Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Obituaries
- Dedication
- Introduction
- Performing Black Canadas
- The Theory of Ase
- African Presence in Cuban Theatre
- Marginality, Sacrifice & Transgression
- Interculture on Stage
- Black British Theatre in London 1972–89
- Talking about Something Dark
- Jews, Blood & Ethiopian Dance in Israel
- Nature in Migration & the ‘Natural Migrant’
- Playscript
- Khaled El-Sawy's Messing with the Mind
- Messing with the Mind: A Political Satire
- Book Reviews
- Index
Messing with the Mind: A Political Satire
from Playscript
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Obituaries
- Dedication
- Introduction
- Performing Black Canadas
- The Theory of Ase
- African Presence in Cuban Theatre
- Marginality, Sacrifice & Transgression
- Interculture on Stage
- Black British Theatre in London 1972–89
- Talking about Something Dark
- Jews, Blood & Ethiopian Dance in Israel
- Nature in Migration & the ‘Natural Migrant’
- Playscript
- Khaled El-Sawy's Messing with the Mind
- Messing with the Mind: A Political Satire
- Book Reviews
- Index
Summary
Before entry into the auditorium:
On arrival at the entrance hall, the audience is received by actors in the uniform of American marine soldiers. The marines search the audience's belongings. Some of them lift signposts undersigned by the military governor of the area ‘No Suicide Operations’, ‘Show Your Identification Card’, ‘Beware of Harassing the Marines’, ‘Patience is the Way-out!’
A female and a male actor prowl among the audience members in traditional attire. The marines forcibly impede their progress towards the auditorium. Matters grow worse abruptly. The two actors are held to the ground. Marines shoot fire in every direction. An actor, posing as the production manager, barges in to release the two young people as if they work for him. The marines scold the audience off towards the auditorium.
Inside the auditorium:
As the audience come into the theatre hall, some actors are already on the stage putting together a television studio. Deep on the stage, a wide screen is set continually interacting with the on-stage action and showing both real and dramatised snapshots. The dramatised snapshots are filmed especially for the show and performed by the same cast. The screen also shows the video stream captured on tape by a marine soldier throughout the show filming the TV program material and the audience in the hall. The production manager, seen earlier disentangling the brawl outside the auditorium, approaches the audience while the marines scatter around the hall as though besieging the audience.
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- Information
- African Theatre 8: Diasporas , pp. 117 - 144Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009