Parallel Currents in Italian and Syrian Comedy: Ghawwar meets Mirandolina

In this paper, we argue that a parallel can be found between the Italian traditional commedia dell'arte and a Syrian/Lebanese television comic series and film focusing on the character type of Ghawwar. The servant Ghawwar resembles the zanni of commedia dell'arte in his theatrical representation as well as in the underlying social and political critique he voices. In addition, the plot of the series in which Ghawwar appears parallels Carlo Goldoni's eighteenth-century play La locandiera (The Innkeeper). Though the issue of Eastern influences on commedia dell'arte has been debated, the aim of this paper is not so much to establish a historical link between the Italian comic tradition and contemporary Syrian/Lebanese comedies as to contemplate the utilization of older, traditional European forms by contemporary Near Eastern comedy. In this paper, we will make use of the theories of theatre anthropology as expounded by Victor Turner and explored further with specific allusion to clowns by Paul Bouissac.