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The Dignified Corpse: A Satirical Comedy in Arabic by Sharif Abdel Noor
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| The Dignified Corpse |
After the success of his recent play, "The Open Relationship,"
AUB theater instructor Sharif Abdel Noor presented for one week at the
end of March an Arabic play, entitled Al Juttha Al Muwaqara (The dignified
corpse). Abdel Noor adapted the original script written by Tareq Ali into
a satirical comedy, produced and acted out at Issam Fares Hall by students
taking a workshop in acting and directing, offered by the Department of
Fine Arts and Art History at AUB.
The play revolved around the life of a corrupt political leader, dubbed
Hani or Hannibal and played by Hussam Kawtharani. Doctor Elissar or Hani's
wife, played by Sarah El Rachid, scathingly rebukes her husband for his
constant philandering with his personal assistant, Andrea, played by Christina
Choueity or Lynn Kawwas, depending on the performance night. More importantly,
she harangues him for having been shamefully co-opted by the prospects
of material wealth that his acceptance of the position of Minister of
Interior made available. Formerly Hani, the story goes, had been a poor
leftist activist loved by the people, whose concerns he quickly forgot
after coming into power.
In a drunken rage, Hani tries getting Elissar to sleep with him. He urges
her to forget the past and stop bickering about his once-popular but economically
unviable political inclinations. "Wealth is what matters now,"
he says, "not the people's rights." The "doctor" is
quick to remedy the situation, however, killing the callous libertine
Hannibal by administering rat poison in his night tonic. To Detective
Richard, an equally corrupt and lustful character played by Raouf Khalifeh,
she makes her confession, remorseless and unabashed.
Abdel Noor, who was assisted in directing the play by Ali El Akel and
Nadine Adhami, said in his message to the audience that "The Dignified
Corpse" is a timely metaphor of "leaders who have betrayed their
countries and their people and, consequently, betrayed themselves."