Dr Daffodil Goes Occidental!

Dr Daffodil Goes Occidental! is an innovative comedy performance that challenges stereotypes and prejudices about Arabs and the MENA region (the Middle East and North Africa). Through satire and role reversal, the show plays with “the Western gaze” and questions who holds the power to define expertise.

Flipping the “Western Gaze”

The show takes the form of a satirical lecture in which Dr Daffodil presents her theories on WENA (Western Europe and North America). The Nordics—and Norway in particular—serve as a point of departure for witty observations on Western culture, mentality, and self-image.

Mona Abdel-Fadil (she/her) is an Egyptian-Norwegian genre-bending comedy performer and academic with an undeniable stage presence. A skilled improviser and writer of fiction and satire with sharp comedic timing, she’s committed to decolonizing comedy by challenging whose stories get told and whose perspectives become the punchline. Mona’s scripted performances blend her academic expertise with accessible humor, inviting audiences to laugh at the absurdity of ethnocentrism while questioning the power structures that sustain it. For instance, she has adapted excerpts of her satirical piece A Superiour Guide to Performing the Academic Self, (Johns Hopkins Press 2020) for the stage as Diversity 101 for Superiour Academics. Mona was a recipient of the 2025 Transversal Performing Artist Grant and a Rawabat artist in residency. Dr. Daffodil Goes Occidental! is Mona’s first full-length solo show scripted for stage performance.

Language: English

In collaboration with Det Norske Teatret