The creation of a canon: Re/evaluating the national identity of Israeli drama

I sraeli theatre and its processes of canonization pose an especially interesting test case for theatre historians. Unlike most national theatre traditions, Israel's does not have a longstanding indigenous tradition of playwriting readily available to present-day theatres for use as a point of departure for their new productions. Most of the original Hebrew/Israeli plays performed today are newly written. An investigation of the Israeli theatre makes it possible to draw attention to a broad range of methodological issues that have so far received only marginal attention regarding canon formation of dramatic texts within an emerging national theatre tradition and culture. In particular, the case of the Israeli theatre exemplifies a pattern in which the forming and re-forming of the canon occur almost exclusively around national themes. An overview of the short history of Israeli theatre - a history predominantly centering on the national ethos - illustrates how hegemonic cultural values are created and preserved, subsequently questioned and subjected to critique, and then reformulated, within an emerging theatrical culture.