JEDDAH: The veteran Egyptian actors Yehia El-Fakharany and Farouk Al-Fishawi will take the stage in Saudi Arabia this year for six performances of Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear” as the Kingdom’s entertainment chiefs spread their global net still wider.

The deal with a Cairo theater group was one of a raft of agreements signed by General Entertainment Authority Chairman Turki Alalshikh with producers and promoters in Egypt. It follows similar agreements reached last week on a visit to London.

Other Egyptian highlights include six plays featuring Sherihan, the actress, singer and dancer who retired in 2002 and returned to the stage in 2016.  

She will appear at the Riyadh Festival in October and November this year, and in Jeddah in June and July 2020.

There will be plays and other productions involving comedy actors Mohamed Henedi, Ashraf Abdul Baqi and Mohammed Saad, star of the 2002 hit comedy “El-Limby.”

Playwrights Amir Taima and Ayman Bahgat Qamar have also been commissioned to write several new works to revive Saudi Arabia’s theatrical heritage.

Fans of Egyptian music can look forward to performances by Hani Shaker, Amr Diab and Mohammad Hamaki, and stage shows featuring the music of Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Abdel Halim Hafez.