Voyage to Tomorrow by Tawfiq al- Hakim

First published:Rihlah ila al-ghad, 1957 (English translation, 1984)

Type of plot: Science fiction

Time of work: The late 1950’s and 309 years later

Locale: Earth and an unknown distant planet

Principal Characters:

• The first convict, a doctor convicted of murder
• The prison doctor, the doctor who listens to the first convict’s troubles
• The warden, a man who helps to save the convicts’ lives
• The representative, a man from an agency conducting space experiments
• The second convict, an engineer who committed four murders
• The first convict’s wife, a woman who used her second husband to kill her first and then schemes to have him disposed of also
• The blonde, a cold and cynical woman
• The brunette, a partisan who believes in human emotions

The Play

This ironic and suspenseful study of crime and romantic attachment in the space age begins with a single convict speaking to himself in solitary confinement. The prisoner speculates bitterly about the unhappy secrets which he may take with him to the gallows, for he has been sentenced to die in the next day or two. The guard brings in the prison doctor to see him, and as they discuss his case, the convict maintains that, though he has confessed to murder, during his trial he came to believe that he was betrayed and placed in a false position. As a young and somewhat idealistic physician, he had been impelled to kill a woman’s husband when the man was portrayed to him as a vicious and insensitive brute who had a host of girlfriends on the side; he was goaded into murder for the woman’s sake, and after they were married she testified on his behalf when he was brought to trial. During the proceedings, however, he became convinced that his wife actually had been scheming with a young lawyer to implicate him more seriously, much as she managed to convince the court of her selfless loyalty to the condemned man.

The convict, who at one time was so swept away by infatuation that he could kill a man for the sake of his beloved, is troubled still by conflicting impulses prompted by lingering affection and the desire for vengeance. He does not actually see his wife in person, however, for the warden brings in the representative of a scientific agency who has been authorized to make an unusual offer. Final preparations have been made to launch a manned spaceflight which will travel beyond the outer reaches of the solar system; the chances that any astronaut could return safely, however, have been estimated at one in one hundred. Ordinary volunteers can hardly be considered, but the government has been willing to waive execution of the convict should he agree to participate. The prisoner seizes this opportunity with alacrity, and as the second act begins he finds himself in a cylindrical chamber inside a space vessel.

To accompany the prisoner, a second convict has been selected who originally had been an engineer and an atomic scientist. As they watch the earth recede in the distance they are informed, by an announcer at ground control, that in the next three minutes, when they reach a distance of five million miles, communication will no longer be possible; as a realization of their chasmic isolation from all that has been familiar sweeps over them, each man is brought to express a deeply felt regret at having brought upon himself this new and unusual form of banishment. When the second convict learns that a woman was behind his companion’s crime, he discloses that he killed four women in succession and was discovered only when a fifth attempt inexplicably failed. Unlike the first convict, his motivations combined mercenary and altruistic interests to an odd extent; he had arranged to inherit large sums from his victims in order to provide money for engineering projects that would have benefited many people.

The first convict has some open misgivings about this variety of murder for gain, however, and it is by no means certain that feelings about their guilt have abated even in the dark void of empty space; at least where the first convict is concerned, earth’s morality, law, and customs still cast a troubled shadow over his conscience. Just as they seem forever lost in space—and indeed they speculate that they have approached the speed of light when the dial on the ship’s instrument panel presses against its frame—they are apparently drawn into the gravitational field of a distant planet. When they reach this strange metallic body, they find it surprising that even in falling they have suffered no real ill effects.

The third act shows some unusual discoveries which are made in the course of their preliminary investigations. There appear to be no trees or bodies of water on this strange new world, and for that matter, though the sky is a brilliant turquoise hue, there is practically no atmosphere; the convicts seem to subsist on electrical currents; moreover, communication by charged particles supplies access to the other’s thoughts without the need for conventional speech. By a concentrated effort of mind, the first convict is able to summon forth images of his wife, which appear in space as though they were broadcast on a screen; when she begins speaking to her husband, however, he recoils in anguish and horror. It pains him still that such a beautiful woman could have schemed at his destruction. Neither convict wishes to remain on this barren, bleak outpost, where no activity beyond mere existence seems possible. It does not seem likely, however, that they will find an easy death in a land where electromagnetic impulses appear to support life in ways they had not believed possible. They manage somehow to repair their rocket and set forth again in the direction from which they had come.

The convicts soon return to earth, and the fourth act brings some realization that life under a regime where material wants and physical infirmities have been all but eliminated may not be so desirable as might be thought. After awakening from a prolonged sleep, the first convict is met by a blonde woman who informs him that 309 years have passed since their original flight into space; as the result of traveling at the speed of light, however, a much shorter period of time has elapsed within the space vessel.

The convict learns that in this future world people age relatively slowly, and often they live for several centuries. Medical needs have been met to such an extent that many doctors do not need to work; food can be obtained by synthetic means from commonly available substances. Money is a concept known only to those versed in ancient history, while mechanical work is done primarily by automatic devices. Evidently shortly after the convicts departed a limited nuclear war took place, and since that time the world has been divided not by nations or military camps, but by two parties. The blonde woman, who is from the first group, is practical, efficient, and not very sentimental; she will let either convict kiss her as long as he does not take up too much time.

Another secretary, a brunette woman, is a partisan of a minority faction which believes that progress achieved by technocratic means should not be allowed to stifle expressions of human love and creativity. The first convict, who already has begun to doubt that happiness is possible in a world of enforced idleness, is immediately attracted to her. On the other hand, the blonde woman is of a suspicious disposition and has a penchant for eavesdropping; she regards any utterances of discontent as conspiratorial if not revolutionary. When a security man is summoned to separate the brunette from the others, the first convict begins to wrestle with the guard and threatens to kill him; then, as the convict is taken away, he kisses the brunette before going off to prison once more for the sake of a woman.

Dramatic Devices

The imaginative and distinctive settings of this work perhaps would make it difficult to produce in a conventional manner, at least for a theater audience. It has not, in fact, ever been produced. A number of unusual props and special effects would be required to simulate the sights and impressions of spaceflight. The author’s instructions refer to a rocket interior complete with its instrument panel and radar equipment; it would further be necessary to devise a screen upon which the first convict is able to see his wife. Other materials would also be required to show the landscape of the unknown planet of act 3, which is described as a metallic spheroid with sheer forbidding mountains that is situated against an unearthly blue-green background.

For the fourth act, additional props would have to be used to create the salon in the dwelling house of the new age, which has semiluminous walls and is decorated with curtains; the author suggests that, because they belong to a future world, such fixtures cannot be described exactly in advance. At various times throughout, other small machines to suggest sophisticated telephone, radio, and video equipment are called for; for that matter, certain interlocutors, such as a ground control monitor and a government official, are heard but not seen. Thus the actual surroundings which are important for the author’s purpose have been set down to convey an appropriate sense of place; it is quite possible that the complexity of such arrangements has discouraged actual stage productions. On the other hand, while it often has been maintained that Tawfiq al-Hakim’s plays have been meant to be read as much as to be performed, here the dramatic situation and dialogue probably could be interpreted to advantage by live actors.

Although there are a certain number of philosophical excuses, and some critics have found fault with the play’s construction and length, there are a number of sequences which produce dramatic tension and uncertainty as unexpected events affect the fate of the two convicts. Further interest is added by details about the prisoners’ past lives, which are supplied at suitable intervals. Moreover, while it has also been contended by some observers that al-Hakim’s characters are not particularly memorable—those who are featured in certain works could as easily be utilized in others—the figures who appear in this work are well suited to convey the ideas the author has set forth. Indeed, it is the response of certain individuals to unusual and seemingly paradoxical turns of events that directs interest to this play’s outcome.

Critical Context

Among the numerous types of plays Tawfiq al-Hakim has written, affinities with works of several sorts, from different periods of his career, may be found. In his important and controversial drama Ahl al-kahf (pb. 1933; partial translation, The People of the Cave, 1955-1957), which is based upon the biblical story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, in its Koranic version, the device of prolonged time lapse is used to ponder problems of hope and resurrection during earlier historical periods; in that work, refugees from Roman religious persecution undergo a miraculous sleep of 309 years before succumbing to despair at the prospects of life in a different age. There, as in Voyage to Tomorrow, the ironic convergence of themes across a period of several centuries is skillfully developed.

Other early works also present violent death arising from infatuation and troubled relations between men and women. Later efforts have considered scientific development in a speculative vein while posing problems of political power and the destiny of individuals in the nuclear age. Liՙbat al-mawt (pb. 1957), for example, concerns attempts to sustain a scientist’s love affair despite the effects of radiation sickness, while Ashwak al-salam (pb. 1957) explores the need for international reconciliation in view of the threats to world peace posed by atomic weapons. Other variations of the theme of crime and guilt were explored in al-Wartah (pb. 1966; Incrimination, 1984), where evidence which, it appears, would point to one culprit is revealed instead to implicate a law professor who has been investigating a murder. The conflict between science and nature brought about by the exploration of space has been considered from a somewhat playful standpoint in Ahl al-qamar (pb. 1969; Poet on the Moon, 1984). For that matter, even as he turned to writing on religious subjects during the final years of his life, in his last play al-Hakim utilized the Faust legend in order to depict the opposition faith has encountered from scientific and socialist dogmas.

Sources for Further Study

Badawi, Muhammad Mustafa. “Tawfiq al-Hakim.” In Modern Arabic Drama in Egypt. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Cachia, Pierre. “Idealism and Ideology: The Case of Tawfiq al-Hakim.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 100, no. 3 (1980): 225-235.

Hammouda, Abdel-Aziz. “Modern Egyptian Theatre: Three Major Dramatists.” World Literature Today 53 (1979): 601-605.

Hutchins, William M. “The Theology of Tawfiq al-Hakim: An Exposition with Examples.” Muslim World 78, nos. 3/4 (1988): 243-279.

Long, Richard. Tawfiq al-Hakim: Playwright of Egypt. London: Ithaca Press, 1979.