Review on Hampton's "White Chameleon" Alexandria

Award-winning scriptwriter Sir Christopher Hampton expressed his happiness because he was granted an award in the opening ceremony of the Cairo International Film Festival.

Hampton asserted the beauty of recalling his Alexandria memories in his play- "White Chameleon" that summarizes his story in Alexandria.

Hampton narrates in the play his childhood in Alexandria, especially during the Nationalism movements, shedding light on the transformation of the city from an international and cosmopolitan one to a closed one.

So, he gives two images of the city: the cosmopolitan, and the fall of the cosmopolitan.

He narrates different examples for the cosmopolitan Alexandria such as the names of the squares: Cleopatra, Victoria, and Smouha.

Furthermore, he gives the audience hint about the various demography of Alexandria as he mentions the presence of the Greek represented in Christopher's family neighbor Bella, the existence of the other European communities as the Finnish, beside the Syrian and Lebanese and the Americans with the Egyptians at the same schools and how they exchanged visits between each other.

In describing the social relations between Egyptians and foreigners, Hampton describes this solidarity in his birthday scene and how boys play with each other whether in the home's garden or at Smouha Sports Club.

However, Hampton expresses the dark side of Alexandria represented in feelings of isolation and nostalgia. Hampton depends on different flashback techniques in the performance, for example employing some Meta-drama techniques as playing with lights and theatrical props as glasses, representing the Egyptian culture through visual and audio effects as "tarboosh," pop Egyptian music, the smell of local cigarettes and his family servant Ibrahim who used to wear "galabiya"- a traditional Egyptian garment native to the Nile Valley.

Furthermore, he portrays the impact of the revolution on Alexandria. The Egyptians have become more narrow-minded and a speech of hatred and social rejection destroys the harmonious cultural texture of Alexandria; they treat foreigners as enemies or outsiders. That is why, he opens the play with a famous poem by Cavafy, "When Gods Abandon Antony."

The shift of such attitude Hampton reflects in two major scenes: the first is the swimming team at the club singing the Egyptian National Anthem; Christopher is included in the team. The second is the punishment Christopher (a British) is exposed to in the school by the Egyptian boys.

There are different examples of this horrific and rapid transformation of the city through the diction. Hampton uses many phrases to prove this such as: "the city you are losing" (2), "Alexandria herself who is leaving…" (31), "expulsion order was handed" (49), "I said goodbye to Alexandria," (45) and "all the English is going away" (54).

Another scene that has left a mark in Christopher’s memory is the enforcement of their departure of Egypt as the Egyptians are hating the English and English corporations. Christopher’s father was arrested and many English have been handed orders for leave besides being insulted by the Egyptians.

In reflecting isolation and diaspora, Hampton uses a chameleon as a symbol. The chameleon is known for adaptation in the environment it is part of it. In the middle of the play after the speech of nationalizing the Suez Canal, Christopher expresses that he found the Chameleon dead! It is white which means it is neutral. It could reflect the feelings of the foreign minorities as they do not react towards politics and they have lived as the Egyptians.

So through the play, he succeeds in tracing the transformation of Alexandria from a cosmopolitan city to a national closed city.