Humor and local color in the ­comedies of Yaʿqūb Ṣannūʿ

Inspired by Western theater and traditional forms, the characters in Sannū’s plays mirror a contemporaneous Egyptian society that the playwright critiques through a distinctly local, eminently Egyptian, and authentically presented brand of humor. The depiction of the characters is underpinned by the use of a simple and realistic dialect, as well as situations drawn from daily Egyptian life that simultaneously render the criticism more realistic and corrosive.