Full of noises: when “World Shakespeare” met the “Arab Spring”

Abstract

In summer 2012, to coincide with the Olympic Games, the United Kingdom celebrated a summer of Shakespeare. Troupes from around the world were invited to produce their own versions of plays from the playwright's corpus. 2012 was also a very eventful year, politically, in the Arab world, as people reacted to what had been dubbed the “Arab Spring”. This article looks at three plays produced by Arabic companies for the World Shakespeare Festival: the Palestinian Ashtar Theatre's Richard II, the Iraqi Theatre Company's Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad, and the Tunisian Artistes Producteurs Associés’ Macbeth: Leila and Ben – A Bloody History. Using these performances, this article examines how different Arabic theatre troupes negotiate expectations of different audiences as well as their own artistic aims using the “playable surface” of Shakespeare's plays.