In this article Ziad Adwan examines the relationship between the Opera House in Damascus and the Al-Assad dynasty. Hafez Al-Assad ordered the building of the Opera House but it remained unfinished at his death. His son Bashar opened it after three decades of construction. Leaving the institution unfinished was, it is argued here, due to uncertainty regarding its identity, place in the bureaucratic hierarchy, and meaning in a totalitarian regime. Theatre institutions were driven to take oppositional positions against one another, and the Opera House intensified the enmity. No theatres were built during the reign of Hafez Al-Assad, and while the Opera House was a hope for many Syrians, it also played a role in dividing them. Adwan concludes that the exceptional design features and location of the Opera House have marked its activities and that in relation to the Al-Assad dynasty it has become a critical focus in the Syrian war. Ziad Adwan is a theatre practitioner, who completed his PhD in Theatre Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. He taught at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus (2009–2013) and has acted in plays and films, as well as working as a director. He was the artistic director of Invisible Stories, a series of street theatre events in different places in Damascus. Adwan is currently affiliated with the Global Theatre Histories research project at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich.

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大马士革的歌剧院和叙利亚的“例外状态”

在这篇文章中，齐亚德·阿​​德万考察了大马士革歌剧院与阿萨德王朝之间的关系。哈菲兹·阿萨德下令建造歌剧院，但在他去世时仍未完工。经过三年的建设，他的儿子巴沙尔打开了它。在这里有人争论说，由于其身份、在官僚层级中的地位以及在极权主义政权中的意义存在不确定性，因此未完成该机构。剧院机构被迫采取相互对立的立场，歌剧院加剧了敌意。在哈菲兹·阿萨德统治期间没有建造剧院，虽然歌剧院是许多叙利亚人的希望，但它也起到了分裂他们的作用。Adwan 总结说，歌剧院独特的设计特点和位置标志着它的活动，并且与阿萨德王朝有关，它已成为叙利亚战争的关键焦点。Ziad Adwan 是一名戏剧从业者，他在伦敦大学皇家霍洛威学院完成了戏剧研究博士学位。他在大马士革高等戏剧艺术学院任教（2009-2013 年），曾在戏剧和电影中演出，并担任过导演。他是艺术总监看不见的故事，大马士革不同地方的一系列街头戏剧活动。Adwan 目前隶属于慕尼黑路德维希-马克西米利安大学的全球戏剧史研究项目。