logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2021
8m 58s

The Syrian playwright who challenged the...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

An experimental play staged in Damascus in 1971 undermined official Syrian propaganda. Simply by stating that the Arab nations had been defeated by Israel during the Six Day War its author, Sadallah Wannous, identified himself as an opposition figure. Zak Brophy spoke to his widow, Faizah Shawish, about the play and its place in Syrian theatre.

Photo: Sadallah Wannous with his parents and daughter in 1988. With the permission of the Wannous family.

Up next
Apr 2025
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ... Show More
9m 43s
Yesterday
The Howard Hughes literary hoax
<p>In 1971, the publishing world was rocked by one of the biggest hoaxes in literary history – a fake autobiography of the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.</p><p>Hughes was an aerospace engineer, film producer, record-breaking aviator and business tycoon, who’d built a $2 bil ... Show More
10m 4s
Nov 25
Colombia's Salt Cathedral
<p>In 1995, a cathedral was built 180m underground in the Zipaquirá Salt Mine in Colombia. </p><p>The idea came from the miners building makeshift altars in the mine in the 1930s, to pray for their safety before starting their shifts. </p><p>It’s now a major tourist attraction, a ... Show More
10m 35s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2022
Making Friends with a Murderer: Normalising with the Assad regime
Last week, the Palestinian group Hamas announced that they would reconcile with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.The announcement marks a change in the policy of the Palestinian group, who in 2012 offered support to the Syrian rebels that were seeking to throw Assad from offi ... Show More
29m 38s
Jan 2021
Episode 14: The first fitna
Following the caliph’s victory over the Meccan faction at Basra, Ali bin Abi Talib turned his attention towards Syria. The Umayyad Mu’awiya bin Abu Sufyan had governed its lands for nearly two decades and insisted that he would not submit until his kin’s murderers and their unnam ... Show More
32m 58s
Jun 2022
The Syrian civil war
<p>Max Pearson introduces first-hand accounts of the 2013 chemical weapons attack in Syria and the opening of a refugee camp for Syrians fleeing the civil war. Plus, how lynching was finally outlawed in America, the opening of the Sydney Opera House and the Queen's coronation.</p ... Show More
55m 9s
Mar 2021
Syria's Decade of Tragedy
To mark a decade since protests first began in Syria, we are bringing you the stories and experiences of five different Syrians, in their own words. Omar Alshogre is now a student at Georgetown University, and he was 15 when he attended his first protest in 2011 and was subsequen ... Show More
44m 14s
May 2023
The rehabilitation of Syria’s President Assad
This week a meeting of Arab foreign ministers - including Syria's - took place in Jordan's capital, Amman. Officials have been discussing Syria's potential return to the Arab League, after 12 years of civil war. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are dead, millions are refugees abr ... Show More
48m 59s
Mar 2014
1989 and the Lebanese Civil War
In March 1989 fighting intensified in the Lebanese capital Beirut. The Christian leader, General Michel Aoun, had demanded that Syria withdraw all its troops from the country. Hear about the fighting from the point of view of a schoolgirl in East Beirut.Photo:Women running away f ... Show More
8m 59s
Jan 2022
Episode 39: Nasr ibn Sayyar
While the Umayyads fought among themselves in distant Syria, dangerous developments were underway in Khurasan. The umma’s divisions in the Eastern province were deep enough to give the coming revolution its first foothold in the caliphate. Its final Umayyad governor, Nasr ibn Say ... Show More
28m 3s
Mar 2019
Syria
This episode brings us to one of the most complicated conflicts raging in the Middle East. Thomas and Aimen both know the country well and walk us through the actors and their motives. They’ll also explain how Syria became such a killing field as a result of the Arab Spring and h ... Show More
1h 6m
Jan 2022
Episode 38: The third fitna
Yazid III’s successful coup against Walid II blew up the tribal feud. Syrian unity had long undergirded Umayyad power in Syria and from there, the entire caliphate; it had now been torn asunder in bloody warfare. Even when the clan finally had someone strong enough to make a play ... Show More
25m 51s
Jun 2021
78/ Pedagogies of Liberation, Gender and the Syrian Revolution (with Banah Ghadbian)
<p>This is a conversation with Banah Ghadbian. She’s a Syrian activist &nbsp;whose dissertation “Ululating from the Underground: Syrian Women’s &nbsp;Protests, Performances, and Pedagogies under Siege” was the subject of our conversation. As usual, we ended up talking about a lot ... Show More
1h 57m