Ophélie n'est pas Morte or Ophelia Is Not Dead is a drama written originally in French in 1968 by Moroccan actor and director Nabyl Lahlou.
[1] The play is based on the characters of two dramas by Shakespeare, Hamlet and Macbeth, however the storyline is put in a contemporary setting and revolves around the concepts of censorship, identity, and artistic freedom in a post-colonised world from the perspective of the oppressed, with a lot of references to Morocco.
[2] Opposing to the Shakespearean traditions, the play only consists of two acts that follow each other in a repeating sequence, instead of five.
[2] The setting is always a confined space that resonates with the impasse of the characters: a room, hospital, prison cell, radio station or a theatre stage.
[2] By the end Hamlet stays completely alone, not even sure who he is anymore, lamenting on a life spent waiting for the return of Ophelia, and something to change.
He gained wide recognition with his play Ophélie n’est pas morte and became famous in the Moroccan theatre in 1970.
The conflict of belonging to two separate countries, nationalities, languages, and cultures is the director's main theme in this play.
Furthermore, Lahlou dispensed an intense criticism on Africans coming to Europe in order to search for freedom and knowledge, comparing them to dogs who need to follow their masters.
There, where our ancestors used to live as conquerors, as civilized people, as masters, and look at us returning as road sweepers, cleaners, thieves, traffickers, and prostitutes, and we are beaten up.
As it plays out when Hamlet takes the role of an interviewer and Macbeth as a writer and chess player, Hamlet quotes from the writer's last book, which portrays the circumstances of theatre, the values represented, and the lack of opportunities and artistic freedom very harshly and clearly.
[2] According to Lahlou, to create a theatre in the Arab-Muslim world, the requirement of creativity, intelligence and imagination are necessitated.
[1] Even though the Moroccan elite, educated, intellectualized, and political chose to be conspicuously absent from the first introduction of the play in the country.
The first Ophelia play in Arabic, which came more than 40 years after the original staging in France, had a negative and spiteful reception compared to the one staged in France as the author stated “There was no response in print, and disconcerting silence from the critics, who opted to remain cosy in their sarcophagi, abandonment by the media”,[1] as the former one sparked a plethora of laudatory and positive articles and reviews.
[1] Ophelia Is Not Dead inspired audiences to laugh, think, and enjoy classical Arabic theatre by evoking both wit and pleasure, while liberating it from taboos, fatwas, and other red lines associated with Islam.
[1] Lahlou claims that “Arabic does not adjust to wordplay, puns, sarcasm, or even humour,” despite how stunning, rich, and complex language it is.
[1] Nevertheless, Lahlou asserts the play's translation into Arabic provided it an extraordinary influence both on the political and social fronts.
[1] The choice of language also strongly represents the bitter emotions and the futility towards the nature of the characters’ state.
It gives an honest display of pent-up feelings in the characters, in some cases as the only way of revolting against an oppressive censorship.