CAIRO — Watching the play "The Trial" is akin to a revolution — it shakes one's beliefs.

This is what director Tariq El-Dweiri intended when he meticulously prepared the production and screenplay adapted from "Inherit the Wind," the 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The illusion of a divide between the play and the audience is shattered. The play begins with the national anthem and the audience stands up, before realizing that it's merely part of the play. They then gasp in astonishment.

This small revolution occurs inside the audience, making them wonder what the Egyptian public has come to following the recent revolutions. Dweiri intended to present his audience with an objective and "symbolic" representation of what happened in Egypt following a revolution that ended with the rule of religious thought, represented in reality by the Muslim Brotherhood. In the play, the "virtuous" man wears a white robe. Another revolution arrives via the army, represented by a delegate of the general prosecutor who wears military boots.

These symbols begin with the first scene of the play, which includes an expressive dance carried out by those who will later become the citizens of this poor city — whether the bookseller, the monkey owner, the man with a disability, the coveted woman or the lemon vendor.