Download Theatre as political and social commentary

Theatre is generally seen as a universal phenomenon- no matter where one goes in
the world, theatre will exist in some form. While theatre is generally seen across the
globe as a form of entertainment, it is also seen as a platform for political and social
commentary. This is another universal feature of theatre. Even in countries where
freedom of speech may not be promoted or even respected, this reactionary aspect of
theatre still exists. In these countries, artists use theatre to speak out when they can’t do
so otherwise. In the Middle East, where theatre is developing towards Western standards
by leaps and bounds under sometimes oppressive governments, this use of theatre for
commentary is still able to exist.
The history of modern Arabic drama is traced independently to Syria (present-day
Lebanon), where it was introduced by Marun al-Naqqash in 1847, and Egypt, where
Ya’qub Sannu brought the form in 1870. Both men were influenced by Italian opera, and
French comedy in particular. However, the Arab world has its own traditional forms of
drama, which can be traced back as early as the tenth century. One form of early play is
the Passion Play, which is linked to Shia Muslims and commemorates the massacre of alHusayn, son of the fourth Caliph, and his family.1 These are seen as extensions of
religious rituals, and are in fact very similar to European medieval mystery plays, which
depicted various stories from the Bible.
Another early form of Arabic drama is the shadow play. These are plays where
the action is represented by shadows cast on a screen by flat, leather puppets. This is
considered a sophisticated art form, which used comedy to make commentary on society
1
Muhammad Mustafa Badawi, Modern Arabic drama in Egypt. New York: Cambridge University Press,
2005. 1
at the time.2 The use of puppets was seen particularly in ancient Egypt, where puppets
were used to depict religious stories.3
While modern Arabic drama is considered to have really started in the 1930’s,
there was a major revival in the late fifties and sixties, where the use of theatre for
commentary exploded. The use of colloquial Arabic (the language of everyday speech)
became very widespread in drama, and young writers were eager to experiment with
language and form.4 This time was also important for the development of creative theatre
which could fly under the radar of censorship in various countries. Especially in Egypt,
where political parties were banned by the regime in power, theatre became an outlet for
artists to express their political ideas and share them with the general population.5
Even from the beginnings of modern Arabic drama, there were major influences
from European playwrights, including Bertolt Brecht, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett,
John Osborne, Luigi Pirandello, and others. Brecht, a writer, director, and theorist,
developed what is known as alienation theory, the point of which is to make the audience
aware that they’re watching a play. Alienation serves to remove the audience from the
emotions of the play in order to make the audience think rationally about what they’ve
just seen. This effect is obtained through various elements, such as visible theatre
equipment such as lights and wires hanging onstage, and literally describing the action
through projections on the stage.
Samuel Beckett is considered the founder of what came to be known as “theatre
of the absurd”, which is related to existentialist philosophy. Other playwrights writing in
2
Badawi, Modern 2
Cairo Puppet Theatre
4
Badawi, Modern 140
5
Muhammad Mustafa Badawi, Introduction, Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology. Roger Allen and
Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995. 6
3
this style include Eugene Ionesco and Harold Pinter. It generally promotes the belief that
life is meaningless and doesn’t make any sense. Often, speech in the play breaks down or
otherwise doesn’t make sense. This theatrical practice, along with Brecht’s theories, was
very popular throughout Europe in the mid-1900’s and spread into the Arab world.
These European influences are clearly expressed in many Arab plays. These
include Isam Mahfuz’s The China Tree, Sa’dallah Wannus’s The King is the King, and
Strangers Don’t Drink Coffee, by Mahmud Diyab. Mahfuz’s play, on a topical level,
follows a young man named Sa’dun as he goes through trial for a crime he may or may
not have committed. In one of the courtroom scenes, the general proceeds to give a
speech detailing why Sa’dun is guilty:
If he weren’t guilty, he wouldn’t be here. If he weren’t here, I wouldn’t be here
either. And if I weren’t here, none of you would be here either. And if I weren’t
here, the Clerk and the witnesses wouldn’t be here either. And if we weren’t here,
none of you would be needed here. And if that were the case, none of this would
exist... But it’s impossible that nothing at all has happened.6
The general continues to say that Sa’dun is guilty because he is on a list. This, and the
preceding logic, is clearly following a faulty form of logic. This type of absurd thinking
shows the influence of Beckett on Mahfuz.
Sa’dallah Wannus also shows European influence in his play The King is the
King, this time displaying Brechtian influence. At the beginning of each scene, a poster
is displayed on stage, detailing the action of the upcoming scene.7 This is one of the
major elements of Brecht’s epic theatre and alienation effect. Displaying the upcoming
action removes any element of surprise from the play, which allows the audience to think
6
7
Isam Mahfuz, “The China Tree.” Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology. 46
Sa’dallah Wannus, “The King is the King.” Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology. 82
about what is happening in the play in a context of social or political commentary, and
discourages the audience from getting caught up in the action.
Strangers Don’t Drink Coffee by Mahmud Diyab reflects a striking similarity to
Harold Pinter’s play The Birthday Party. Both plays leave the audience with a sense of
horror, although it is not apparent through much of the action why this is so. In Diyab’s
play, the strangers who enter the house of the Man are very nondescript people, which
add to the sense of horror and disturbance that on the surface seems to not actually exist.
Many Arab playwrights discuss issues of politics and society in a theatrical
context, especially in recent years. Two of the major players in this field currently are
Nabil Sawalha and Hisham Yaness, Jordanian playwrights. For Sawalha and Hisham, the
way to comment on politics and society is to make fun of it. They infuse controversial
topics with humor and present them to the public, often making fun of worldwide
political figures, including Jordan’s King Hussein. As Sawalha explains, they “just get
up on stage and say what everybody has been saying in the privacy of their bathrooms for
years.”8
While certain playwrights are influential in the arena of political and social
commentary, some only express their ideas in certain plays. One of those plays is Six
Actors in Search of a Plot, by Muhammad Ahmed Zaher. This play, created for Peace
Child Israel, a youth theatre organization, is based on Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in
Search of an Author. In Pirandello’s play, the Characters interrupt a rehearsal, looking
for an author to tell their story and each character demanding to be heard. In Zaher’s
version, the actors try to be heard as individuals but they also try to agree on a plot. The
play explores the relationship between Jews and Arab Palestinians, and created
8
Stephanie Genkin, “Taking the Taboos.” The Middle East, 1994.
controversy, both in the audience and in the cast. The play comments mostly on the
history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and according to director Billy Yalowitz, one of
the objectives is to show “how both sides use their respective histories as weapons, and
that as long as they wield these stories of how their people have suffered to justify their
claims to the land, they will remain at an impasse.”9
Tawfiq al-Hakim, a noted Egyptian playwright, was the first one to attempt a
major reworking of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. al-Hakim’s play King Oedipus,
published in 1949, has been noted by critics to contain specific political commentary.
Sami Munir, an Egyptian critic, theorized that al-Hakim’s King Oedipus was an allegory
specifically referring to the events of February 1942, when British troops manipulated the
Egyptian king into appointing a pro-British prime minister. Munir comments that the
British manipulation of the Wafd party, which served in the government, is related in the
play through Tiresias’s manipulation of Oedipus, who is a corrupt individual, different
from the original Greek play.10
Ali Ahmed Bakathir is another playwright who reworked the tale of Oedipus, this
time clearly creating political commentary in his reworking. His version, entitled The
Tragedy of Oedipus, was directly inspired by the 1948 defeat of Arab armies in Palestine.
Bakathir, a strong supporter of both Islam and Arab nationalism, displays the importance
of both in his play. He makes a very strong commentary about religion in his play,
especially about those who use religion to manipulate and control people, regardless of
how that may affect others.
Melissa Dribben, “Palestinian and Jew seek insight on stage.” Peace Child Israel.
Marvin Carlson, ed. The Arab Oedipus: Four Plays. New York: Martin E. Segal Theatre Center
Publications, 2005. 7
9
10
In Bakathir’s Tragedy of Oedipus, the seer Tiresias is a priest who is thrown out
of the circle of priests by the corrupt High Priest, and who goes to the atheistic Oedipus
to give him guidance during his time of trouble. Tiresias was thrown out of the
priesthood by the High Priest because he did not agree with the corruption, and in fact
spoke out against it. Because of that, the High Priest condemned him as an atheist,
successfully scaring the population from talking to him. Later in the play, Tiresias brings
the truth about the High Priest out to the people, who had perpetuated the cycle of action
that caused Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother:
...you continued creating the tragedy... It is enough for the people of Thebes, of
Hellas, no, it is enough for humanity to have one man who excels in this art as
this priest does, to fill the earth with evil, tragedies and crises that would rend the
heart, shake the body and fill the heavens and earth with uproar. I will reveal to
you the secret so that no one after you will be deceived by a charlatan like him
who abuses the sacred and trades on the faith of believers and uses God’s love,
which is one of the noblest feelings, as a tool to manipulate people to commit the
worst of crimes and the most horrible sins.11
Bakathir, at this point, wants to inform people of the corruption that he sees in his current
situation. While he is placing it in the context of an ancient Greek tragedy, he is making
it relevant to current events and current situations affecting audience members.
Ali Salim’s play The Comedy of Oedipus: You’re the One Who Killed the Beast,
tackles a number of issues affecting the population at the time Salim was writing,
particularly the modernization of the Middle East, artistic censorship, and complete
reliance on the high leadership figure, in a comedic manner. Salim’s Comedy of Oedipus
is set a long time ago, but portrays many qualities of modern times. At one point in the
play, there is an amusing and also important scene between Awalih, the Chief of Police in
Thebes, and Senefru, a Theban playwright. At this point, Awalih is trying to explain to
11
Ali Ahmed Bakathir “The Tragedy of Oedipus” The Arab Oedipus: Four Plays. 246
Oedipus how the city of Thebes is very open and promotes freedom of speech. When
Awalih asks Senefru to back him up by giving an example of one of his plays, Senefru
responds “Which play? The one you banned...?”12 While it is an amusing scene, it also
reflects the current (at the time of writing) situation surrounding censorship. On one end,
the government is trying to portray an environment of free speech and openness, but on
the other end that same government is attempting to prevent playwrights from speaking
their minds.
The play also comments on the modernization of the Middle East. A short time
after the scene with Awalih and Senefru, Oedipus proclaims that he will save the city
from its troubles by “...put[ting] it forward by five thousand years.”13 Oedipus succeeds
in doing so, bringing along the telephone, television, and various other inventions. Salim
is trying to comment here about the rush of modernization that was occurring in the
Middle East at that time. While modernization necessarily isn’t a bad thing, the quick
rush to produce everything at once isn’t beneficial to the largest amount of people.
The last major comment Salim makes in his play is the huge reliance on a single
leadership figure. This play was published in 1970, the same year that Gamal Abdel
Nasser, President of Egypt, died. Salim comments on the Egyptian people’s complete
reliance on Nasser as leader through the metaphor of “the city” relying on “the king.”14
Salim makes numerous references to this idea throughout the play. Very early in the
play, Tiresias (acting as the same persona as in the Greek original) comments on the
Ali Salim “The Comedy of Oedipus: You’re the One Who Killed the Beast.” The Arab Oedipus: Four
Plays, 297.
13
Salim 301
14
Roger Allen, ed. Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology, 354.
12
city’s total reliance on Oedipus to kill the beast that is threatening the city, crafting a very
effective speech, as though directly spoken from the playwright himself:
It may well be that Oedipus will solve the riddle and settle the problem of the
best. But what of the beast within you? Who is going to kill that- that stupid
beast that makes you forever wait for the one who will solve your problems for
you, in return for which you will concede him anything?15
Tiresias, acting as the voice of reason, tries to convince the people to think for themselves
and to find solutions themselves, instead of relying on a single figure that might not
always be there to fix the problems.
Oedipus, along with Tiresias, tries to discourage the people from placing all of
their faith in one man. He even tries to get the people to stop placing total reliance on
him, by reminding them that he is, in fact, only human and not a god, as some people had
portrayed him to be.16 Oedipus realizes the danger in relying on only one man to run and
save a country, and tries to explain that to the people he serves. However, since they
have blind faith in him, they will not listen. Salim, through the characters of Tiresias, and
later Oedipus, is relating to the audience the dangers of total reliance on one person.
Through the speeches of Tiresias and Oedipus, he is trying to reach out to the audience in
light of Nasser’s death, reminding them that they shouldn’t place all of their faith in one
man, and in fact can’t do that anymore. They must find the way themselves.
The King is the King, written by Sa’dallah Wannus, is another play that uses
comedy to address a serious political issue. As in The Comedy of Oedipus, Wannus
warns of the dangers of one man controlling everything in the country. Towards the
beginning of the play, the young man Ubayd tells a story about a long time ago- once
upon a time. He tells a tale of a community that shared everything, until one day a
15
16
Salim 303
Salim 338
stronger man decided to break up the community and control everything. This man, who
became the landlord, then king, created a system of using masks to hide who people
really are. Ubayd ends the story by saying that the system that this strong man created
once upon a time.17 Ubayd’s story warns of the dangers of placing power in the hands of
one man. It upsets the natural balance of things, and can only be restored by revolt.
While many plays deal with political issues, not all of them do. Many others deal
with social issues, including Mamduh Udwan’s play That’s Life and Darkness, a devised
piece by the Balalin Company of Jerusalem. Both of these plays deal with the treatment
of women in Arab culture. That’s Life is a single, long monologue given by the husband
of a woman who has recently died. The piece starts of in a moment of reminiscing, but
quickly turns angry and resentful. The husband is angry with his wife for leaving him
behind, and he expresses his anger in various speeches. In one speech, he reflects on the
cultural idea of beating one’s wife. He says, “So what if I used to beat you? I’m your
husband and your master. I could beat you till you were black and blue...” Later, he also
states that “Even the Holy Qur’an has advised us to beat our wives.”18 Udwan is
reflecting on the social norms of that area, where beating one’s wife is a normal,
understandable occurrence.
Darkness also deals with the issue of the treatment of women, but in a completely
different manner. In this play, a theatre group is trying to put on a show when the lights
go out. Nobody in the audience has the knowledge to help, except Nadia, a young
woman with a degree in electrical engineering. When she tries to help, she is prevented
by her fiancé Hani, who has a somewhat traditional view of what a woman’s role should
17
18
Wannus 98
Mamduh Udwan “That’s Life.” Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology 64-5.
be. ‘Adil, a fellow audience member, chastises Hani for his limited views, telling him
that his responsibility for getting the electricity back on was very large- that without him
giving permission to Nadia to help, they would all have to sit in the dark.19 Hani’s
subsequent relenting to pressure and allowing Nadia to help shows the company’s
progressive views towards women. Various characters chastise Hani until he relents,
showing that none of the company members (since this is a created piece, created by all
members of the company) agrees with Hani’s view on the proper role for women.
The Bird Has Flown, a play by Abd al-Aziz al-Surayyi, discusses another social
aspect- the cultural differences between Middle Eastern and Western cultures,
specifically referencing Kuwait and Britain. In this play, the Father’s eldest son Yusuf is
moving to Kuwait to be with his father, after being raised by his mother in Britain. After
Yusuf arrives in Kuwait, the cultural differences become apparent immediately. The
final straw comes when it appears as though Yusuf has had sex with his cousin Sarah,
who was supposed to be married to Yusuf’s half-brother Salem. Yusuf, being raised in
Western society, sees nothing wrong with this situation. His father, belonging to the
traditional Kuwaiti society, sees this event as a stain on his family, and insists that Yusuf
leaves, saying that the different cultures are too different to be in the same house.20 This
shows that while some Middle Eastern countries are trying to modernize and Westernize,
there are some aspects of the culture that really can’t be translated well into other areas of
the world.
Various issues are discussed in these diverse plays, and they are addressed in just
as many ways as there are issues. Peace Child Israel’s Six Actors in Search of a Plot
19
20
The Balalin Company of Jerusalem, “Darkness.” Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology 198.
Abd al-Aziz al-Surayyi, “The Bird Has Flown.” Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology 239.
addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a unique way. They present the issues on the
stage, and then provide a chance to talk after the performance. After every performance
of this play, there is a discussion session moderated by either a psychologist or conflict
resolution expert.21 This allows not only the actors, but also audience members to
interact with the play and discuss it in a rational, controlled environment.
The Key is another play that addresses issues in a creative way. This play, which
was based off of folklore, discussed the issue of security. The wife in the play, Haira,
wants to have a baby but her husband Hairan refuses to have one until he can be sure that
his child can have a peaceful, secure life.22 Throughout the play, the couple runs into
various problems while tracking down the pieces from the old story that they need to
provide security for their child. When they return to the Herdsman, who, like everyone
else in the play, has a piece of the “puzzle” that they must solve, he describes how his
farm has been destroyed. At this point, stage directions dictate that “The Zionist attacks
in Palestine could be shown as a background to this scene... Also scenes of imperialism
and its agents in more than one of the liberated countries could be shown.”23 Clearly, the
playwright is making a point of the destruction that the attacks in Palestine and
imperialism in general have caused in the Middle East.
Many of these plays reflect the openness of the countries they were written in, and
others reflect ways that playwrights in more restrictive countries have managed to
express their ideas. One play that clearly shows openness, at least in the country of
Jordan, is Nabil Sawalha and Hisham Yaness’s play “New World Order”. This play,
produced in 1993 on the heels of the Gulf War, mocked every major political figure
21
Dribben
Yusuf al-Ani, “The Key.” Modern Arabic Drama: An Anthology 257.
23
al-Ani 276
22
involved in that war. Sawalha and Yaness believe that their work exceeds art, and that
they in fact provide a signpost of Jordan’s increasing liberalism since Jordan’s 1989
democratic reforms, allowing freedom of speech.24 These laws have allowed these
playwrights to openly create political commentary, expressing it to audiences within their
country and encouraging others to do the same.
Lenin El-Ramly is another playwright who has proven adept at gaining freedom
of speech through his work. While a film he had written in 1971 had been rejected at that
time by the censorship in Egypt, in 2002 it was finally produced.25 While it took over 30
years for his work to finally be free, it shows that over time, progress has been made
towards freedom of artistic expression, and also freedom of speech.
However, some playwrights must deal with censorship. Those playwrights must
be very skillful in how they go about dealing with the censorship while still expressing
their ideas. Some ways are through the use of symbolism and the historical archetype.
Also, scenic elements, which do not have to go through a censor, can be used to portray
political or social commentary. If a playwright is creative enough, he or she can find
ways to express ideas and share them with the public.
Even though modern Arabic drama has only been in progress since the mid1900’s, it has made great progress towards becoming just as open and free as Western
theatre. Many aspects of Western theatre have been incorporated into Arabic theatre, and
modern theatre in the Arab world has combined Western styles with some traditional
aspects of Arab theatre. It has also allowed a vast number of people to express their ideas
through the context of art and theatre, even though there may be restrictions for doing so.
24
25
Genkin
Lenin El-Ramly
Arabic theatre has overcome many obstacles in the form of censorship, for the end
purpose of simply allowing artists to express their ideas on political and social issues.