British authorities closed Cairo theaters to suppress anti-colonial agitation in 1919

Evidence

As comic as it was supposed to be, “Al-Barbarï f-il-Jaysh” uses its central character, Osman, to defy abusive authority and the immorality of foreign cultural practices. In many ways, the play raises some of the same points that were integral to the 1919 revolution’s protest against the abuses of the British protectorate and the mistreatment of Egyptians under its administration.The British in fact recognized the potential for political agitation that popular theaters of the Ezbekiya section of Cairo presented (the same neighborhood in which al-Kassär performed); shortly after demonstrations led by stage actors in 1919, the administration closed all theaters until the uprising ended. Conceived in this environment of confrontation, the politicization of “Al-Barbarï f-il-Jaysh” was all the more dramatic in light of the fact that audiences of the Majestic Theater were made up of many foreigners, including, it has been claimed, English officers and civil bureaucrats. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 914

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the 1919 revolution against the British protectorate, relevant to the reader’s Egypt-vs-Sudan comparative colonial framework. — connects to: French officials mistook the revolt for isolated Cairo-directed incidents — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 299; Blackface Nubian comic characters thrived in Cairo’s popular theater world
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 914

Broader Connections

• French officials mistook the revolt for isolated Cairo-directed incidents #qualifies (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 299
• Blackface Nubian comic characters thrived in Cairo’s popular theater world #complicates (0.35)