Egyptian Playwright Alfred Farag Dies at Age 76:
Prison, Exile and Triumph Through Theater

By Dina Amin

On December 4, 2005 Egypt and the Arab world lost one of their greatest cultural figures: Alfred Farag. Farag died at the age of 76 in London after being hospitalized for a short period of time.

Farag is remembered first and foremost for his talent as a playwright. His many special qualities as a dramatist stem from his ability to write plays of profound philosophical contemplation that at the same time abound in well conceived-dramatic action; they work as both intelligent, dramatic literature and engaging stage performances. Farag frequently blended reality with illusion, prose with poetry, present with past and the conscious with the unconscious. Thematically, he generally concerned himself with the human condition when subjected to severe oppression. He seemed always to be writing about the struggles of insignificant, non-heroic people faced with political, social or economic abuse. He was particularly fascinated with the relationship between oppressor and oppressed, master and servant.

Born on June 14, 1929 to a middle-class Coptic family in the Egyptian provincial city of Zaqaziq, Farag was the second of seven children, four boys and three girls. At the age of three his family moved to Alexandria, where they all stayed in his paternal grandmother's house. Shortly thereafter, his parents moved to an independent residence in Muharram Bek, a quiet middle-class neighborhood. At home, Farag was introduced to music, as his father and uncle both played the oud, and to a wide range of literature, thanks to his father's vast library of both Arab and Western classics. Farag's father often took him to see touring Egyptian and foreign theater companies who were performing in Alexandria. At a fairly early age, Farag witnessed performances by great Egyptian actors such as Yusuf Wahbi, Zaki Tulaymat and Najib al-Rihani.

In 1945, Farag attended Alexandria University (then called University of Faruq al-Awwal) and enrolled in the English literature department. By so doing, he went against the wishes of his father who wanted him to study law, which was considered the most prestigious career at that time. Farag read the major world classics prolifically: Greek mythology, Shakespeare, Moliere, Arabic poetry, as well as the works of Taha Husayn and Tawfiq al-Hakim. The latter influenced him greatly.

He was drawn to poetry more than any other subject and studied a broad array of styles, but he was especially drawn to the Romantic poetry of the Arab-American al-Mahjar school. His favorite Romantic poets included Gibran Kahlil Gibran and Mikhail Nuaymeh. In English poetry he was particularly fascinated with T.S.Eliot. After graduation in 1949, Farag took his first job as a school teacher in Alexandria. He soon became bored and moved to Cairo to work as a part-time journalist. Thus, his professional life as a writer started in the 1950s, an important decade in the recent history of Egypt.

Contrary to common belief, Farag's career in journalism rather than theater made his dramatic works objectionable to censorship authorities. Because he had chosen to express his opinions, sometimes openly, sometimes discreetly, in newspapers and magazines, his plays were often banned or even closed down. Furthermore, he was imprisoned in detention camps from 1959 until 1963 for political activism and later left the country in a lengthy self-imposed exile. During Farag's exile (1973-1986), his plays were neither produced in state theaters nor published as dramatic literature.

Theater in Egypt - as in many other parts of the world - is a difficult field to break into or to make a living in. For those who surmount its hurdles and continue to produce, it is invariably a labor of love rather than a quest for money or fame. Farag endured many difficulties and produced an exceptional body of work in the process. He was one of Egypt 's leading contemporary playwrights who paid a high price for his commitment to theater. He struggled diligently not only to see his plays published and performed, but also to see Egyptian and Arab drama read, performed, and studied internationally – and recognized as a significant contribution to world drama. Until his death, he worked toward that dream, encouraging and inspiring a younger generation of theater devotees to follow in his footsteps. In the 1960s, Farag contributed to the emergence of an impressive theater movement in Egypt, not only by writing masterpieces for the stage, but also by participating in the spread of cultural awareness to the masses of Egypt in remote and rural areas as well as in cities.

As a part of the great theater movement in the 1960s, Alfred Farag has always been closely associated with that golden era of drama in Egypt and is often referred to as a playwright of the 1960s. His 30 years of post-1960s theatrical contribution is often overlooked. He produced masterpieces such as "Sulayman al-Halabi," "Ali Janah al-Tabrizi wa-Tabi'uhu Quffa," "al-Zir Salim" and "Al-Nar wa-Zaytun" in the 1970s and 1980s, and he experimented with dramatic form in varying and creative ways. In 1977, Farag wrote an absurdist drama, "Al-Ayn a-Sihriyyah," and in 1989 he produced two plays in the post-modern style.

Furthermore, during the last three decades of his life, Farag became increasingly concerned with the predicament and plight of the female protagonist in modern society, starting with "Al-Ziyarah" in 1972 and continuing until his two last plays, "Al-Mishwar al-Akhir" in 1998 and "Al-Amira wa-al-Su'luq" in 2004. The last is currently playing at the National Theater in Cairo, directed by and starring one of Egypt 's leading actors, Nur al-Sharif.

Farag was buried in Alexandria, Egypt. He is survived by his wife Suraya, who was his most dedicated admirer and supporter through thick and thin.

This essay appears in Al Jadid, Vol. 11, no. 52 (Summer 2005)
Copyright (c) 2005 by Al Jadid