Stories are one of the most effective means in documenting an event. Stories can effectively share what a group of people or a society has witnessed. This tactic is a model of using dramatization. The art of storytelling and theatre as a way of documenting personal testimonies. Storytelling registers testimonies as written and painted historical sources away from the hands of the government and their historians. These stories serve to remind the people of the demands for which they protested.

Origin of the Idea

Tahrir Monologues was born following the January Revolution of 2011 in Egypt. The idea started during the strike in Tahrir square. The people were demanding that Hosny Mubarak step down from office. A group of youth agreed to share their personal stories to the public of what they lived through during the protest. They wanted the public to know of the hardships they lived through in the eighteen days of the strike until Mubarak resigned. That is how the Tahrir Monologues began. As a way to show personal tales and experiences of ordinary people. They were trying to record what had happened to them while the press and the media ignored their stories.

It was based on a previous experience in the “Bussy” project. This project had focused on showing stories and experiences of women in Egyptian society. They made improvements to give the feeling of a monologue while presenting as the storyteller. A group of youth decided to take the same path to tell their stories during the Tahrir square strike. They transformed their stories into a theatrical play. This served as a reminder of what happened in Tahrir square. It gave an insight of how life was during the strike. Especially to share this with those who were not able to participate in the revolution. They also wanted these stories documented for history in a different form.

Converting Stories to Live Theater

The project asked people who participated in the revolution to send their personal stories through their Tahrir Monologues Facebook page. People also submitted their stories on twitter. They asked people to share what happened to them during the eighteen days. From the first spark of the revolution to the resignation of Mubarak. They showed these stories in live theater in “The Tahrir Monologues” show. The project received thousands of stories from people. People shared how they were attacked with tear gas, rubber bullets, and the camel incident. The shared the violations committed by the military and the Central Security Forces. They shared stories of the Suez and Alexandria incidents. People shared their stories from other governorates as well, about local committees, midnight thugs, and sexual harassment. The collected and selected stories covered all points of view and situations. The stories draw a holistic vision of what happened during those eighteen days. Each monologue is presented by the person who lived the story or by actors who reenacted the stories. The project was shown around Egypt to be a complete source of the revolution. The Tahrir Monologues project continued over a two-year period to collect and show the personal stories.