For Nora Armani, Acting Is A Way of Life

She starred with the famous Egyptian actor Mohamed Sobhi in the Egyptian version of “The King and I,” and starred with Gamil Rateb in the Egyptian TV series “Al Asdiquaa” [The Friends], directed by Ismail Abdel Hafez.

Born in Egypt, it is inevitable that Egyptian culture has had a strong influence on her. However, she explains, “We Armenians kept quite an insular existence in Egypt and were much more Western-influenced than Arab or Egyptian-influenced culturally. The choice of plays, characters, and performances at the Armenian Cultural Club, and later at the American University in Cairo where I performed as a student, were not of Arab or Egyptian works, but of the Western canon. It is years later when I came back to Egypt to do the TV series ‘Al Asdiquaa’ and stage work for ‘The King and I’ that I was more exposed to and involved with Egyptian and Arab actors, directors, and the culture. This said, as a child, growing up in Egypt, and having seen Egyptian films, I was definitely influenced by actresses such as Faten Hamama [who was married to Omar Sharif], Soad Hosni, and Mervat Amin, as well as their male counterparts Hussein Fahmy, Nour El Sherif, and Gamil Rateb, who I had the honor to co-star with, in ‘Al Asdiquaa.’”

Armani recently appeared in “Mercedes and Zaruhi,” a one-woman play by Anush Aslibeyan, as part of the United Solo Theatre Festival. The play revolves around an important period of Armenia’s recent history, the repatriations to Soviet Armenia in the late 1940s during Stalin’s reign. The performance took place before a packed audience in November, on New York’s Theatre Row where Armani had performed her self-penned solo show “Back on the Couch with Nora Armani” in November 2021.

She likes doing monologues because she sees that it is a very personal way of telling your story, even when you are doing a character, like she was in “Mercedes and Zaruhi,” contrary to “Back on the Couch with Nora Armani,” where she essentially played herself. Nora says that that this form creates an immediate communication with the audience, and her imagination as a performer has to be much more alive in order to create an entire world on stage all by herself. “I love that challenge,” she exclaims. “I enjoy doing solo shows, even though keeping the audience’s attention focused is a huge responsibility. It is challenging to not let them disconnect or get bored. The only way I can do this is by being 100-percent present, focused and in the moment. Otherwise, it does not work and I can easily lose them.”

When asked whether this type of performance in front of a large audience scares her, the answer came: “Of course, it is like tightrope walking only there is no safety net to fall into. So you need to be very sure of your lines and not have to think about them. It has to become second nature. It is a challenge also because there is no other partner on stage to help you out if you get stuck or if something goes wrong. I wouldn’t say it scares me because if it did, I would not do it. I think I like the adrenaline rush which gets me going. Also, the urgency of wanting to tell a story and share intimate moments with the audience is a strong incentive.”

From sharing intimate moments with theatergoers to rehearsing alone, Nora’s practical point of view is that it is easier to rehearse and work on her own, as she is not bound by anyone else’s schedule and can take the shows on the road too. “I rehearse alone, at first, learning my lines by dividing the script into parts because it is not possible to memorize the entire play at once. Then I rely on the help of family members who check the lines as I recite them. I also have worked with directors, on my own solo pieces, and I like the help of an external eye looking in because it is difficult to see yourself perform or be objective.”