"1980 Onwards": An Attempt to Stage the Selfie of a Generation

Abstract

This article analyzes the 2012 production of the Egyptian play 1980 Onwards (1980 wa-anta tali’) and contends it stages Syrian playwright Sa’dallah Wannous’s allusion to an imaginary mirror placed on stage. The play explores one of the most common phenomena of our everyday spurred by technological progress—selfies—and ends when the cast takes an actual self-portrait. Before concluding each performance, cast members of the 2012 production took collective selfies that included the spectators and shared them on social media accounts associated with the show. This article examines how these selfies, while being instrumental in promoting the show among young millennial audiences, were also meaningful for the show itself. It suggests that the selfies strengthened the sense that the stage reflected the experiences of those in the auditorium. Furthermore, it argues that by doing so, these selfies amplified “the scream of a generation”—an expression used by playwright Mahmoud Gamal Hedeny and director Mohamed Gabr to describe their production. Thus, the selfies allowed the play’s effect to be felt beyond the theater, turning the show into a social media phenomenon.