Cairo born, and Le Coq and Goldsmith’s trained in Paris and London, Chirine El Ansary is a storyteller and physical performer living in Egypt and France, and working in French, English and Arabic. Chirine was one of the first performers to perform in the ancient buildings in the heart of the old city of Cairo, and in the markets and old palaces of Damascus and Aleppo. Today she is an international storyteller and has performed in cities diverse as Sana’a, Nairobi, Zanzibar, Johannesburg, Rome, Naples, Rotterdam and Paris… and made her mark in the UK at the Barbican and Soho theatres. Her work includes performances of The Arabian Nights; her remarkable adaptation of the Banu Hilal epic (premiered at the Barbican in 2005); experimental movement solos based on Italo Calvino’s prose; Sufi tales and performance poetry. She also works as a radio actress, featured in productions such as the Naguib Mahfouz trilogy, on BBC Radio 4, and recordings of her own storytelling for Radio Monte Carlo-Moyen Orient.