Modern Arabic Drama In Egypt

This book is the first critical survey of modern Egyptian drama during the period of its maturity from the 1930s to the present day. A discussion of the work of Tawfiq al-Hakim is followed by an examination of the less experimental plays of his successors, Mahmud Taymur, Bakathir and Fathi Radwan.

Translations of 12 Arabic plays written and produced during the past thirty years.

Being an English translation of four plays: 1. The Sultan's Dilemma, by Tawfīq al-Hạkīm ; 2. The New Arrival, by Mikhāʼīl Rūmān ; 3. A Journey outside Wall, by Rashād Rushdī ; 4. The Farfoors, by Yūsuf Idrīs.

This volume provides an authoritative survey of creative writing in Arabic from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.

Using previously unexploited sources, Philip Sadgrove provides a comprehensive account of the early history of theatre in Egypt, from the time of the French expeditionary force led by Napoleon in 1798, to the British occupation in 1882. His study - now available in paperback - looks at traditional forms of indigenous Arabic drama, the rise of European theatre in Egypt, the first abortive attempts to create a modern Arabic theatre in the early 1870s, and the project for a National Theatre. Finally, the book tells the story of the émigré Syrian troupes which were to play a decisive part in establishing a modern theatrical tradition. The author also sheds new light on the role of the dramatist and nationalist James Sanua and other lesser-known Egyptian pioneers of the theatre.

This book traces the development of Arabic drama from the mid-nineteenth to the twentieth centuries.