End of a Utopia or Broken Mirror in The Martyrs Return This Week, by Tahar Ouettar

Abstract

This article examines the stage adaptation of Tahar Ouettar’s short story “Les martyrs reviennent cette semaine” (The Martyrs Are Returning This Week), which revisits the memory of the martyrs of the War of Liberation and questions its political use after independence. Through the character of Ammi El Abed, the father of a missing fighter, the work highlights the tension between popular memory and official memory, revealing a rift between the people and the elites. The voices of characters like Khadîdja illustrate this quest for truth in the face of the rigid discourses of power. The theatrical innovation lies in the stage adaptation, which transforms the fictional material into a dramatic space for confrontation and collective questioning. This research highlights the role of theater as a tool for transmitting, critiquing, and reclaiming historical memory.