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The Tunisian Revolution and the Dialectics of Theatre and Reality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2013

RAFIKA ZAHROUNI
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Abstract

This article explores two plays, Khamsūn (Fifty/Bodies Hostages) and Yaḥia Yaïsh (Amnesia), by Jalila Baccar and Fadhel Jaïbi, and a street performance (‘Ben Ali Fled!’) by a Tunisian citizen who was filmed celebrating the defeat of Ben Ali. The article examines Khamsūn's expression of fear of Islamic fundamentalism. Yaḥia Yaïsh not only shows the figure of a government leader who abuses his power, but also foretells the imminent fall of this leader, followed by an attempt to run away from being brought to justice, remarkably predicting the real-life events that soon materialized during the Tunisian Revolution, with slight differences between the two falls. Finally, the article considers both plays as theatrical experiences that are not enclosed within a confined space, but were re-enacting events happening in the streets of Tunisia.

Type
Articles
Information
Theatre Research International , Volume 38 , Special Issue 2: Theatre and the Arab Spring , July 2013 , pp. 148 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 2013 

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References

NOTES

1 Talbi is a Tunisian historian, who published Goulag & Democratie in 2011. In this work, he mentions that no publishing company in Tunisia, France or Morocco undertook to publish the book for him before the fall of the Tunisian regime. In the end, he self-published it. Talbi, Mohamed, Goulag & Démocratie (Goulag & Democracy) (Tunis: Finzi, 2011)Google Scholar.

2 Ibid., p. 11. All translations from the French and Arabic are by the author.

3 Wright, Robin, Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011)Google Scholar.

4 Zoé Lamazou, ‘Pièce Explosive à Tunis’ (‘Critical Play in Tunis’), Jeune Afrique, April 2007, available at www.familiaprod.com/presselintelligent.htm, p. 93.

5 Amine, Khalid and Carlson, Marvin, ‘Post-colonial Theatre in the Maghreb’, in Amine and Carlson, The Theatres of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia: Performance Traditions of the Maghreb (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), pp. 131–216CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here p. 212.

6 Baccar, Jalila, Khamsūn (Captive Bodies) (Tunis: Dār al-Janūb, 2007), p. 75Google Scholar.

7 Maïa Bouteillet, ‘La pièce de Jalila Baccar sur l'Islamisme et son éradication est interdite en Tunisie: L'Odéon, Porte de sortie pour Corps Otages’ (‘The play of Jalila Baccar on Islamic Fundamentalism and its Suppression in Tunisia: The Odeon Releases Bodies Hostages’), Libération, 20 May 2007, p. 26.

8 Baccar, Khamsūn, p. 186.

9 Talbi, Goulag & Démocratie, p. 7.

10 Salaheddine Jorshi, ‘as-Salafyya fi Tunis bayn Qam' as-Sulta wa Makhawif an-Nukhba’ (‘Salafism in Tunisia between State Repression and Elite Concerns’), in Mohamed el-Hadad et al., Min Qabdhat Ben Ali ila Thawrat al-Yasamin: al-Islam as-Siassi fi Tunis (From the Iron Hand of Ben Ali to The Jasmine Revolution: Political Islam in Tunisia) (Dubai: Al Mesbar Studies and Research Centre), pp. 320–2, here p. 321.

11 Suzanne Daley, ‘Tensions on a Campus Mirror Turbulance in a New Tunisia’, New York Times, 12 June 2012, p. A4.

12 Fadhel Jaïbi and Jalila Baccar, ‘Grand entretien avec Fadhel Jaïbi et Jalila Baccar’ (‘Great interview with Fadhel Jaïbi and Jalila Baccar’), interview by Caroline Broué and Hervé Gardette, France Culture, 24 January 2011; Odile Quirot, ‘La Révolution Tunisienne sur scene: La chute du tyran’ (‘The Tunisian Revolution Onstage: The Overthrow of the Tyrant’), Le nouvel observateur, June 2011, p. 80.

13 Amine and Carlson, ‘Post-colonial Theatre in the Maghreb’, p. 213.

14 For further details see ‘Extraits de répétitions de Amnesia’ (‘Rehearsal of Parts of Amnesia’) at www.theatre-contemporain.net/spectacles/Amnesia/extraits/idcontent/25004.

15 Abd-En-Nasser Laouini, ‘al-Mashhad al-ladhi-Abkāni wa Abkā Rached Ghanouchi’ (‘The Scene that Made Rached Ghanouchi and Myself Shed Tears’), YouTube, 17 January 2011, available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDhnM0_Z54Q&feature=related.