Deconstructing the centrality of the Shakespearean text in Egyptian theatre (An Approach to Contemporary World Issues, With Reference to the Text of Hamlet Reversed)

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of Drama and Theater Criticism - Faculty of Arts - Ain Shams University

Abstract

Our research presents an analytical presentation and a comparative study between William Shakespeare's famous play "Hamlet" and the play "Hamlet Reversed" by Egyptian writer Sameh Mahran. The aim is to answer some pivotal questions: How did Mahran formulate a contemporary vision for his text that explores and reveals some of the major transformations our Arab and global societies are witnessing in light of the challenges of globalization and the unprecedented rise of technology and visual media? How did he write the text in a way that might challenge readers' expectations of the character of Hamlet? What Writing methods did Mahran use to write his text? Were they traditional and stereotypical, or did they align with postmodernism trends, breaking the centrality of the original text's ideas and reshaping his vision with other images expressive of the postmodernism movement in our Egyptian theater?
The researcher answers the following questions by analyzing the text "Hamlet Reversed" by Sameh Mahran in terms of the main theme, characters, and clarifying the writer's vision and point of view, in addition to analyzing the techniques used in writing and comparing all of the above with Shakespeare's text in its original context, in order to answer the most important pivotal question: How did Mahran create a contemporary vision of his text that is consistent with the ideologies and issues of our contemporary world, using some postmodernism ideas in a way that breaks the horizon of the recipient's expectations of the text, and destroys his aspirations about the text?

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