The First Stone

Written and translated by Miriam Yahil-Wax

Today, Arab women and their supporters demonstrate, speak, and act. Yet the change within Arab society is still to come. Until it does, the bloody practice continues.

In Review: The Oberon Anthology of Contemporary Greek Plays

Reviewed by Maria Mytilinaki Kennedy

The publication of a new collection of contemporary Greek plays in translation is a rare occasion worth celebrating. While ancient Greek plays account for a large number of published and performed translations in English, modern Greek theatre is largely unknown in the English-speaking world. The Oberon Anthology of Contemporary Greek Plays constitutes an important step in remedying this gap, as it brings together five plays written by acclaimed Greek playwrights between 1995 and 2016.

In Review: Selected Serbian Plays

Reviewed by Paula Gordon

The compilation is an enjoyable read and a fascinating window into the culture and politics of Serbia over the past 80 years and three systems of rule (kingdom, socialist federal republic, and parliamentary republic). The editors chose socially conscious plays, most of which contain implicit, if not explicit, political commentary.

Editor’s Note 6.3

Blossoming trees and flowers, along with the attendant pollen they bring to allergic eyes, noses, and throats, demonstrate that Spring has come to Chapel Hill. That also means that it is time for the Spring 2017 issue of The Mercurian.

Editor’s Note 6.2

With this issue The Mercurian moves to a new publishing format that we hope will be more pleasurable to the eye as well as provide a platform for greater access to the work of our contributors. I want to extend my gratitude to my Editorial Assistant Sarah Booker for taking on the majority of the…

On the Other Side of the Sea

By Jorgelina Cerritos
Translated by Margaret Stanton and Anna Donko

Cerritos’ concern with the theme of identity, not as an ethnic construct, but rather as an existential angst, is expressed through techniques of the Theatre of the Absurd such as the lonely desk on an isolated beach, Dorotea’s insistence that her lone client gets in line and the obsession with documents as proof of existence, documents that cannot be obtained without, ironically, other documents.

The Kittens

By Críspulo Torres
Translated by John Thomas Howard

For them, for all Colombians who have lived through the conflict, there is no silence whatsoever; there is only the endless report of bullets, the continued sound of explosions going off in the distance, and the sirens and the screams that accompany these things.