Beckett as Muse for Egyptian Playwrights

Abstract

In 1962, Beckett’s theatre debuted in Egypt and, ever since, it has inspired Egyptian playwrights. This paper examines how two Egyptian writers engaged with Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, as an example of both Beckett’s work and so-named absurdist theater, revealing it to have more potential for political and social engagement than traditionally understood. Masir Sursar [Fate of a Cockroach] by Tawfiq Al-Hakim and Musafir Layl [Night Traveller] by Salah Abdul Saboor make a good case study of these effects.