The
Department of English Language and Literature (DELL) hosted on Thursday 9/12/2021
via MS Teams Dr. Katherine Hennessey from Kuwait University in a webinar titled
“Contemporary Arab Adaptations of King Lear”. The event, which is intended
to show and analyze recent adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays by Arab
playwrights, was moderated by Prof. Yousef Abu Amrieh and attended by a number
of faculty members and graduate students.
Dr.
Hennessey extensively commented on “Lear, the King of Sculptors” which a play is
written and directed by Emirati playwright Hassan Youssef. The discussion also highlighted
the changes made by the director to the form and content of Shakespeare’s King
Lear. Youssef’s work was also compared to other adaptations of Shakespeare’s
plays by contemporary Arab playwrights such as Kuwaiti-British dramatist Sulayman
Al-Bassam.