The introduction of European (mainly French) drama into Arabic, and the growing interest in European culture, which is one of the aspects of the "nahDah", or Arab Renaissance of the nineteenth century, took various forms, ranging from direct importation to adaptation, where 'foreign' models could be appropriated and subverted by drawing on traditional forms such as folk drama and shadow theatre in order to create a genre. The translation of plays into Arabic and the work of playwrights and translators such as James Sanua and Cuthmān Jalāl raised the issue of the use of the vernacular, engaging with the wider literary debate on whether more flexible, non-canonized forms of Arabic could be sought.