Alfred Farag

Alfred Farag (14 June 1929 – 4 December 2005 ) was an Egyptian playwright. He was one of the eminent Egyptian playwrights of Nasser-era Egypt . He obtained his BA in English Literature from the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University in 1949. He then began a teaching career that lasted until 1955, when he abandoned it for a post in the press as a literary critic. He worked at several press institutions, including: “Rose El Youssef”, “El Tahrir” and “Al Gomhouriyya”. Farag took part in the establishment of the public management for Althaqafa al-Gamahyria “ culture for the masses” project and in the foundation of artistic groups in Egypt. The project cultural centres known as "cultural palaces" in many towns, . Theatre groups, and book clubs were main activities but was controlled by the regime. The project enabled Farag to play an important role in the introduction of theatre in Egypt's provinces especially in remote countryside areas. He, with many great writers like Noaman Ashour, Saad Eddin Wahba, Michael Roman, Rashad Roushdy and Yousef Edrees, contributed in the “nothing like” renaissance of theatre in the sixties. Alfred Farag wrote his first play “Fall of Pharaoh” (1957) at the age of 26. He then proceeded with his career as a writer. He wrote approximately 52 plays, including: “The Barber of Baghdad” (1964), “Sulayman Al-Halabi” (1965), “Al-Zayr Salim” (1967) and “Atwa with the Jack-Knife” (1993), in addition to some one-act plays such as “Voice of Egypt” (1956) and “The Trap” (1965). In his plays, he discusses serious issues like the problem of national independence in “The Epistles of the Judge of Seville” (1987), and the Palestinian issue in “Fire and Olives” (1970). Some of his works were translated into German and English such as “Ali Janah Al - Tabrizi and his Servant...