Colors of Enchantment

Theater, Dance, Music, and the Visual Arts of the Middle East

Sherifa Zuhur

• Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press
• Year: 2001
• eBook ISBN: 9781617972317
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

In this companion volume to the successful Images of Enchantment: Visual and Performing Arts of the Middle East (AUC Press, 1998), historian and ethnomusicologist Sherifa Zuhur has once again commissioned and edited authoritative essays from noteworthy scholars from around the globe that explore the visual and performing arts in the Middle East. What differentiates this volume from its predecessor is its investigation of theater, from the early modern period to the contemporary. Topics include race and national identity in Egyptian theater, early writing in the Arab theater in North America, Persian-language theater from its origins through the twentieth century, Palestinian nationalist theater, and a survey of the work of noted Egyptian playwright Yusuf Idris. Other aspects of the arts are not neglected, of course, as further avenues of dance, music, and the visual arts are explored. Marked by interesting and fresh perspectives, Colors of Enchantment is another vital contribution to scholarship on the arts of the Middle East. Contributors: Najwa Adra, Wijdan Ali, Sami Asmar, Clarissa Burt, Michael Frishkopf, M. R. Ghanoonparvar, Tori Haring-Smith, Kathleen Hood, Deborah Kapchan, Neil van der Linden, Samia Mehrez, Mona Mikhail, Sami A. Ofeish, 'Ali Jihad Racy, Rashad Rida, Tonia Rifaey, Edward Said, Lori Anne Salem, Philip D. Schuyler, Selim Sednaoui, Reuven Snir, James Stone, Eve Troutt Powell, and Sherifa Zuhur.

Theaters of Enchantment

1	Revisiting the Theater in Egypt: An Overview Mona Mikhail

It is necessary to look back into the past before making a proper assessment of the state of the art of the Egyptian theater and situating it within a broader cultural framework. From the outset, a strong relationship has existed between the Egyptian government and cultural life. This relationship continues to undergo significant changes. Along with a re-evaluation of government involvement in the management of the economic infrastructure, there have been heated debates that aim to develop a critical and creative response to the new realities of the new millennium. Today there is no possible discussion of cultural forms without some consideration of the new media and communications technologies, which are presenting the government with distinct challenges to various policies, yet also offering novel means of responding to earlier demands for cultural access and entitlement.

Egyptians first encountered the modern theater in the Napoleonic era, following that leader’s expedition to Egypt in 1798. Napoleon had brought along two well-known musicians, Filot and Rigel. He had also written a message to the government of the Directoire and asked it to transport a troupe of actors to Egypt. When that troupe arrived, it performed in the home of Karim Bey in Bulaq.

The first theater erected in Egypt was known as Masrah al-Jumhuriya wa al-Funun (“Theater of the Republic and the Arts”), according to Muhammad Sayyid Kilani (1958, p. 108) in his study of the era. Napoleon founded a huge theater facing the pond of ’Azbakiya where plays were performed in French as entertainment for the soldiers. However, this theater was destroyed during the 1799 uprising. Subsequently, General Minou rebuilt it and it was then named Masrah al-Jumhuriya (“Theater of the Republic”). Two of the plays performed there–Al-Tahanin (“The Bakers”) and “Zeus and Fauclair”–concerned Bonaparte in Cairo. We are told that many of the actors were drawn from the scholars accompanying the expedition. Some of these facts were recorded in the French papers, such as Courier de l’Égypte, one of the earliest French publications in Egypt, printed to entertain the Napoleonic troops. Periodically it published advertisements of social clubs, so for instance in its thirteenth number, published in 1799, we find an advertisement for a social club in Cairo stating:

Since the French present now in Cairo feel the need to meet in a gathering place where they can find some rest and entertainment during the long winter nights, therefore Citizen Dargeavel took on the task of establishing a private club to provide them with all the amenities of society, after obtaining permission from the Commander General. He chose a large mansion with a garden in the ’Azbakiya quarter, where the French can enjoy themselves. This may be a means of drawing the inhabitants of the country (Egyptians) and their women to enter our society, and teach them in this indirect way some of our customs and traditions.¹³

The Courier de l’Égypte published numerous advertisements about similar artistic activities, such as the establishment of an acting society that on the thirtieth of Frémier of the eighth year of the Republic (December 20, 1800) presented a play by Voltaire and another by Molière. At about this time, the earliest mention in Arab/Egyptian sources of the theater appears in al-Jabarti’s chronicle; regarding events of Shaban 11, 1215 A.H. (December 29, 1800), he wrote:

The place they erected was completed at the ’Azbakiya known as Bab al-hawa (“the gate of air”), known in their language as “comédie,” and it consisted of a place where they meet once every 10 days to watch for one night mala‘ib (“dramatized,” “played”) actions performed by some of them for the sake of their entertainment, which lasts for about four hours of the night, and in their language. No one enters without a “pass” or special paper (al-Jabarti, 1986, p. 202).

The chronicler al-Jabarti, as reported by the Courier de l’Égypte, wrote in great detail about the performances, for instance, of two plays Le Sourd and Le Dragon de Thionville. He commented that there were plans to expand the theater hall to double its capacity and he added that he would have liked to elaborate on the architectural beauty of the theater itself, which was developed by an engineer named Fauvé.

The Courier, an excellent source of information concerning the origins of the theater, also describes the plays L’Avocat Patelin and Les Deux Meuniers in detail. These small operettas were written by Citizen Balzac, a member of the arts committee. The musical score was composed by Citizen Rigel, a member of the French Academy. The story is about an intentional misunderstanding used by a rival to break up a couple in love. The story ends happily when the young lover wins over his beloved, the daughter of the baker, and the attempts of the elderly, conniving gentleman are foiled. The naive plot of the triumph of love and the return to equality is symptomatic of the tastes of the day. The Courier points out that this kind of play was bound to please the audience. It also reported that many of the elite and socialites of the Turkish/Ottoman society attended as well as many of the Christians and Europeans.

Al-Tahtawi, in a chapter on Parisian leisure spots in his celebrated Talkhis al-Ibris, fi Talkhis Baris (“Manners and Customs of Modern Parisians”), notes:

Their [the Parisians’] places of leisure are known as Theater and Spectacle. These are places where plays are performed; in reality, these are interpretations of serious matters in a form of entertainment and humor. People can draw from these plays great and strange morals, for they see in them all good and evil acts, while they praise the first (the good) and denounce the latter (the evil).The French believe this makes for good behavior, for if it encompasses much satire and humor, it also induces tears and sorrow.... These theaters are beautiful homes with wonderful domes. They comprise many stories and in each story there are rooms (baignoires) placed round the dome on the inside. In one of the corners of the theater is a wide seat (stage), which is visible from all those aforementioned rooms. All the action on the stage is visible as it is lit by splendid chandeliers. Right under the stage is a place for the instrumentalists (orchestra). The stage is connected with the backstage areas that house all the instruments relevant to the plays as well as all the props and all matters connected with the plays, including a place for all the actors, both men and women.

So if, for instance, they wish to portray a sultan and his actions, they would transform the stage into a palace (décor) and portray him by singing or using his very words, etc.... During the intermission, the stage is reset behind the curtains so that no one from the audience can see what is occurring. After the entr’acte (intermission), the curtains rise and they resume their play. As for the women “players” (actresses) and the men, they are similar to the ‘awalim (dancers and singers) in Egypt. What is quite extraordinary is that they sometimes can speak of very serious and scientific matters and they get quite involved in what they are doing while performing to the extent that one may think they are true scholars.

In continuing he gives information about the manner in which they publicized these plays:

The play is advertised on papers that are placed on the walls of the city, and it is publicized for the elite as well as the general public. In short, one can say that the theater for them is like a public school where both the learned and the ignorant can learn. The greatest of the spectacles in the city of Paris is known as the Opera. The greatest instrumentalists and dancers perform there. Singers are accompanied by pantomimes in silent movement that relates strange happenings. There is a theater named comique where happy poems are sung, and another theater known as the Italian which includes work by the greatest musicians, where poetry in Italian is sung (al-Tahtawi, 1993, pp. 207–240).

The travel literature is replete with references to the earliest of theatrical performances in Egypt. Edward Lane’s reports, as found in Jacob Landau’s seminal work on the origins of cinema and theater, are enlightening concerning these early attempts (Landau, 1958, p. 51). Lane’s recording of the very first play by the well-known mihabazatiya troupes is important in that it is the first time such a text was recorded (Lane, 1836 [1978], pp. 384–386).

Lane indicated that the Egyptians are greatly amused and entertained by the plays presented by what he called mohabbazeen, “players of low farces.” They usually performed during celebrations of weddings and circumcisions, festivities usually held in the homes of the elite. The actors were solely boys and men; women’s roles were performed by disguised boys or men. A typical play would include stock characters such as shaykh al-balad (“chief man of the town”) and his servant, a custodian, a Coptic scribe, a peasant indebted to the government and his wife, and five other persons, two of whom would serve as drummers, the third would play the flute, and the other two would dance.

We may also look to Shaykh Sayyid ‘Ali Isma‘il’s rich contribution to the history of the theater in the nineteenth century. His book is drawn from several as yet untapped sources; for instance, his research in the well-known periodical Wadi al-Nil has produced valuable information, especially concerning the censored plays of the day. He informs us that the Khedive Isma‘il established a circus in the ’Azbakiya quarter (where the national theater, Al-Qawmi, stands today). We are told that in 1869 the art of pantomime was practiced in that circus, which inspired the foundation of other circuses (Isma‘il, 1998, pp. 22–23). In 1889 Cirque al-Hilw was established and continued in existence until the mid-1950s. It has been revived recently and is performing to enthusiastic crowds in the Balloon Theater (in ‘Aguza) since January, 2000.

‘Uthman Galal spearheaded a movement of Arabicization of the French theater when he wrote his play Al-Shaykh al-Matlouf, a take on Molière’s Tartuffe in 1873. There is further evidence that Galal translated several other plays in 1870, which could help reassess the pioneering role of Ya’qub Sanu’a, who has been credited thus far as the founding father of Egyptian theater.

If we move from these early days to observations of the contemporary scene, we see that the phenomenal growth of the theater in Egypt in the past couple of decades and the prospects for its growth in the twenty-first century hold great promise. Whether we look at the state-subsidized institutions or the lucrative commercial sector, we must note how the theater in Egypt has grown and developed in most interesting ways in the so-called post-open door era. The rich and varied productions that are seasonally produced by both the commercial sector and the state-sponsored theater, mainly al-Qawmi (the National Theater) as well as the widely successful al-Hanagir experimental theater, are ample proof of the vitality of this understudied domain of Egyptian culture. The experimentation of dozens of independent troupes, alongside the lucrative success of the masrah al-habit (“decadent” theater, pejorative term for the commercial theater) is evidence of an ever-growing audience who are eager for entertainment. The hop...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Theaters of Enchantment
• Dance and Spectacle
• Music and Maqam
• Visual Images
• Color Plates
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover