It is ironic that Alï al-Kassär, considered by many to be the most simplistic and ribald figure in the Egyptian theater, cre- ated the most complicated Nubian figure, one who was at least allowed to stand up for himself against many of the racial attitudes common among Egyptians in this period. But his Osman abd al-Basit did not break the mold completely. However, while `Alï al-Kassär was gaining notoriety portraying this honest, brave, and buffoonish character, people in the Sudan were grow- ing more politicized themselves, and much of the impetus for the burgeon- ing Sudanese nationalist movement came from those blacks in the Sudan long considered, and called, slaves. Shortly, their voices would emerge on the political scene and show the Egyptians and British a completely different aspect of their own changing society and culture.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 1003