Ophélie n'est pas Morte or Ophelia Is Not Dead is a drama written originally in French in 1968 by Moroccan actor and director Nabyl Lahlou. The play is based on the characters of two dramas by Shakespeare, Hamlet and Macbeth, however the storyline is put in a contemporary setting and revolves around the concepts of censorship, identity, and artistic freedom in a post-colonised world from the perspective of the oppressed, with a lot of references to Morocco. There is an underlying stagnation, an “impasse” as Lahlou refers to it, which affects the characters throughout the play.
Characters
There are only two characters in the play, but contrary to what the title would imply, none of them is Ophelia, but Hamlet and Macbeth. Ophelia does not appear directly in the play, but she is introduced as a servant and a prostitute from the very beginning.
Plot
Opposing to the Shakespearean traditions, the play only consists of two acts that follow each other in a repeating sequence, instead of five. In each act, there are multiple micro-drama scenes. The protagonists of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth are becoming actors who played their own role, in Lahlous’ play. They are stripped from their past roles and magnificence. The characters are voluntarily paralysed, and in constant need of a crutch or a wheelchair. The setting is always a confined space that resonates with the impasse of the characters: a room, hospital, prison cell, radio station or a theatre stage. Lahlou’s play takes place ten years after the characters get to know each-other, playing their role in Shakespeare plays. Another thirty year passes between the two acts. Act one lets us see into the actors’ confinement. Act two reveals to us how this has come to be. By the end Hamlet stays completely alone, not even sure who he is anymore, lamenting on a life spent waiting for the return of Ophelia, and something to change. The absurdity of the play, and motif of waiting can remind the audience of Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot.
Director
Nabyl Lahlou was born in Fes, Morocco in 1945. He gained wide recognition with his play Ophélie n’est pas morte and became famous in the Moroccan theatre in 1970.
Themes
The crisis of belonging
The plot shines a light on the difficulties of post-colonial Arab identity searching. The conflict of belonging to two separate countries, nationalities, languages, and cultures is the director's main theme in this play. The concept of nation is distorted as Macbeth mistakenly evokes his own country’s flag, here the national flag is sacrificed in favour of the French flag. The question of identity is presented in an ironic way. Not only that, but he sarcastically outlined the sufferance of a migrant coming to Europe and seen as a second-class citizen. Not only that, but he sarcastically outlined the sufferance of a migrant coming to Europe and seen as a second-class citizen, having to carry out shameful and dishonouring activities, and not being accepted as an equal human being, coming with his cultural differences. Furthermore, Lahlou dispensed an intense criticism on Africans coming to Europe in order to search for freedom and knowledge, comparing them to dogs who need to follow their masters.
As we can witness from the scene:
“MACBETH: I would be the captain of the national team. My players would wear blue-white-and-red stripes, and we would...
HAMLET: But that is the French flag!
MACBETH: The French flag...? French flag? You do not see anything but the French flag? Eh? Have you got any idea what the color of your own flag is? French flag! Is it possible that we have gone so downhill. Since the fall of Granada, since the arrival of the colonialists? French flag! There, where our ancestors used to live as conquerors, as civilized people, as masters, and look at us returning as road sweepers, cleaners, thieves, traffickers, and prostitutes, and we are beaten up. French Flag! And while the slaughters go on, what do you do? You paint! You paint and what do you paint? Stains? Signs and colors? Color! Do you know what color means? And you have not still