Sara Shaarawi's play 'Niqabi Ninja' comes to Uganda

Sara Shaarawi’s play Niqabi Ninja is the story of Hana, a woman who has endured sexual harassment for most of her life and is ready to fight back.

Niqabi Ninja is an avenging superhero determined to seek out and avenge every single act of sexual harassment she has experienced at the hands of Egyptian men in Cairo.

Set in Cairo during the chaotic time of the Egyptian uprising, the essential commentary gives two actresses a chance to explore the range and complexity of harassment against women, and one woman’s response.

Born in the streets of the capital Cairo, Niqabi Ninja has a list, a record of injuries and a variety of punishments to mete out. She flexes muscles and her list targets the men who have sexually harassed her. “I will hunt down for everyone and make sure that you pay for what you have done,” she declares.

SHATTERED INNOCENCE

Hana even comes up with various sets of rules that she thinks will enable her to navigate life in modern-day Cairo without adding to the mental traumas that she has endured in her life between the age of 12 and 22.

It all started when Hana was 12 years old. As she went to buy her first bra with her mother in a shop in Cairo, men kept hissing and catcalling. She learnt the first rule that for a woman to walk on the streets she has to move fast and away from the men, and she has to ignore them.

Boys also ask Hana for her mobile phone number. One day a boy follows her for 20 minutes promising to do her school homework if she accepted him.

Hana has also had to endure meeting the street vendor every day for four years on her way from school. He tells her that she has now grown up.

When she takes a taxi, she learns never to make eye contact with the driver or sit in the front seat. She stays alert and focused while looking through the window but keeps an eye on him through the mirror. She is ready to fight the driver if he unzips his trouser.

In another incident, a policeman tells her that she looks delicious in her white dress.

Making eye contact with men in night clubs encourages them, so she learns to steer clear.

Men usually backbite her whenever she passes by. They devour her with their eyes. Eyes everywhere in all shapes and colours. But that does not matter any longer. She used to blame her clothes, now it is her body.

OBJECT

Hana remembers all the clothes she wore at certain ages, and how she was abused. She threw them away each time she was abused. There was always that lewd comment that “she asked for it.”

Even when Hana asks her boyfriend to attend a rally in Tahrir Square (the centre of the Egyptian uprising) she is uncomfortable with her body amongst so many strangers. Men in Tahrir Square attack single and unprotected women and rape them in what the playwright terms as sexual terrorism.

Although Shaarawi has used the backdrop of the Arab Spring in Egypt to craft this play, the story is universal and reflects what women experience in many places where a woman’s body is treated as a sexual object.

The drama captures the ‘normalised sexual harassment’ of women, and how this affects them, including developing feelings of low esteem, deep insecurity, self-hate and fear. It paints a picture of how women are affected by domestic violence, whistles and catcalls, groping and rape.

In this play, Shaarawi, an Egyptian playwright and producer based in Glasgow, Scotland, attempts to shatter the myth of ‘normalised sexual harassment’.

The captivating, thought-provoking and action-packed drama opened on July 19 at the National Theatre in Kampala, Uganda. There were repeat shows on July 20 and 21, and others are scheduled for July 26 and 27. A ticket costs Ushs20,000 ($5.3).

Niqabi Ninja is directed by the Ugandan award-winning director Judith Adong and performed by Rehema Nanfuka (Uganda) and Lisa Gutu (Zimbabwe).