Classical Theatre and the Middle East: Greek drama and the “classic(s)” in the Arab-speaking world and Iran

A one-day conference on Greek drama and the ‘classic(s)’ in the Arab-speaking world and Iran

10am Welcome: Marilyn Booth (Khalid bin Abdulla Al Saud Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World, Oxford)

10.15-11.30am – Classics and theatre in the Middle East (Chair: Marilyn Booth (Oxford))

Evelyn Richardson (Chicago): Greek myth and ancient history on the early Arabic stage: three translations of Racinian tragedies

Raph Cormack (Columbia): Foreign or local: what did ancient Greece mean in an age of modern nationalism?

11.30-1pm – What is a “classic” in the Middle East? (Chair: Malika Bastin-Hammou (Grenoble))

Ons Trabelsi (Lorraine): Molière, un classique arabe? 

Carmen Gitre (Virginia Tech): Shadow Play to Proscenium Stage: Najib al-Rihani and the Crafting of Modern Egyptian Comedy

Sameh Hanna (Leeds): Reconfiguring the ‘classic’ in the Arabic translations of Shakespeare’s tragedies: Khalīl Muṭrān’s Othello

 1-2.15pm LUNCH

2.15pm-3.30pm – Modern engagements with the classics in the Middle East: (Chair: Nur Laiq (TORCH Global South Visiting Fellow))

Shaymaa Moussa (Cairo): Ahmed Etman and Classics in Egypt

Sandra Vinagre (Lisbon): The Syria Trojan Women: From therapeutic theatre to a cry for action

3.30- 4.30pm – Modern engagements with the classics in Iran: (Chair: Yana Zarifi (London))

Lloyd Llewelyn-Jones (Cardiff): Greek theatre in Iran – a long view?

Houman Zandi-Zadeh (Flinders): The Politics of State Festivals: Disloyal to the Queen, Loyal to Peter Brook

4.30-5pm – tea

5-6pm – Exhibition

6pm – PERFORMANCE of Hanane Hajj Ali’s JoggingThe conference will be followed by a free performance of Jogging by Hanane Hajj Ali, inspired by Euripides’ Medea. Hanane Hajj Ali is an important Beirut-based actor, writer and activist. Apart from her theatre works she plays an active role in cultural policy development and cultural planning. In this performance, Hanane, woman, wife and mother, compares herself with other Medea figures: the mythological and everyday Beirut woman. A trailer is available on YouTube. A copy of the script for Jogging is available for those attending the conference and/or performance: please email apgrd@classics.ox.ac.uk to sign up for an electronic copy.

If you would like to attend the conference, please book via the University of Oxford Store site.

If you would like to attend the performance only, please email apgrd@classics.ox.ac.uk to book your place.