Overview

Sulayman Al Bassam is one of the world’s leading contemporary dramatists. His adaptations of Shakespeare, performed around the world, have won many awards and met with widespread acclaim on four continents. This volume brings together for the first time three of Al Bassam’s adaptations of Shakespearean plays - including versions of Hamlet, Richard III and Twelfth Night - collectively known as The Arab Shakespeare Trilogy. The Al-Hamlet Summit sees the familiar characters of Hamlet reborn as delegates placed in a conference room in an unnamed modern Arab state on the brink of war; Richard III: an Arab Tragedy is a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, reworked and transplanted into the scorching oil-rich Islamic world of the Gulf; while The Speaker’s Progress is a forensic reconstruction of Twelfth Night which transforms into an unequivocal act of defiance towards the state, forming a dark satire on the decades of hopelessness and political inertia that fed twenty-first-century revolts across the Arab region. The Arab Shakespeare Trilogy features an editorial introduction by Graham Holderness, positioning the plays within the contexts of both modern Shakespearean drama and Arab culture as well as an author’s preface by Sulayman Al Bassam, detailing the plays' history of theatrical reception and outlining his philosophy of Shakespeare adaptation.

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9781472526489

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Sulayman Al Bassam (b. Kuwait, 1972) founded Zaoum Theatre in London in 1996 before establishing SABAB Theatre, the Arabic arm, in 2002. His plays have been published in various languages and study of his work forms part of higher education curriculae at universities in the USA and the Middle East. He produces work in both English and Arabic languages. Graham Holderness is Professor of English at the University of Hertfordshire, author or editor of numerous studies in early modern and modern literature and drama, and General Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Critical Survey. He is also a creative writer, novelist and award-winning poet.

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