Staging Politics in Trevor Griffiths's Comedians and Lenin al-Ramli's Bal-‘Arabi al-Fasih: A Comparative Study

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Lecturer in English Department, Higher Institute for Specific Studies, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

The present paper offers a comparative study of Comedians (1979) by the British dramatist Trevor Griffiths (1935-    ), and Bal-‘Arabi al-Fasih (1992) by the prominent Egyptian playwright Lenin al-Ramli (1945-     ). Both plays are examined in the light of Bakhtin’s theory of carnival in order to show how Griffiths and al-Ramli incorporate this theory into their theatrical project with a view to creating a multitude of carnivalistic characters. These characters reflect contradictory attitudes that bring into prominence the classical function of comedy as a festive, reformative, and satirical medium. Even though both writers never declare the impact of Bakhtin's theory on their dramaturgy, the paper contends that they utilize theatrical elements and festive forms included in Bakhtin’s concept of carnival. This contention leads one to infer that Griffiths and al-Ramli are artistically gifted playwrights, who deploy Bakhtin's theory of carnival in order to invite the audiences to laugh at their sociopolitical realities and then castigate them for doing so.

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