Ever gone to a play and felt like you couldn’t understand it? For most Georgetown students, understanding will be entirely out of the question at the performance of Suq al Hamir next week, as the play’s dialogue is entirely in vernacular Egyptian.
The play, whose English title is The Donkey Market, is a joint production of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, the Theater Department, the Arabic Department and the Humanities Initiative. The idea of producing a play entirely in Arabic is a first for Georgetown and originated with visiting Assistant Professor Dina Amin, who specializes in Arabic theatre and literature.
“This is not a political play,” Amin says. “We wanted to share the comedic spirit of the Arabs with Americans.”
Written by Tawfiq al-Hakim, widely considered the father of modern Arabic theater, the play was originally performed in 1971. Growing up in the early part of the 20th century, al-Hakim originally went to France to study law but returned to his native Egypt to write. He developed an Arabic version of the Western drama that came to the Middle East during the colonial period, which brought him accolades over a career spanning almost four decades.
The cast consists of graduate students in various Arabic disciplines, most of whom are not native Arabic speakers, and also includes two a capella singers.
A kind of comedy of manners, the play concerns two unemployed workers at a donkey market who realize that the donkeys are worth more than they are. One worker pretends to be a donkey and hijinks ensue. The play, which is only 40 minutes long, comes with a scene-by-scene synopsis in English so that the audience can follow the plot while watching the performance unfold.
Amin hopes the play’s success will create a lasting impression on campus.
“This can be a tradition that we start here,” he said.
“Suq al Hamir” (The Donkey Market) will be performed at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 28 and Wednesday, March 2, in the McNeir Auditorium.
-Tim Fernholz
