Nehad Selaiha: 1945–2017

Nehad Selaiha. (Photo: Nehad Selaiha Facebook page)

On 6 January 2017 Nehad Selaiha died in Cairo. She was a very important, widely published, respected, and influential theatre critic and commentator on Egyptian society and culture. Selaiha was a TDR Contributing Editor. A warm, generous, and informed person with a passion both for theatre and free expression, Selaiha's searing essay "The Fire and the Frying Pan: Censorship and Performance in Egypt" appeared in TDR in 2013 (57, 3:20–47). Selaiha updated her report in 2014 (58, 3:7).

In Egypt, Selaiha edited the theatre section and wrote regularly for Al-Ahram Weekly, a widely read journal of culture, arts, and politics. A few days after she passed away, her colleagues at Al-Ahram published their notice celebrating Selaiha's "passion for philosophy and theatre." They quoted Selaiha's lifelong desire to perform onstage: "I wanted very much to become an actress; that was my real ambition. And I wanted very much to go and study in Britain, but, of course, tradition interfered." Unable to be an actress, she became a performer—in print and in the classroom. As Al-Ahram notes:

In 1982, she obtained her PhD in theatre from the University of Exeter. She held the post of professor of criticism and drama at the High Institute for Art Criticism [of Egypt's Academy of Art] since 1984, and in 2001 to 2003 she was dean of the same institution.

"Being onstage remained a passion with me throughout my life, although I couldn't become an actress, and so teaching offered me a sort of a substitute. I enjoy teaching because, for me, it's like being onstage, I have the floor, I teach drama, I can act all the parts I like... I have a captive audience."

Selaiha authored numerous books and hundreds of articles in both Arabic and English, varying from theory and criticism to translations of plays and critiques

(Ahram Online 2017).

My interactions with Selaiha were infrequent but meaningful, both via the internet and during my 2009 participation in the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre.

Selaiha was TDR's important witness to and critical eye on the theatre in the Arab world. She was fearless in her determination to foster relevant and well-performed theatre. A special issue of Arab Stages (vol. 6, Spring 2017) is dedicated to Selaiha with selections from her writing as well as testimonials about her from artists and scholars. I share with Karen Malpede the opinion that "Egypt and the world have lost a voice that spoke for our deepest humanity and our most meaningful creations. It's difficult to part with such a light in these dark times" (Malpede 2017).