Iraqi Theatre: A Niche in an Ecologically Political Sane Milieu

Abstract

Looking back to Iraqi theatre prior to 2003, we see that it was bound to political themes that espoused the ruling political party. Though Iraq became a slightly more open society after the Baʼathist regime of Saddam Hussein was deposed, theatrical producers dared not challenge the regime while it was in power. From 1990-to 2003, Iraq witnessed grave political and economic unrest due to the invasion of Kuwait, the Gulf War, the Shiite uprising and the imposition of economic sanctions by the USA and its allies. Because of these momentous events, environmental factors were only of marginal concern in Iraq. More recently, Iraqi theatre has taken a tentative step towards ecological awareness. Today, the Iraqi soil, so to speak, is fertilized by a sense of climate justice. Theatre is beginning to document how the arts are populated with people concerned with the injustice that arises from a degraded relationship between humans and their environment. The relative democracy enjoyed by the Iraqi people offers the opportunity for playwrights to criticize different problems with Iraqi society such as water supply, protection of the natural world and related human rights. All these issues are presented through a political framework which enables discussion of the negative effects of war on the Iraqi people. The present paper attempts to shed light on the most important Iraqi playwrights such as Abdul-Kareem Al-Ameri and Abdel-Nabi Al-Zaidi, focusing on social and environmental factors in contemporary Iraqi society. Moreover, the essay explores the most important historical periods in Iraqi theatre, that is, the Iran-Iraq war, whose consequences shaped the theatrical production of the period. Moreover, some powerful works by Iraqi playwrights during the harrowing years of the Iraqi-Iran-Iraq war will be discussed to show the great power of Iraqi theatre to provide a voice of humanity and hope, even amidst the continuous tragic circumstances of this long-suffering country.