A Semiotic Reading of Arab and Italian Theatre A Comparative Study between Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s Play Yā Ṭāliʻ al-Shajarah [Tree Climber] and Pirandello’s Play Sei Personaagi in Cerca d’autore [Six Characters in Search of an Author]

Awaad, Shaimaa

doi:10.21608/mjoms.2025.381565.1215

A Semiotic Reading of Arab and Italian Theatre A Comparative Study between Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s Play Yā Ṭāliʻ al-Shajarah [Tree Climber] and Pirandello’s Play Sei Personaagi in Cerca d’autore [Six Characters in Search of an Author]

Author

shaimaa awaad

Faculty of Al-Alsun, Ain Shams University

10.21608/mjoms.2025.381565.1215

Abstract

The theatrical text is a continuous series of signs, which is true in theatre generally. This becomes even more evident in the theatre of the absurd, due to the absence of interrelatedness and logicality in events as a result of the absurdity of struggle. This study examines signs in Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s play and compares them to signs in Pirandello’s play.

Semiotics is “the study of signs in social life”. The sign is divided into two types: A symbolic sign representing the word and an iconic sign representing the picture. The concept of semiotics in the theatre of the absurd and the mechanisms of its employment in Arab and Italian theatres are examined in this study, highlighting the role of semiotics in showcasing the aesthetics of the theatre of the absurd.

The two plays are the most honest expression of the philosophy of the absurd, manifested through superficial surface signs and other hidden encrypted ones. The deeper readers delve into the essence of the two plays, the more they realize that theatre is only a major semiotic structure, capable of turning everything into a sign. This is what distinguishes theatre from other arts.
The two plays revolve around the idea of the lack of absolute truth. Hence, human beings embrace loss with their own absolute freedom, but this freedom is unbearable. The philosophy of both plays is purely pessimistic, which does not acknowledge truth.

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