The reworking of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the arab political theatre after 1970: a comparative study between arab Hamlets in Post-Nasserism (1970-2009) and the period of the Arab Spring (2010- present)

The Dissertation Abstract This dissertation aims at investigating why and how Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been reworked in the Arab political theatre after 1970. The dissertation starts from the assumption and wants to prove that Hamlet has a political significance in the region that extends from North Africa to the Middle East. It reads Arab Hamlets against the main political incidents in two periods, namely Post-Nasserism (1970-2009) and the period of the Arab Spring (2010-Present). The study tries to answer the main questions of why does Hamlet receive all that attention from Arab playwrights and stage directors after 1970, how is Hamlet influenced by the Political status quo in the two periods? And what are the main similarities and differences in reworking Hamlet in the two periods? To achieve its objectives, the study starts by tracing the journey of Hamlet in the Arab World. Then, it analyses the political aspects in eleven reworkings for the play by Arab playwrights and stage directors; four main reworkings produced in the period of Post-Nasserism, and seven in the period of the Arab Spring. Finally, the study concludes with comparisons and contrasts between the reworkings in terms of content and form. The thesis’s significance comes out of the need to allocate a critical base to the Arab Hamlets. The high number of the adaptations and rewritings produced by Arab playwrights and stage directors after 1970, and the lack of a detailed critical and analytical framework necessitate this study as I believe. Moreover, the study employs different critics from time to time to enhance the argument. It cites and quotes from Julie Sanders and Linda Hutcheon’s theories of adaptations, Freud and Lacan’s theories of psychoanalysis, Edward Said’s ideas in Post-colonialism, Bertolt Brecht’s vision of the political theatre, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s ideas of feminism, to mention a few. Other Western philosophers and critics like Plato, Aristotle, Foucault, Nietzsche, and Coleridge will be referred to from time to time. The dissertation’s desired outcomes are discussed in the conclusion. It revisits the research questions raised at the beginning. The study finds that Shakespeare’s Hamlet has a significant presence in the Arab political theatre after 1970. Also, the rewritings and adaptations of the play have been impacted by the political status quo in each period and reflect mainly on the political incidents that occurred in the region. Finally, the study concludes to the fact that the dramatic reworkings in the two periods vary. They bear similarities and have differences in terms of content and form. Keywords: Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Arab World, Adaptation, Rewriting, Political Theatre