Khedive Isma’il closed the satirical theater in 1872, pushing it into print radicalism

Evidence

Ismaïl closed Sanüa’s theater in 1872, either out of sensitivity to what he perceived to be the social criticism inherent in Sanüa's work, or under direct pressure from English officials angry with Sanüa’s profoundly anti-British stance. … When the secret societies were closed by Ismaïl, the journal Abü Nazzara Zarqa became Sanüa’s loudest political instrument. Compared to his plays, Sanüa's political sketches in Abü Nazzara Zarqa used even more radical and critical language against the regime. In these, the Sudanese and the whole issue of color become instruments of satire against what Sanüa considered an arrogant and cruel regime. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 427

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to reader’s comparative colonial framework: censorship producing radicalization in print parallels post-1882 patterns under British occupation.