SA DALLĀH WANNŪS AND THE THEATRE OF POLITICIZATION

• Authors: Katarína Bešková
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This essay deals with the life and work of distinguished Syrian playwright Sa dallāh Wannūs, with special emphasis on his concept of the theatre of politicization (masrah at-tasyīs) which originated directly in the aftermath of the Six Day War in 1967. The paper concentrates on some of Wannūs’s most crucial ideas concerning the theatrical project which was to a certain extent inspired by techniques of Bertolt Brecht’s epic theatre and whose aim was to encourage the audience to engage freely in a discussion on important social and political matters. This essay also briefly introduces some of the author’s most famous plays, like Soirée for the Fifth of June as well as his other dramatic works written within the scope of the project, like The Elephant, Oh, King of Ages, The Adventure of the Mamluk Jābir’s Head or The King is the King. Since many of Wannūs’s plays include elements of Arabic popular narrative tradition, the paper tries to explore this aspect of his works as well.

Keywords

EN

SA DALLĀH WANNŪS; THEATRE OF POLITICIZATION; SIX-DAY WAR; ARABIC LITERATURE; POPULAR LITERATURE; FOLKLORE

• Publisher: Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Asian and African Studies
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 211 – 232

Contributors

author

Katarína Bešková

• Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic