The Play's the Thing [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
"It allows people to exercise a kind of hour of hate, or whatever George Orwell [3] called it," said the drama critic for Egypt's largest newspaper, explaining the popularity of "a harshly anti-American show" called "Messing with the Mind." The writer, director and star, Khaled al-Sawy, said: "Most plays just weep about our general situation... I felt people wanted a play that talks about resisting." The U.S. TV network broadcasting to the Middle East, Al-Hurra [4], is satirized in one scene where George Bush, on "Democracy Television," says: "We just want to clean you up, make you human beings." Another scene features a CNN reporter gushing [5]: "Our boys have entered Umm Qasr, and everybody was hugging them and ululating."