Wael Shawky · Drama 1882

On June 10, 2026 at 8:00 AM at the Grand Palais, Wael Shawky presents his film-opera Drama 1882. Eight parts retrace Ahmed Urabi’s revolt against colonial domination and propose a narrative that lies between theatre, opera and cinema.

Using video, sculpture and historical reenactments, Wael Shawky questions the authority of written history and its ambiguities. Colonel Ahmed Urabi, a peasant who became the founder of the Egyptian Nationalist Party, led the uprising and worked to return Egypt to its people. What event in 1882 could have caused his popular movement to implode, precipitated the British bombardment of Alexandria and resulted in his exile? Wael Shawky stages a musical and theatrical narrative filmed in a historic theatre in Alexandria, set against a pictorial backdrop. The performers and the soundtrack seem to be part of the same painting in motion. The sets move in slow motion; the characters evolve through a deliberate, slow choreography. The drama takes on many faces: it can be entertainment, catastrophe, or the doubt intrinsic to history. A critical conversation on the need to revisit history and the futility of war.