El Sawy's puppet theatre brings back Om Kolthoum on 4 and 5 November

Om Kolthoum is back on a Zamalek stage, this time as a puppet. Sakia Puppet Theatre, the puppet company of El Sawy Culturewheel, is staging its show about the singer known as the Star of the East three times next week, in the Wisdom hall at the Culturewheel.

The first performance is on Wednesday 4 November at 6:30pm. On Thursday 5 November there are two, at 6:30pm and at 8:30pm. Each runs for about an hour and a half, according to the Culturewheel's listings.

The show recreates Om Kolthoum's concerts with puppets on stage, the idea Ahram Online described in July when it wrote about the production reviving her performances. The Culturewheel's page for the show names Ana wa Enta Zalamna al-Hob and Alf Leila wa Leila among its songs, two of the long, late-career pieces audiences still ask for at tribute nights.

It is a different evening from the orchestra tributes and Kalthoumiyat nights that fill Cairo's calendar: smaller, closer to the stage and suited to anyone who grew up with her songs on the radio.

Tickets are booked through El Sawy Culturewheel's own website, where each performance has its own page and a book now button; the listing does not show the price. The Culturewheel is in Zamalek at the foot of the 15th of May Bridge. The 8:30pm show on Thursday is the one to pick if you are coming after work, and the two 6:30pm shows suit families.