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Friedrich Duerenmatt |
Captain George Blauhals stands in front of the world map on the wall of his room on a ship called the Great Rescue Brigade, dancing to classical music when his two guards come in, carrying a barrel with a man in it whom they have just saved from drowning. The captain immediately starts to torture and humiliate him until he chooses to throw himself back into the sea.
This bizarre passage describes a scene from the political satire entitled The Rescued by the famous Swiss writer and playwright Friedrich Duerenmatt, director of many successful plays such as The Visit of the Old Lady and The Physicians, as well as novels. His work deals with the complexities of modern life: its materialism, violence, and the threat of nuclear power.
The Rescued was staged in the German cultural center in Cairo, the Goethe Institute, after it was translated from German to Arabic for the first time by Dr. Yousery Khamis. The play was performed by the Khagr Theater Company and directed by Azza El-Huseni.
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"The Rescued" was staged in German Cultural Centre "the Goethe Institute" in Cairo
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Although the first staging attracted few people, the second day was a huge success with a large and varied audience turning up after news of the play's timeless satirical value had spread.
Some of the attendants expressed their surprise to IslamOnline.net that a play written by a Swiss author in 1948 could express, so meticulously, the current political crisis the Arab World is suffering in the face of inhumane US foreign policies and the occupation of Iraq.
Other members of the audience stressed their admiration for the director's insightful reworking of the old play to make it more acutely relevant to contemporary circumstances. Duerenmatt's intention behind writing the play was to criticize the newly established United Nations in their self-appointed role of rescuer. Azza El-Huseni's interpretation elaborates on the parallel idea of the self-appointed world-savior role of the United States, even though no one ever asked them to take that responsibility.
Subtle gestures and symbols signify the modern twist to the play. For example, the name of the captain of the ship is changed from Joe Blauhals to George Blauhals, referring to US President George Bush, and the rescued person is placed in a petroleum barrel to symbolize the Arab World.
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The viewers interpreted the play within a more localized context
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The director of the play, Azza El-Huseni, said in an interview with IslamOnline.net that she learned about the play and its Arabic translation from a magazine dedicated to theatre called Teatro. The Goethe Institute accepted her proposal to direct the play and provided her with a venue.
She added, “I did not change things in the play as some people have suggested. I have merely added my personal point of view to adapt the piece to current times and events. The universal theme of the strong and the weak is timeless and, like Shakespearean plays, can be transferred to any time or place.”
She added that it was necessary to present the show in the Egyptian dialect so it could be understood by all, regardless of their background. She also changed the name of the play to the more easily understandable The Rescued.
Although many were not familiar with Duerenmatt's work, some of the audience expressed the feeling that the play has great significance to the Egyptian viewer, and the Arab viewer in general, because of the way it relates to very fresh scars, especially a year after the American invasion of Iraq and the latent fear of all Arab states that they will be victimized next.
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Subtle gestures and symbols signify the modern twist to the play
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The Rescued makes it very clear that the powers-that-be have manufactured their own type of democracy and techniques to preserve the power status quo. In one scene Blauhals satirically says to the rescued in the barrel that there is a huge quantity of very cheap packed democracy on its way to the whole world. In another scene the rescued man says that a day will come when ships stop sinking and the help of Great Rescue Brigade will no longer be required. To this Blauhals replies that on that day the Great Rescue Brigade will start sinking ships itself in order to preserve its existence and continue its job.
One viewer interpreted the play within a more localized context. To him the rescued symbolizes the humiliation of the Egyptian individual by corruption, patronage, and the general dysfunction of government institutions, rather than oppression by a foreign power.
“It is not only America that practices injustice and oppression under the pretence of rescuing others. Citizens in most Arab countries are confronted with that kind of oppression and humiliation at the hands of their very own countrymen.”
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