This article examines the legacy of Syrian dramatist Saadallah Wannous through his early commitment to internationalism, with specific attention to his practice as a translator. It argues that to see Wannnous as an international playwright allows for an understudied dimension of the playwright's oeuvre to emerge and sheds light on an important era of post-colonial theatrical practice. By focusing on one of Wannous's most-staged plays, his adaptation of a little-known Peter Weiss play, the article places Wannous in his historical moment and sees how he was affected not just by international developments in theatre and performance, but also by a global geopolitics in which he was deeply invested.