Büchner in the Arab world -

Abstract

To speak of Western theatrical influences in the Arab world is generally to speak of Bertolt Brecht, William Shakespeare, and Samuel Beckett and the other exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd. The work of Georg Büchner is rarely mentioned. However, Büchner is certainly an interlocutor in the Arab theatrical tradition. Productions of Büchner’s Woyzeck appeared regularly following 2008 and especially after the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011. Danton’s Death was performed in 1970 at the prestigious Baalbeck International Theatre Festival and a translation appeared in 1969 in a prominent Egyptian theatre journal. This thesis will attempt to reconfigure cultural memory in order to credit Büchner with having a significant role in Arab theatrical tradition post-1967 and to highlight the significant contributions this writer made to this tradition. It will also argue that Büchner’s plays were an appealing choice for Arab audiences because Büchner attempted a heroic assault, despite his experience with the ever-present threats of imprisonment and torture, on the powerful, human and-or historical forces of repression. This thesis will also show that adaptations of Büchner’s works alter certain aspects of the plays in order to address specific local concerns while at the same time preserving the powerful dynamic that exists in the works between intellectual pessimism on the one hand and necessity for revolution on the other.