Doomed by Hope: Essays on Arab Theatre - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745333540 ISBN 13: 9780745333540

Verlag: Pluto Press, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

Doomed by Hope is a beautifully presented collection of essays by writers and artists which traces the history of contemporary Arab theatre and its relationship to social change. With contributors from Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Kuwait and Yemen, this book includes both academic discussions and personal narratives, alongside a number of specially commissioned portraits of contemporary Arab theatre artists. The essays revolve around the legacy of the late Syrian dramatist Saadallah Wannous, whose monumental plays incited audiences to rise up against tyranny decades ago. This unique book is one of the first English language volumes on Arab theatre. In a highly topical manner following the Arab Spring, it explores cultural practices – from reading plays in a classroom to performing in a security state and directing in theatres, prisons, and international festivals – in times of revolt.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Eyad Houssami makes and writes about theatre. He studied theatre at Yale University and currently lives in Beirut. He is the author of the play Mama Butterfly.

Elias Khoury is a Lebanese writer and public intellectual. He is the author of plays, film scripts, stories, and critical essays, and his twelve novels include Little Mountain, Gate of the Sun, As Though She Were Sleeping and Sinalkol.

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Doomed by Hope

Essays on Arab Theatre

By Eyad Houssami, Masrah Ensemble

Pluto Press

Copyright © 2012 Eyad Houssami
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7453-3354-0

Contents

Acknowledgments, vii, 
Foreword: Hope Arising from Despair Elias Khoury, x, 
List of Plates (bound between pages 96 and 97), xvi, 
1 Introduction Eyad Houssami, 1, 
2 Refugees on the Syrian Stage: Soirée for the 5th of June Edward Ziter, 11, 
3 Saadallah Wannous in Palestine: On and Offstage Performances and Pedagogies Rania Jawad, 28, 
4 Performance through the Egyptian Revolution: Stories from Tahrir Dalia Basiouny, 42, 
5 Three Egyptian Plays in the Wake of the January Revolution Samia Habib, 54, 
6 Staging a Protest: Socio-Political Critique in Contemporary Yemeni Theatre Katherine Hennessey, 59, 
7 The Legacy of Saadallah Wannous and Soirée for the 5th of June amidst the Arab Revolts Asaad Al-Saleh, 77, 
8 Emerging Playwrights in Syria Meisoun Ali, 92, 
9 Practicing Theatre and Playwriting in Damascus Abdullah Al Kafri, 97, 
10 12 Angry Lebanese in Roumieh Prison Zeina Daccache, 103, 
11 What has Slipped Away is So Far, and What is Yet to Come So Close Rabih Mroué, 111, 
12 Shakespeare, Global Debris, and International Political Theatre Sulayman Al Bassam, 123, 
13 The Things I am Afraid to Tell You: Performing Palestine in Diaspora Joseph Shahadi, 138, 
14 Doomed by "Dialogue," Saved by Curiosity? Post-9/11 Arab Performances under American Eyes Margaret Litvin, 158, 
15 Remembering Saadallah Wannous Jawad Al Asadi, 178, 
Contributor Biographies, 187, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Eyad Houssami

Writing about theatre fuels the process of making theatre. It is the drama critic and cultural historian whom society entrusts to capture what happens when audiences bear witness to performance. The critic, the scholar, the researcher – we rely on them to perceive action unfolding on the stage, to apprehend moments of horror and joy, to question why performance matters, and to register the slivers of truth that flash and restore our humanity.

Likewise, the playwright, actor, designer, dramaturg, or director who reflects on her work through writing not only strengthens her artistry through introspection and self-questioning, but she also inscribes her creative process onto the genealogy of theatre history. Indeed, to record the mundanity and profundity of artistic endeavors is to affirm our ability to imagine, propose, and inhabit alternative realities together through performance. Anecdotes about the invincibility and vulnerability that actors explore in rehearsal, stories about the bizarre and beautiful intimacy shared by strangers in the theatre – these accounts attest to how artists dare to tread unknown ontological frontiers. They document how making theatre is an endless experiment – of exploring what it means to be present, of enacting new ways of living together in the present, of transforming the givens of daily life, of remembering how to live.

These insights immortalize theatrical experience. They survive and often remain the most precious trace of performance, an inescapably ephemeral art bound by the exclusivity of the present. These accounts lift theatre from its fleeting moment and resurrect it in the imaginations of readers in another time and another place. Thus, through theatre writing, performance embarks on a journey that swiftly transcends borders and languages.

This book is a collection of essays on contemporary theatre and performance with a focus on the Arab stage. The writings revolve around the legacy of Saadallah Wannous, the late Syrian dramatist whose plays about tyranny resonate with audiences worldwide. Authored by playwrights, directors, and scholars in Arabic and English, these essays and accounts trace the reverberations of Wannous's repertoire in the Arab Middle East and beyond. The book brings together literary analyses of drama, histories of theatrical production, and narratives about making and teaching plays. In that regard, Doomed by Hope: Essays on Arab Theatre testifies to the singular force of playwriting, an artistic and literary craft that chronicles history, orchestrates dialogue, and forges culture.

It is my hope, as steward of the essays in this volume, that this book enables directors in Baghdad to glimpse into the theatre classroom of Birzeit University; that it allows actors in Port Said to envisage rehearsal in Kuwait; that it prompts playwrights in Tunis to consider the differences between theatre research in New York, Cairo, and Damascus; that it invites audiences to think more critically and deeply about theatre. Above all, the purpose of this book is to impart the knowledge and experiences of artists and scholars to those who have the desire to make and explore theatre but lack interlocutors.

The obstacles facing theatre practitioners in oligarchical and authoritarian Arab societies are daunting. In addition to the global onslaught of consumerism and proliferation of screens, decades of occupation by foreign forces and oppressive regimes have stifled culture and education, to say nothing of science and industry. Endemic corruption has rendered public speech void of meaning. Public discourse, so glutted with propaganda, has corroded the Arabic language itself, and the endless brain drain continues to drive highly literate and learned citizens into the diaspora. Nonetheless, and seemingly against all odds, theatre endures.

I first set out to make this book in 2008 when I was living in Damascus. The project emerged from a series of living room conversations with Dr. Marie Elias, a theatre scholar and translator who worked closely with Wannous. At the time, I was reading his plays and theatre writings and came across the address "Thirst for Dialogue," which he authored in 1996 for World Theatre Day, created by the International Theatre Institute, an affiliate of UNESCO.

Born in 1941 in a village north of Tartous, Syria, Wannous trained as a journalist in Cairo before devoting his life to theatre as a playwright, editor, administrator, and educator in Damascus. He authored 14 plays, penned dozens of theatre writings, established and edited the journal Hayat Al Masrah (Life of Theatre), and participated in the founding of the High Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in the late 1970s, one of the only theatre conservatories in the entire Arab Middle East.

"Thirst for Dialogue" is among the last texts he wrote before he died of cancer in 1997. In the address, Wannous deplores the paradoxes of global capital and the technological revolution. Despite extraordinary wealth and greater interconnectivity, economic inequality increases, culture withers, society fragments, and the isolation of the individual grows deeper. The "global village" utopia is in fact a dystopia that has endangered theatre. Wannous laments that theatre has never before suffered from such neglect, such a lack of moral and financial support.

He draws parallels between "self-serving globalization," void of any trace of humanity, and the cancer infesting his body. He cites playwriting as "the most significant means of [his] resistance" against the disease. Playwriting prolongs life, and through his dying days, Wannous persists. Writing for theatre acquires existential meaning, perhaps even biological utility. Despite his acknowledgment that theatre was and remains "under siege [by the forces of neoliberalism] and on the verge of vanishing from our lives," Wannous...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Pluto Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0745333540
• ISBN 13: 9780745333540
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Herausgeber: Houssami Eyad
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland