Saadallah Wannous () (1941 – 15 May 1997) was a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, writer and editor on Arabic theater. He was born in the village of Hussein al-Bahr, near

Tartous Tartus ( / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarṭūs''; known in the County of Tripoli as Tortosa and also transliterated from French Tartous) is a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. It is the second largest port city in Syria (after Latakia), an ...

, where he received his early education. He studied

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and later served as editor of the art and cultural sections of the Syrian official newspaper ''

Al-Baath ''Al-Ba'ath'' () is an Arabic language newspaper published by the Ba'ath Party in Syria and other Arab countries and territories, including Lebanon and Palestine. History ''Al-Ba'ath'' was founded in 1948 as an organ of the Arab Socialist Ba'a ...

'' and the Lebanese daily ''

As-Safir ''As-Safir'' () was a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon. The headquarters of the daily was in Beirut. It was in circulation from March 1974 until December 2016. The last issue of the paper was published on 31 December 2016. The o ...

''. For many years, he was also director of the department for music and theater in the Ministry for Culture and National Guidance of

. In the late 1960s, he traveled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he studied

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

and encountered various currents, trends, and schools of European theater. His career as a playwright had begun in the early Sixties with several short, one-act plays, characterized by his fundamental theme: the relationship between the individual and society and its authorities.

Career

In the late 1960s, triggered by the Arab defeat of the 1967 war with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, political Arabic theater was born. The defeat resulted in the creation of a new level of awareness among artists and intellectuals, particularly toward the government-controlled mass media and its infiltration of

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

. In 1969, joined by a group of playwrights, Wannous called for an Arab Festival for Theater Arts to be hosted in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, later realized and attended by

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

s from all over the

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. In this festival, he introduced his new project: A "theater of politicization" to replace the traditional "political theater." He intended theater to play a more active role in the process of social and political change. His plays include ''Elephant, the King of All Times'' (1969), ''The King is the King'' (1977) and ''Hanthala's Journey from Slumber to Consciousness'' (1978). His 1968 play entitled ''Haflat samar min ajl 5 Huzayrān'' (Arabic: ''An Evening’s Entertainment for the Fifth of June'') is among the best Arabic responses to the 1967 war. In the late 1970s, Wannous helped establish and later taught at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus. He also started the magazine ''Theater Life'' (''Hayyat al-masrahiya''), of which he was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

for years. In 1982, in the aftermath of the Israeli siege and invasion of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, he lived through a period of shock, and ceased to write for a decade. Back to writing in the early 1990s, Wannous delivered to Arabic theater a series of plays no less political than their predecessors, starting with ''The Rape'' (1990), a play about the

Arab-Israeli conflict The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...

. Afterwards, he wrote ''Fragments from History'' (1994), ''Rituals of Signs and Transformations'' (1994), ''Miserable Dreams'' (1995), ''A Day of Our Time'' (1995), and finally ''Mirage Epic'' (1996). In 1996, he was selected by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

and the International Institute of Theater, to present that year's address to the world theater community during its celebration of International Theater Day on March 27. This was the first selection of an Arab writer since the organization started this tradition in 1963. In 2014, his plays ''Rituals of Signs and Transformations, The Evening Party for the Fifth of June, The Adventure of the Mamluk Jaber's Head'', and ''The Drunken Days ''were published in English by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center.

Personal life

His daughter

Dima Wannous Dima Wannous (; born 1982 in Damascus, Syria) is a Syrian literary writer and journalist. She studied French literature at Damascus University and the University of Paris - Sorbonne. She also studied translation in France and has lived in Beirut, ...

is a journalist and literary writer who left Syria for exile in the United Kingdom.

Death

On May 15, 1997, he died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, a disease he had battled for 5 years.

Selected works

*''The Elephant, Oh King of the Time'', (1969). *''The King is the King'', (1977). *''Hanthala's Journey from Slumber to Consciousness'', (1978). *''The Rape,'' (1989). *''Fragments from History'', (1994). *''Rituals of Signs and Transformations'', (1994). *''Miserable Dreams'' (1995). *''A Day of Our Time'' (1995). *''Mirage Epic'' (1996). *''The Adventure of the Mamluk Jaber's Head'' *''The Drunken Days''

References

External links

The King is the King (English translation)Sa'dallah Wannus and the Theatre of Politicization
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wannous, Saadallah Syrian dramatists and playwrights People from Tartus Governorate 1941 births 1997 deaths Syrian Alawites 20th-century dramatists and playwrights Deaths from cancer in Syria