Achoco: The stage of Egypt’s politics

Achoco is Egypt’s newest must-see political drama. Radi, the protagonist, tries to work out marital problems with a wife who has turned sour since their wedding. He recruits the Devil to team up with him to resist his wife but the Devil turns his back on Radi and makes an alliance with his wife to plot Radi’s downfall instead. Achoco is now showing at the French Cultural Centre in the Tenth Annual Festival for Creative Youth. The play is an allegorical discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood’s domination of the country as it commandeers Egypt into becoming a one-party state, defaulting on the promises it makes to voters. The brilliant dialogue betrays the political undertones of the play: Radi is the helpless citizen who does not surrender.    The play was inspired by the story of “The Devil is in Danger” scripted by Tawfiq al-Hakim and starring Tamer Ziai , Ceyhan Anwar and Amira Rahman and directed by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Director of the play Gamal Abdel Nasser Ali, has said that the play is a broad comment on any totalitarian regime, but critics have forged an obvious link between the message of the play with ongoing events in Egypt, particularly the spectre of an Islamist ascendancy. Nasser commented “the play can be read on many different levels and the message does bear relevance to Egypt’s current political turmoil. However, this is not an act of abuse or attack. It is merely the political commentary of one artist.”