The Theatre of Sa’dallah Wannous: A Critical Study of the Syrian Playwright and Public Intellectual ed. by Sonja Mejcher-Atassi and Robert Myers (review)

The Theatre of Sa’dallah Wannous is the first book in the English language to paint a well-rounded picture of the dramatic art, intellectual background, and theatrical impact of the most significant modern Arab dramatist, Sa’dallah Wannous (1941–97). Generally speaking, the book first situates Wannous within Syrian, Arab, and world contexts and analyzes Wannous’ use of Brechtian techniques to induce critical thinking and promote social and political change. Second, it provides a reading into the thematic content of Wannous’ drama caused by his frustration with the multiple political failures of his time. Third, it delves into the directors’ theatrical experience while staging Wannous’s plays. Fourth, it profiles Wannous the intellectual, the man, and the father through surveying his library and recording memoirs about him by two of his close friends and daughter.

Editors Sonja Mejcher-Atassi and Robert Myers have adeptly brought together the work of multidisciplinary experts, including literary scholars, directors, creative writers, and close acquaintances. The resulting volume will appeal to scholars in the field of theatre, literature, culture, and the relation of authority to social change. It will also be of value to anyone interested in contemporary Syria and the Arab world. The book is unique in critiquing Wannous’ theatre and thought and tracing the organic connection between political, social, historical, and personal factors that contributed to Wannous’s creativity. It studies the role of Wannous’s theatre in envisioning and impacting culture during postcolonial and contemporary Syria and adjacent countries. It also registers changes in societies and measures the extent to which theatre and literature still matter today

Locating the work of Wannous within the theatrical movement in the Arab world and world theatre, this book allows readers to define the disciplines and modes of thought in a new way. It identifies the post-colonial struggle with authoritarianism and the political events that influenced Wannous such as the partition of Palestinian Land upon the creation of the State of Israel (Nakba), the loss of more land to Israel due to the war of June 5^th 1967 (Naksa), the Camp David Accords (Egypt and Israel peace treaty in 1978), and the continuous struggle for peace and political equity.

In “Part 1 - Situating Wannous,” Marvin Carlson surveys the history of the Arabic world since the Arabic renaissance (Nahda) in Cairo, Damascus, and Beirut, starting with Marun al-Naqqash and Abu-Khalil al-Qabbani and moving up to Wannous’s time. Carlson studies the influence of European theatre practitioners on Wannous and his inclination to favor Brecht’s methods over Ionesco’s, at the same time drawing from folkloric tradition to develop a genuinely Arab theatre. He also considers Wannous as a major author not just in the modern Arab world but in the theatre repertoire around the world. Robert Myers and Nada Saab study, in more detail, the influence of Bertolt Brecht and other Brechtian practitioners on Wannous, as well as Wannous’ innovative use of Arabic traditional modes while adapting Brechtian techniques. Myers and Saab investigate the way Wannous used Brechtian techniques in his Theatre of Politicization such as estrangement effect, frequent use of metatheatre, the use of narrations, and characterization through class and profession as opposed to the creation of character through psychological development. They also point to Wannous’ break away from the direct influence of Brecht and Marx in the later plays of the 1990s, when he drew upon Chekhov, Shakespeare, Sufi rituals, and other sources of inspiration.

“Part 2 - Reading Wannous” studies the significance of Wannous’ best-known and most-produced plays about politics, history, and theories of theatre. Zeina Halabi provides a post-structural study of Wannous’ ten-year silence that came as a reaction to multiple political and personal catastrophes culminating in the Camp David peace treaty accord between...