"As long as I am alive, this theatre will not be sold for a supermarket or anything else that has nothing to do with art, culture or entertainment". 
The one who speaks like this is Mrs Amina Karith, who together with her husband in 1973 decided to have a theatre built in the middle of the city to perform comedies and live shows. Then came the first big screen on the north coast and in the eighties the Cleopatra (so called in honour of John Houston's epic film) became the meeting place of those who loved the genre that would later be called Bollywood. Those fantastic Indian meatloafs able to go from tragedy to musical, comic and action in two hours. With twenty shillings you could enter, smoke, sweat and breathe international moods. The matinees were dedicated to school groups, with cultural settings to complement the school programmes just as we do in Italy. Then in 1998 the theatre was devastated by vandals who had never been identified and for many years it remained closed. But Amina didn't lose heart and bought back monitors and sound system, put back most of the 500 armchairs and reopened the city temple. Times have changed, now it is the football matches, with the recent World Cup and the Champions League on the big screen, that still attracts audiences. Now you can't smoke anymore and you would need air conditioning, because people, even Africans, have become more picky and demanding. "But I believe in the revival of culture, of performances, but also of conferences - says Amina - I hope to find sponsors who believe as I do. Cleopatra can become a resource for the whole town. With 100,000 euros it could be transformed into a concert hall, theatre and other facilities. Those who believe in it, come forward!".