Of Kings and Clowns

Book excerpt: This book examines the transformations Egyptian theatre has undergone since 1967. Through detailed analyses of the plays, the book investigates the ways Egyptian theatre represents, formulates, and imagines political and cultural leadership and, by implication, enacts its own leadership. Alongside the work of established playwrights, such as Yusuf Idris, Abul-ʿEla El-Salamouny, Fathia El-ʿAssal and Lenin El-Ramly, it also discusses the input in theatre of a younger generation, reflecting the new transformations in Egyptian theatre following the 2011 revolution. Relating the theoretical underpinnings of its analyses to theoretical discussions by Egyptian playwrights, the book contributes to current English-language scholarship in theatre studies, by providing a discourse largely absent from it. Considering the growing sense in English-language academia on the need for research and education beyond the Western canon this book offers an important addition to the study resources. This book will interest both scholars and students who study the Arab world, and researchers and students with an interest in cultural studies, more specifically twentieth- and twenty-first-century theatre, and literature studies. The book’s specific focus on political theatre and its gender perspective make it also of interest to the fields of political and gender studies.