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A controversial feminist play was performed publicly for the first time in Egypt last week, drawing overflowing crowds despite a deliberately quiet, almost covert publicity campaign.

The production of Eve Ensler’s hit play the Vagina Monologues, held at a small AUC theatre over three nights last week, was organized by an ad hoc female theater group to raise awareness of domestic violence in Egypt. All three performances were filled to
standing-room only and on the final night organizers had to turn more than 50 people away at the door. The proceeds were donated to buy supplies for the first women’s shelter in the Middle East, which is expected to open in Cairo within the year.

The play, which explores themes of identity, sexuality and abuse, tackles taboo topics such as rape, masturbation, and menstruation, using a mixture of shock and humor to reach out to audiences.

While this was the first official run of the Vagina Monologues in Egypt, it has been performed here once before.

During a December 2002 visit to Cairo, Ensler performed her own play in front of a private audience at the offices of the Association for the Development and
Enhancement of Women (ADEW), a local women‚s rights organization.
At the time of that performance, ADEW director Iman Bibars told the Cairo Times that the play helps raise awareness to the reality of how women live... that it [violence against women] is not something made up.”

But that reality is something that some men in Egypt don’t want to acknowledge. An example of the resistance faced by local feminists appeared in Muhammad Omar’s
column in Al Akhbar last week. After reviewing an ADEW pamphlet containing stories from abused women, he wrote that I didn’t pity any of them. I give every man the
right to do what [these men] have done. He goes on to suggest that only ugly women are abused that domestic violence would end if there was plastic surgery at the expense of the state.

ADEW estimates that about one in three women in Egypt suffer from domestic abuse, a rate which matches the global average.

But even some women’s organizations take issue with how the Vagina Monologues unveils violence. The Cairo Times has learned that in the wake of complaints stemming
from last year’s performance, ADEW was chastised by the National Council of Women for hosting the play.

The NCW could not be contacted for this story, but in an article published on 21 February in Canada’s national Globe and Mail newspaper, the organization denied that any complaint had been launched against ADEW.

Bibars was out of the country and could not be reached for this story. Nobody at ADEW‚s office would comment on any aspect of the Vagina Monologues.

AUC also distanced itself from the show by posting a sign outside saying it was not connected to the production in any way.

Due to its sensitive nature, the play was not advertised and tickets were not sold in advance, although hundreds of invitations were issued through foreign embassies and private email networks. A letter sent to the Cairo Times by advocates of the Vagina
Monologues stated that, due to the sensitive nature of the play it is important [that] performances be by invitation only and remain confidential.

The only organization officially associated with the play’s Egyptian debut is the playwright‚s own non-profit corporation, V-Day, which works world-wide to end violence against women and girls.

While the Cairo show was warmly received by the admittedly partisan audience, not everyone enjoyed the frank nature of the script, which includes monologues on lesbianism, tampons and orgasms. A few people each night walked out mid-performance, clambering over fellow audience members in order to reach the door.

During an intermission, one man called the play disgusting so far although admitted afterwards that it was worth seeing, if only for the comedic bits.

Sophia Al Maria, a 20-year-old student from Qatar who studies at AUC, produced and directed the Vagina Monologues. She says that some people she spoke to thought the play was not relevant to Egypt.

“But, she insists, these issues are relevant everywhere.”

Al Maria, who is Muslim, told the Cairo Times that the bold nature of the play doesn’t contradict the values of Islam, noting that “Islam celebrates women, and so by default it celebrates vaginas too.”

Some cast members expressed concerns that their performances might draw the ire of their friends, employers, family or even the police. “There is some personal risk involved, no question,” said Lana, a 25-year old Saudi native who didn’t want her full name published. Despite the risks, “it is important for us to do this because women in Egypt and in the Gulf area don‚t ever speak of what they want,” she says.

About half the cast was Egyptian. One, who did not want her name published, said that although it was clearly written for a Western audience, „there is plenty that is relevant and interesting for Egyptians “But I would love to see it adapted into something more culturally relevant.”

“If it’s only in English, then for sure it’s not reaching the Egyptian public,” says Amal Abdel Hadi, a board member of the New Woman Research Center in Cairo. It is important for controversial material to be translated into Arabic, she says, to prevent the sort of „incredible misunderstanding‰ that surrounded Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses.

But the women in the Vagina Monologues, who call themselves “vagina warriors” said that doing the play in English was just the beginning. The success of their performance has some of them thinking of expanding the show or holding further performances in Cairo.

Despite the perceived dangers of being associated with the play, the assistant director doesn’t think she will have problems recruiting more “warriors.”

“There are lots of us around,” the assistant director told the Cairo Times. “Maybe some are quieter about it than others, but they’re vagina warriors nonetheless.”