by NEHAD SELAIHA
Sameh Mahran is a highly intellectual, highly provocative playwright. In all his plays, and they number over a dozen so far, he assiduously challenges patriarchy and questions the basic assumptions of Arab culture. Invariably the action is motivated, dominated, propelled and channelled by a father figure, who dramatically materializes in several guises — as a real, natural parent, alive or dead, present or absent, a ghostly doppelganger who haunts the hero, a tyrannical king or military dictator, an old, predatory and androgynous boatman, or a petty local official who rises to power by wily intrigues. Though the conflict in his dramas is invariably one of ideas, rather than passions or characters, the ideas, however serious, are usually imaginatively transformed into lively metaphors and vivid stage imagery and processed through animated, witty dialogue that bubbles over with humour. The humour can be dark and bitter, grotesque and bizarre, or even morbid, depending on the play’s mood, theme and setting, but it is always original and inventive.
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