The Game of Death

Description

“I don’t care about anything… Words have lost their meaning… I no longer trust anything or anyone… All I expect from you is to listen to this recording and curse me!… You don’t allow an individual to play the game of death, but you allow entire nations to play it!”

In a dramatic atmosphere shrouded in mystery and tension, Tawfiq al-Hakim presents us with an extraordinary confrontation in this play. We meet “The Historian,” a wealthy man affected by atomic radiation, who decides to end his life and transform his final moments into a thrilling theatrical performance, recording them on sound equipment to document every moment of his demise. He summons the dancer “Cleopatra,” whom he sees as the embodiment of a bygone queen, bequeathing his will to her and making her his sole heir, amidst bewilderment, astonishment, and even suspicion surrounding this strange decision. Between the corridors of the grand hotel and the echoes of the recordings, the fragrance of history mingles with the bitterness of reality. Will Cleopatra succeed in deciphering this mysterious game and saving the life of this unfortunate man? Or will death have the final say, and will the curtain fall on “The Game of Death”?