Playwright, TV. and film screenwriter.

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Born in Cairo on 18 August 1945 to parents engaged in the press and politics.

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He published his first short story in 1956 in the magazine Sabah El Kheir, and published his first book in 1958 when he was only 12. 

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In 1970 he obtained a bachelor's degree from the High Institute of Theatrical Arts specializing in critique and theatrical literature.

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In 1967 he started writing television series. He wrote series which acquired popularity and are often repeatedly broadcast to this day. These series include “Sharara”, “The Chance of a Lifetime”, “Mizo’s Tales”, "Congratulations...its a boy”, “Hend and Dr. Noaman”, and others.

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He wrote 12 films for the cinema and cooperated with the famous Egyptian film director Salah Abu Seif in writing three films (“The Ostrich and the Peacock”, “Mr. Dog”, and “The Beginning”)

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In 1994 he wrote the film “The Terrorist”, which was considered as the first artistic challenge against terrorism in Egypt. He also wrote three installments of the comic films “Bekheet and Adeela” which also stared Egyptian comedy superstar Adel Imam. 

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More than 50 of his plays have been performed covering most of the theatres of Egypt and they are re-performed by amateur theatres, colleges, troupes, and cultural centers throughout Egypt. Many of his plays were also performed internationally in Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya, Qatar, UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, France, Australia, Holland, and Canada. In addition, recitals of his plays have been read in the USA and Denmark.

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In 1980 he founded a troupe called “Studio 80” which operated from the year 1980-1993 in collaboration with actor Mohamed Sobhy. This troupe performed six plays including, “You Are Free”, “The Uncivilized”, “Hallucinations”, and “A Point of View”; all gaining unprecedented popularity.

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In 1993 he founded another troupe on his own called “Studio 2000” which operated until the year 2001, where he often wrote, directed and produced a number of plays including the play “In Plain Arabic” which was performed by a group of young armatures with great success in Egypt and in various parts of the Arab world. The play gained a lot of attention in Egypt, the Arab world, and was followed and written about by various press and news agencies in The US and Europe. El Ramly has met with over 30 reporters around the globe and The Foreign Reporters Association organized two press conferences devoted to the play in Egypt.

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Since 1989 the National State Theatre were seeking out his plays. The National theatre showed for him the following plays: (“Welcome Beys” (1989), “Goodbye Beys” (1997), “Would You Like to See a Tragedy?” (2003), “Masks Off” (2007), “Zaki in the Ministry” (2008), "A Ghost in our House" (2012), and "Laugh When you Die" (2018). 

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“Welcome Beys” had unique success as it holds the record of highest box office revenue witnessed since the start of the National State Theatre in the thirties. It was performed for five seasons, the most recent one being in 2007. This play also represented Egypt in many theatre festivals. 

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The state owned Comedy Theatre also performed successfully three of his famous plays “A Ghost for Every Citizen” (1988), “Hopefully All is Well” (1997), and “Saalouk Wins a Million” (2003).

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26 of his long plays have been published as well as10 short plays. Selected essays from his newspaper and magazine columns have also been published. He also wrote in many publications including Al-Ahram Daily Newspaper, Akbar El Youm’s Newspaper Literature section, and in the Daily Rose El Youssef newspaper, among others. 

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A lot of his plays have been translated into various languages including English, French, Greek, Danish, and Italian. 

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Won many accolades and awards throughout his career. These include the prestigious Prince Claus Award (2005), and the Nile Award in Arts (2020). (For a complete list of awards, click here)

 

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance states about him: “Ramly’s expressionism interlocks powerfully, with his flair for popular comedy (hence his great Box-office appeal), all the while serving to pose existentialist/topical Sociopolitical questions".

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Most of his works have been a success financially and artistically. Thus, critics have admitted that he has succeeded in achieving a difficult balance by combining entertainment and mass appeal with intellectual depth.

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Passed away on the 7th of February 2020. 

 

Lenin El Ramly is survived by his wife Fatma El Maadoul, and children Shady El Ramly and Hind El Ramly.

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