ABSTRACT
In 1985, Hélène Cixous’ eight-hour play, L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge (The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia), opened in Paris at the Théâtre du Soleil. Two years later, in 1987, Cixous presented a second major play based on recent history: L'Indiade, ou l'Inde de leurs rêves (The Indiade, or India of their Dreams).
Unlike Cixous’ earlier plays, which featured female protagonists and few characters, these two revolve around strong male figures, Sihanouk and Ghandi, and a cast of some fifty other personalities ranging from powerful men such as Chou-En-lai, Jawaharlal Nehru, Henry Kissinger and Lord Mountbatten to simple peasants and ghosts.
Cixous portrays Sihanouk and Ghandi at dramatic historical moments, when their countries are being torn asunder. She captures the essence of each man as the spiritual symbol of a people in crisis. Focusing on their “dialogues of the heart,” this article examines comparable elements in the portrayal of Sihanouk and Ghandi against a background of political intrigue and fratricidal struggles.
