th- November 5th). The play will then be presented in Carthage Festival from November 8th to November 12th .
Al-Akhbar – Egypt Carthage Theatre Festival 18/11/1999:
Child National Theatre participates in the activities of Carthage Festival with the operetta The Wooden Mother on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of November.
Egyptian Ambassador has attended the performance which met huge success.
Tunisian children were keen on watching the performance.
2- The Red Butterfly of the Princess:
Al-Akhbar – Ayman Al-Shandaweely: The Red Butterfly of the Princess for all the members of the family:
The Red Butterfly of the Princess is a musical show that includes 30 songs through which we travel about the magical world of dream and freedom, on the stage of Huda Sha'rawy's theatre at Al-Kasr Al Aini....
The dream of Rana and other creatures mixes with the dream of humanity at large.
When the gap is bridged between Rana and her working mother who is always busy with her scientific researches, and when the father who works on sea science is back, the mother and the father make the dreams of their daughter come true.
The parents also participate with their researches in building a city under the sea, a city that embraces all creatures and never assaults any creature's right to live.
Satellite magazine – soon on satellite channels: An operetta for children 16/12/2000:
The musical play The Red Butterfly of the Princess which addresses children was recorded and broadcast by many Arab satellite channels.
This is due to the rich content of the play which directs the children towards scientific and logical thinking.
Radio and Television magazine – with The Red Butterfly of the Princess 16/12/2000:
“This man does not only write for children, he has a strong desire to be a child himself”.
This is how one of the outstanding critics described poet and playwright Nabil Khalaf whose The Red Butterfly of the Princess is currently presented on stage. It is a play for children at a time in which writers of child literature have become very rare....... At the end, all the other aspects of the play work together to present a beautiful image for the children of this time,
the children who are the hope for a future full of dreams.
Al-Wafd – Anas Elwogood Radwan- The Red Butterfly of the Princess on Huda sha'rawy's theatre 20/1/2001:
After the success of The Wooden Mother operetta which continued to be staged for more than two years in most Egyptian governorates and which is considered the first Arabic theatrical performance to discuss the moralities of genetic engineering and to reject the undervaluation of the sacred symbol of the mother.....this operetta was translated into French....another work for the same author: The Red Butterfly of the princess is also currently presented on stage.
The play is directed by Yahia Zakaria and the author says that the incidents of the operetta take place in the magic world of the tripartite "dream- knowledge-liberty" where the dreams of survival, development, progress and justice will never come true except through science which goes ahead of humanity and affects all the aspects of our life.
Al-Masa'a – Atef Al-Raa'y : from among the spectators of the operetta The Red Butterfly of the Princess 9/2/2001:
The operetta has an important message directed to the parents more than the children.
It deals with the results of the lack of communication between children and parents in most Egyptian families, a circumstance which can result in a wide gap between the two parties, a gap that is really difficult to bridge.
The operetta also stresses the fact that children have the right to participate in making the decisions related to their lives and that fathers and mothers should learn how to think of their children and respect their opinions in order for them to be able to deal with the children seriously and to reach a good understanding of their psychological life.
About the spectators comments on the operetta, here are some interviews:
Prof. Mohamed Ammar:
The author of this work has enriched the atmospheres of creative writing for children.
I hope that the television would be able to attract such a writer in its direction, and to make a good use of his writing and creativity so that we can benefit from his works, because we badly need an author who can write for children and respect their mentality.
This operetta is a creative work that does respect the mind of the child.
Ra'fat Mohamed Hassan
a preparatory school student:
I did not know that penguins put an egg every several months, but I learned this piece of information from the operetta.
I wonder where are such works that simplify information for the children more than the television does though TV. programs are more widespread.
Horriaty magazine- Ahmed Soliman – The Red Butterfly of the Princess is a respectable work that attracts both children and adults 24/12/2000:
At the present time, it is really rare to find a good theatrical performance that respects the mentality of the spectators and which is presented by the public sector and to find the seats of the theatre always complete since its opening in the first week of Ramadan and until now...child operetta The Red Butterfly of the Princess has managed to achieve this hard equation, the thing that attracted the attention of the Ministry of Culture which made arrangements with the Algerian Ministry of Culture to present the performance on the Algerian stage after the Lesser Bairam... the performance creates an atmosphere of delight among the spectators who find it a joyous Ramadan soiree that runs for two hours during which three scenes are staged.
Al-Ahram Al-Masaa'y - Mohamed Abdulbary – The Red Butterfly of the Princess... a stone in the stagnant lake of child theatre 5/2/2001:
Two months after the fascinating performance The Red Butterfly of the Princess has started, we must adopt the position of observers and examine the cultural issues which playwright Nabil Khalaf discusses in his musical play so that we can come up with some of the positive concepts he presented to our minds and to the minds of the children through his seemingly easy style. Among these concepts:
First, it is an honest attempt to sound the alarm and warn parents against getting too busy with their work and leaving the children to suffer killing emptiness.
Second, we must not underestimate the minds of our children because the huge scientific leaps which address themselves to us every second are not really far-fetched for our children's mental abilities.
Third, humanity can never progress through scientific researches which disregard values and morals, such as the researches on cloning which the whole world has opposed.
Through these concepts which are new to the reality of child theatre in our country, Nabil Khalaf was able to throw a huge stone in the lake that has been stagnant for decades.
I would like to say that we need more good works that
address the minds and sentiments of the child using a respectable language.
3- A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant:
Al- Gomhurya- the Ambassador of Malta Attends a seminar on A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant.
“The performance rejects racial discrimination... plants values...its artistic aspects are unique” Sunday 29/9/2002.
Cairo Center for Human Rights Studies held a discussion meeting on the theatrical performance A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant. The session was attended by the cast of the play, the Ambassador of Malta in Cairo, Prof. Baheiy Eldeen Hassan – Chief of the center- and the outstanding critic Prof. Nagy Furzy ...
The Ambassador of Malta praised the performance and the creativity with which the children who participated in the play managed to present important issues such as the rejection of racism and discrimination, the need for equality among all creatures, the warning against misusing science and the importance of planting high moral values in the sentiments of the children.
Al- Waka'i Al-Arabia- Ashraf Ezzat Lotf Allah- dwarfs starring the performance A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant 26/9/2002.
The play aims at emphasizing the need for unity with nature with all its creatures including humans, birds, animals and plants because separation from nature can lead to the extinction of Mankind.
The play also aims at inculcating the values of preserving nature in the minds of children to help them form a critical view of the achievements of science and technology so that they might take a moral stand against some of these achievements which can be harmful to some aspects of humanity. Science must be devoted to achieve and preserve the welfare of Man and must aim at respecting the rights of the other, rejecting racial struggles, granting the children the right to express their own opinions and views of life and respecting their ability to change the world and to clarify the issue of democracy and firmly establish its basis by electing those who can represent the interests of the children in participation with adults who believe in this.
Hawaa, Eman El- Emary – in A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant – children put racism to trial – 5/10/2002.
The right to live regardless of the narrow limits of racism where the strongest puts inhumane rules to rob the world of its elements of survival so that the he can be the master for the longest possible period.
These ideas, rich as they are, may seem complicated for the first sight. But it was only a play for children; it is as if those who participated in the making of the play wanted the new generation to the reject the injustice that prevails the world today.
Al- Maidan – Magda Khairallah- at the highest point of the tourist season, an enjoyable performance for children – 10/9/2002.
Although the summer holiday tempts the private sector to present performances with special characteristics that makes summer plays come very close to the stuff presented in night clubs, I was surprised to find a theatrical group present a performance for children called A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant. Strangely enough, the theatre was overcrowded with children whose ages ranged from six to fourteen years old ....
The huge crowds of spectators are indicative of the thirst of the children and their families for superior kinds of theatrical arts that can present to the children an amount of joy as well as an opportunity to think and understand important issues...
The play follows the pattern of "Kaleela and Demna" where wisdom is introduced by animals and birds.
This technique is the closest to the heart of the child who does not accept advice and directions from humans (father - mother- teacher). However, author Nabil Khalaf mixes animals and birds with humans in a wonderful homogeneity, for the universe includes all creatures and sophisticated societies have put rules to regulate the relationships among the creatures so that Man will not dominate over other creatures and disturb the balance of the environment.
This disturbance spoils the beauty and balance of life and leads to the extinction of some creatures.
The play calls for the acceptance of the other through the presence of a group of talented dwarfs.
The performance offers those dwarfs a big chance to appear on the stage without being targets of ridicule which is what happens in other performances.
The other can be different in color, culture or religion but we have to accept him/her and give him/her a chance to express himself/herself without being oppressed.
A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant is a respectable theatrical performance and it is suitable to all the members of the family, children and their parents, and this is what we have been lacking for years.
Akhbar Al-Youm – Mariam Bannah -14 years old-
A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant is a beautiful play:
"We are all one...of one origin...created by one god... I have the right...you are not my master.. and I'm not your slave".
These beautiful words are written by poet and playwright Nabil Khalaf. They occur at the end of the wonderful performance A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant.
The operetta consists of musical sketches that introduce scientific information and let the values of justice and goodness triumph over the powers of evil.
Al –Gomhurya- Ahmed Abdul Hameed- children and politics in A Rabbit , A Scorpion and An Elephant 8/9/2002:
The play A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant is a poetic musical play that can be categorized as an operetta...but I tend to think of it as an opera for children...it seems that Nabil Khalaf rejects the common understanding of the mentality of the child of the third millennium.. the child of electronic culture and satellites , this is why we find him expressing the mentality of childhood with an understanding that is different from the traditional, even retarded, understanding...
in the concept of theatre as it appears in the three works of Nabil Khalaf, the culture of adults mingles with the culture of children, and we find him intentionally addressing the children through science fiction and political thought, because they represent the basic structure for the future...when this happens at the time of El-limpy, going against the current becomes a form of defending the future of the homeland.
Al-Kawakeb- Wala'a Tahseen – dwarfs shout "we are here" 20/8/2002 issue 2664:
The performance is about the values of goodness, justice, the preserving of environment and the mad desires of some people who want to control the world...these and other values are dealt with in an attractive dramatic framework in the play A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant...
Dwarfs Khalid Al- Sha’eer, his wife Naheed Abu Al-So'oud and Ashraf Abu El- Ainain all agreed that their participation in the play was motivated by the work being about a problem that is relevant to them namely, the way society treats them. This is what they have expressed in a sentence they shout together in one breath:” I'm a human being exactly like you”.
Al-Masa'a – Clearly- 15/8/2002:
Poet and Playwright Nabil Khalaf is about to originate a phenomenon worthy studying and assessment. In all his literary, theatrical and poetic works, he focuses on the children, his favorite world. Within the framework of this interest in children he presents his new play A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant. This play is an operetta that aims at introducing scientific information within a theatrical and poetic frame that discusses the idea of freedom and not restricting the children.
The author uses in his work a good number of symbols and situations that sheds light on the call for justice, order, happiness, love, purity, fidelity, seriousness in work, patriotism and the preserving of environment. He also calls for equality among human beings and for the rejection of discrimination based on external appearances specially in the case of dwarfs (extremely short people) and for treating them as normal individuals.
The author also calls for equality in all rights and duties and for respecting the humanity, thoughts, sentiments and dreams of those who are different.
It is a new world where the children put new, correct basis away from any discrimination based on appearances...a happy childhood based on ideals, seriousness in work, respect for the rights of others and rejection of racism in all its forms.
It is a work that does not treat the children as feeble- minded.
The play calls for equality for all, this idea is crystallized in the final scene through the song “we are all one...of one origin and created by one god”.
Al – Ahrar – A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant, a new spirit for child theatre –23/7/2002
In the middle of the flood of plays in which main roles are played by outstanding comedians, the new child performance A Rabbit , A Scorpion and An Elephant joins the summer season marathon.
The incidents of the play take place in the garden during the break while the students together with the teachers and the headmaster play the game of masks and thus introduce a play within the play.
Al- Akhbar – Nabil Badran- the play is a strong defense of equality among human beings 25/7/2002.
If the play A Rabbit , A Scorpion and An Elephant was only about the strong and honest defense of dwarfs and about giving them back their dignity and respect after the insults directed to this group of people by tens of comedies, that would have been enough to be the noble message of the author of the play, Nabil Khalaf.
This message is crystallized in the final scene:”we are all one...of one origin” which is a frank call for equality among human beings without treating the physical deformity of some people, such as the dwarfs, as a target of insult and ridicule.
The respect and dignity given back to dwarfs are emphasized by choosing a dwarf for the position of the headmaster in appreciation of his fidelity and intelligence
“My appearance is childish but I'm a responsible dwarf. My mind is my qualification or my human culture”.
However, this is not the only theme of A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant. This play rejects the destruction both of original values and of beautiful natural scenery...signs and expressions are repeated over and over to remind us to reject deceit and false-testimony. It is a performance which aims at firmly establishing original values in the children....
…short concentrated sentences that enjoy the beauties of form and poetic sense with no contradiction between simplicity and depth...the simplest thing to be said about the performance is that it is a performance that does not treat the children as feeble-minded and does not shake the values of society.
It calls for equality among human beings and promotes the values of fidelity, seriousness and creative effort. The author of The Wooden Mother and The Red Butterfly of the Princess reminds us in his third text A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant that writing for children is a message of life that should not be undervalued.
4- Mickey's Planet:
Shashaty – Prof. Hassan Attyia – a theatre that poses questions:
Author and poet Nabil Khalaf enters a new unexplored world in child theatre in Egypt. In the wording and phrasing of his texts he uses a new language. It is amazing that he insists on presenting works that are different from the works presented on our stage.
These common works, few as they are, are naive, simple for the most part and they deal with the children as unknowledgeable.
On the other hand, the theatre of Nabil Khalaf insists on dealing with a child who is different from the image which the theatre imagines it exists.
The theatre of Nabil Khalaf believes that psychological differences between the years of childhood and youth have been erased in the age of information attack.
Another amazing fact is the over-crowdedness of the theatre with children and adults. The company responsible for the production of this performance managed to advertise and market the performance while public sector theatre is unable to market its performances because of red tape and other complications.
Al-Khamees – Mustafa Saad – Mickey Mouse controls the universe:
The child in the works of Nabil Khalaf is a new child with extraordinary abilities, and with a mind and a heart full of love, honesty and goodness. This child manages to do what grown ups failed to achieve.
Nabil Khalaf has already given us joy before through his amazing works: The Wooden Mother, The Red Butterfly of the Princess, A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant and now Mickey's Planet.
Al- Kawakeb – Ali Mahmoud- Mickey's Planet: the revolution of children against America:
In this performance, author Nabil Khalaf almost shocks the spectators with the contrast between our deeply rooted thoughts about that beautiful Mickey Mouse and that culture which implies control, fascist thinking and monopoly of the individual all around the world.
The author turns Mickey Mouse into a symbol of America, and its monopoly of the mind of children is nothing but the American control over the children of the world through art.
Al-Akhbar – Abla Al-Rowainy- the children challenge Mickey Mouse:
Exactly like flying against gravity.
The play Mickey's Planet chose to challenge the common and to face control in its most fascinating, enjoyable and attractive images not only in the world of children but in the world of adults as well. Mickey's Planet chose to challenge Disney World with all its fascinating technological abilities in animation, lighting and music and to face Mickey in an obvious and powerful way.
Al- Gomhurya- Ahmed Abdul Hameed- attention! Mickey's Planet is the theatre of the 21st century:
In attempting to describe the new performance Mickey's Planet, I did not find a more honest and precise expression than “The Theatre of The Twenty First Century”. It is different and unique in relation to form, techniques of staging and performance and content. It is also different from the last century's understanding of the concept of theatre.
The poet and author Nabil Khalaf has chosen the most fascinating, attractive and famous world models: The Walt Disney cartoon characters, and challenged them through the acting abilities of the cast of the play, and this is a thousand times more difficult from the artistic point of view.
Al Watan Al- Arabi- Nabeel Badran- actors are sometimes critics "studies on Mickey's Planet" 4/7/2003:
Against the common slogan: the largest possible number of roles with the least possible artistic effort, and in the atmospheres of rapid fame and quick profit, it is strange that the author asks the actors and actresses to make a study on the play and to express their opinion about the roles they are going to play and to present these opinions in a written form during the rehearsals long enough before the opening of the play.
This act was almost impossible but now it is possible after author Nabil Khalaf has asked the actors and actresses, especially famous ones such as Ahmed Rateb, Sawsan Badr, Ahmed Salama and Sha'aban Hussein to make studies on the play.
The actors and actresses were not annoyed nor were they afraid of wasting the time they could invest in participating in other works.
A written study requires deep reading, not only one or two readings. In the case of Mickey's Planet, the aim is no longer that every actor and actress should be able to simply memorize his or her part without thinking about and understanding the other parts.
Actors and actresses are now asked to understand the relationship between the major roles they play and secondary roles and characters.
Al- Watan Al-Arabi – Nabeel Badran – the children criticize Mickey's American country 1/8/2003:
In the age of computer and internet it is no longer valid to deal with the children as feeble-minded and lacking the ability to understand, satisfied with educational advices as orders that can never be discussed or disobeyed.
This is exactly what distinguishes the plays of the author and poet Nabil Khalaf who presents ideas and issues that are new to child theatre, refusing the naivety which has become a major characteristic of most child performances.
The author and poet Nabil Khalaf has borrowed some of the characters, tools and signs of Walt Disney but used them differently to serve the main theme of Mickey's Planet operetta.
For Mickey, the world is a huge puppet theatre and he is the one who controls the movement of everybody using his amazing abilities and techniques which fascinate the eye and the mind.
He uses the magic of the art of cartoon to control the world, and he threatens to use force, even to use microbes to turn all the people into his followers.
Introducing the play as "an operetta for children from ten to seventy years" saves the author and the director the trouble of answering the expected question: can a child who is five or seven years old understand the content of the play easily?
The performance is also directed to adults but certainly it will not attract those who are accustomed to myths and naive stories that have nothing to do with the changing reality that has become stranger than the creations of any powerful imagination.
All this in one performance the simplest words to be said about which is that it respects the minds of the children, and that it is bold enough to present what is not common or stock-in-trade in child theatre.
Al-Kawakeb- Ali Mahmoud -Mickey's Planet: a play for children and adults 5/8/2003:
In spite of the fact that Mickey's Planet is a play for children, its talented author Nabil Khalaf has chosen the most exiting and attractive artistic model namely, The Walt Disney characters to express the issues he wants to discuss.
The performance acquires extra beauty through author and poet Nabil Khalaf's use of a mixture of colloquial and classic Arabic, a technique first introduced to us by the genius poet Beiram Al-tonsy.
If the American globalization which means American artistic, cultural, political and military control over the world is the most important issue in the present time, the play Mickey's Planet and its author managed to incarnate this serious issue with a daring theatrical view.
Nabil Khalaf wants to stress the fact that we must resist the American control over our children...this is not an issue for adults only; it is an issue for children as well.
Finally, my dear artist and talented poet Nabil Khalaf, you are worthy of praise for this beautiful and noble work because it is a patriotic artistic work that both children and adults are strongly urged to watch.
5- The Chess Revolution:
Al-Kawakeb 20/ 7/2004 –Ali Mahmoud- in The Chess Revolution, Sawsan Badr is a very liberated woman:
The Chess Revolution is a poetic play that criticizes and analyses the relationship between man and woman since the dawn of human race starting from the feminine maternity age when women were in control of all affairs, and when children carried the names of their mothers, not their fathers .we move then to the patriarchal society that dominates the world today, the society where woman is regarded as an inferior creature despite her achieving many goals.
In brief, Nabil Khalaf, the creative and talented author of the play, is trying to make the concept of a democratic family prevail among men and women, and he does not side with either party since the two parties belong to the human race as a whole.
Al-Masa'a newspaper- 25/ 7/ 2004 Ahmed Soliman-
A daring respectable work:
Man- woman struggle is an eternal issue that has been discussed by many writers and authors. However, playwright Nabil Khalaf has re-tackled this issue in a modern style. Despite the fact that using some of the words and expressions that were never used outside bedrooms and among spouses remains something of a shock, the great skill of the author brought such words and expressions to the light and used it openly to shed light on the thorny problems which society suffers from, but which are kept in the dark because of shyness and timidity. Added to this is the dazzling artistic element in the dances, the music and the presentation of the symbols of technological development.
Al- Gomhurya newspaper 25/7/2004- Ahmed Abdul Hameed- The Chess Revolution and the fascination of poetic theatre:
It seems that our national theatre has changed its address and moved from Al- Azbakia Garden to Nasr City theatre where the poetic play The Chess Revolution is currently staged. For the first time in the history of our modern theatre a private company dares to present a poetic play ….not to mention the fact that government theatre no longer presents poetic performances in the first place. The Chess Revolution is written by poet and playwright Nabil Khalaf whom we have got to know through his poetic collections and his stories and novels for children.
From the first sight you feel stunned with fascination starting from the introductory piece of music that precedes the lifting up of the curtains, passing through the physical frame work which includes the sets, the costumes, the lighting, the dramatic verse and the high quality performance on the stage, and concluding by the overall effect of the show.
Al-Masa'a newspaper 26/7/2004 -Haitham Twalah -Sawsan Badr : The Chess Revolution is a shock for viewers and critics, and it discusses thorny issues in
a daring, yet not degraded ,style.
Star Sawsan Badr said that she is happy to participate in the play The Chess Revolution by poet and playwright Nabil Khalaf, and that the source of her happiness is the theme of the play which discusses the eternal man-woman struggle and who should be the ruler and who should be ruled.
Badr added that author Nabil Khalaf has treated the issue to the core.
Star Ahmed Salama stated that for the first time the private theatre in Egypt presents such a respectable and sophisticated work that discusses important issues.
In addition, Shady, one of the artists participating in the show, said that he is really impressed by every issue raised in the play because such issues affect the society and it is time to deal with them, thorny and tabooed as they are.
Akhbar Al-Nogoum 24 / 7/2004 - A new revolution led by some of the members of Mickey's Planet - A historical battle between Adam and Eve settled by the couple "N":
The couple "N" is a nickname used by some people to refer author Nabil Khalaf and director Nasser Abdul-Moneem as they present together their third play after A rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant and Mickey’s Planet. In their third show, the couple "N" decided to discuss the relationship between man and woman and to call for a balanced and democratic relationship where the two parties can recognize that each of them has his / her rights and duties, and that they complement each other.
Al-Ahrar newspaper 28/7/2004 – Sameer Al-Dossouky- The Chess Revolution and democracy in the relationship between Adam and Eve:
The Chess Revolution represents a return to poetic plays. It criticizes and analyses the relationship between man and woman since the dawn of human race, particularly the way society looks upon women according to the culture common through all ages starting from the feminine maternity age when women were in control of all affairs.
The play is written by playwright Nabil Khalaf who has previously presented four theatrical performances: The Wooden Mother, The Red Butterfly of the Princess, A Rabbit, A Scorpion and An Elephant and Mickey's Planet.
Radio and Television magazine 24/7/2004 – Hanan Moug – male and female….good and evil…the struggle for authority, all in on daring and respectable play. The Chess Revolution…a repulse against private theatre :
Perhaps for my being a woman I was attracted to the theme of Nabil Khalaf's new play, especially when I knew that it discusses the eternal relationship between man and woman. Because the author is a man, I was curious to find out how would that man express the beliefs he repeatedly declared in relation to the issue of equality between the two elements of the universe namely, man and woman, an issue which I have always thought can be probed to the core only by a woman.
Although the private theatre has certain requirements known to all of us, I received the first shock as soon as the curtains were lifted up in an atmosphere surrounded by extremely soft music composed by the wonderful composer Rageh Dawood. Then there was the verse, and that was the last thing I can imagine in Nabil Khalaf's first play for adults, and on the stage of a private theatre. The second shock was the author's insistence on treating his themes through the culture of science and technology…
Finally, The Chess Revolution is a theatrical performance that enjoys extraordinary richness in the flow of verse away from redundancy and repetition of events. It is also characterized by the beauty of the show and the unity of the theme although the plot does not maintain a chronological order when presenting historical events.
Al-Orouba newspaper 1/8/2004 – Sawsan Badr: The Chess Revolution is a shock for viewers and critics, and it discusses very thorny issues in a daring, yet not degraded, style.
Star Sawsan Badr said that she is very happy to participate in "The Chess Revolution", written by Nabil Khalaf and directed by Nasser Abdul-Moneem. Badr added that she drives her happiness from discussing an old issue in a modern and new style, as the play deals with the eternal relationship between man and woman, and who wins the struggle for authority and becomes the ruler and who will be ruled.
Al-Kawakeb magazine –Ali Mahmoud- Stars attend The Chess Revolution:
In the first week of staging the poetic play The Chess Revolution written by the talented playwright Nabil Khalaf, stars in all fields of art including actors, authors, directors, journalists and critics started to visit Nasr City theatre to attend this outstanding performance.
Hawaa magazine 21/8/2004 - Ahmed Zaki Abdul-Haleem -The words:
In his amazing new poetic play The Chess Revolution, the creative poet and playwright Nabil Khalaf recalls all the images of the ancient and middle periods of history to confront the age of technology where all the aspects of life are turned into mere buttons.
Because life is like a chessboard, the author decided that all the incidents of the plot should take place on that chessboard. The play consists of four acts and it starts by the eternal and specific issue of achieving justice for women, and ends by the general and also eternal issue of achieving equality among all humans in a community that knows neither prejudice nor injustice.
In fact, I do not know how was poet Nabil Khalf able to collect such a huge amount of history and such a large number of historic personalities that covered the period from the age of the pharos to the age of the Mameluke. All those characters reappeared to express a certain opinion and attitude and to emphasize the fact that the memory of history is stronger than the memory of Man.
Al-Anba'a Al –Dawlia newspaper 17/7/2004 – Mohammed Hussein Bakr – Nabil Khalaf's revolution on the chessboard.
It is difficult to find a creative literary introduction that suits the creative richness and the literary thinking of Nabil Khalaf. Consequently, I did not find a better introduction than Reda Al-Taweel's words in his introduction to The Complete Works of Nabil Khalaf where he writes: Nabil Khalaf does not only write for children, he has a strong desire to be a child himself
In brief, as the author and the director of the play emphasize, the play does not side with either men or women, it rather adopts an objective view that emphasizes the necessity of establishing a democratic relationship between men and women, regarding the two parties as belonging to the human race as a whole.
Nabil Khalaf is against the classical theatrical categories such as political theatre and comic theatre. He believes that he is presenting a play and only a play, and you as a viewer are free to decide while attending the performance to watch it as a political play one time, as a comic play another time, as a scientific play
a third time and so on.
It is worthy mentioning that some countries, including Morocco, requested that the play be staged in their theaters. A schedule for the play's traveling will be set after its staging in Egypt is over.
Radio and Television magazine 4/9/2004 – Hanan Moug – The Chess Revolution rebels against the saying "that is what the viewers want".
The Chess Revolution is a completely different performance in both form and content….even the actors and actresses, you may feel that you are watching them for the first time ….their energies erupted and they singled perfectly with characters who have found their way to excellence, the stage then became something of a mother's bosom where all anxieties melt away.
Sabah Al- Khair newspaper 7/9/2004 – Mohammed Bagdady- Women's revolt on the chessboard:
The director who has always presented everything that is unique presents nowadays on Nasr City theatre a new performance under the title The Chess Revolution. The text of the play is written in verse by the poet and the multi-talented author Nabil Khalaf.
In its first act, the play presents the Arab woman's revolt against the traditional shackles which the Eastern man uses to besiege her on the chessboard or in life, so that she cannot move to the left or to the right without the permission of the game
owner or the man or “king Ahraman", as the heroes of the play state.
The play ends by declaring general rebellion against all forms of authority and suppression in the words of the great poet Nabil Khalaf whose long breath allowed him to write such a huge number of verses in an amazing poetic performance.
6-Sun Fish:
Simurgh: a cultural magazine
Issue3, 2007.
By: von wolf-dieter seiwert (Leipzig)
The Literary production of Egyptian Author Nabil Khalaf- living in Heliopolis, Cairo- varies to include poems, stories, plays and musical operettas for children. The focus for Nabil Khalaf is the struggle between Man and his moral values on one hand, and the problems of modern society on the other hand. This is why his leap into the world of science fiction was not unpredictable. An Egyptian critic commented: “Nabil Khalaf does not only write for children, he also writes as a child” Perhaps this is why our author is so successful among children..he writes from their perspective.
Nabil Khalaf’s stories are essentially artistic legends. It is known that in this kind of writing time, place and characters are not very fixed and tangible. As is the case with many other authors and writers before him, Nabil Khalaf‘s characters belong to the animal kingdom. What really matters for him is the moral message of the story: only through compassion, sympathy and willingness to help others can Man face evil
Al Bain Cultrual magazine
By: Mona Ragy Enaet
And Outta Tsimmer man
Nabil Khlafa’s works become part of musical education:
Mona Ragy Enaet supervised the exhibition of children books from Arab countries as part of the activities of the Frankfurt Book Fair. There she met Egyptian author Nabil Khalaf who showed great interest in her work and decided to support the “Our World of Variety” project. Khalaf presented a
collection of his works which had been translated into English and French, and which are to be translated into German.
The Wooden Mother is the first book in a large series of reading texts to be used for educational purposes.
During his visit to Leipzig late in 2005, Nabil Khalaf was quite pleased about the way German children received his stories and poems, and the way they managed to develop them in a creative manner.
On July 5th 2006, Sun Fish was presented as part of End of the Year Party in Klara Schumann Primary School. It took
a long time to prepare for this musical theatrical performance which included dances as well. The theatre’s special equipments were put to use and about 100 students from four different grades participated in the performance.
