During his travels in Egypt, Edward William Lane attended “a low and ridiculous farce,” he reports, performed by the muḥabbaẓūna, before Muḥammad ʿAlī Bāšā. Lane described its plot and concluded that the farce was played before the Pasha to open his eyes to the conduct of the tax collectors. When recounting farces in the Ottoman Empire, some travellers and critics confirm the narrative of ridiculous and low shows, while others underline their social critique. In 1979, inspired by Bertolt Brecht, Alfred Faraǧ rehabilitates the show in Dāʾirat al-tibn al-miṣriyya, masraḥiyyat al-muḥabbaẓīna (The Egyptian Hay Circle, a Play by the Muḥabbaẓūna). Comparing different descriptions of the muḥabbaẓūna and Faraǧ’s interpretation of their play, this paper provides reflections on the social aim of performances using the circle as an ephemeral division of fiction from reality and highlights how the muḥabbaẓūna could deliver political comments both to the common people and to the elites.

在埃及旅行期间，爱德华·威廉·莱恩 (Edward William Lane) 参加了一场“低俗而荒谬的闹剧”，据他报道，由Muḥabbaẓūna在 Muḥammad ʿAlī Bāšā之前表演。莱恩描述了它的情节并得出结论，这场闹剧是在帕夏面前上演的，目的是让他对税吏的行为大开眼界。在讲述奥斯曼帝国的闹剧时，一些旅行者和评论家证实了荒谬和低级节目的叙述，而其他人则强调了他们的社会批判。1979 年，受 Bertolt Brecht 的启发，Alfred Faraǧ 修复了Dāʾirat al-tibn al-miṣriyya, masraḥiyyat al-muḥabbaẓīna（埃及干草圈， Muḥabbaẓūna 的戏剧）的演出。比较对muḥabbaẓūna 的不同描述以及 Faraǧ 对他们的戏剧的解释，本文利用圆圈作为虚构与现实的短暂划分，对表演的社会目标进行了反思，并强调了muḥabbaẓūna如何向普通民众和精英阶层发表政治评论。