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MANY TONGUES SPEAK ONE SHAKESPEARE
By Ben Hoyle
The Australian
September 29, 2011 Thursday
1 - All-round Country Edition
IN Shakespeare's immortal words, perhaps the most famous in all of
literature: "Buti ar nebuti, tai klausimas."
To Lithuanians who know Hamlet the line is instantly familiar:
"To be or not to be, that is the question." To everyone else it's
in Lithuanian. But a British theatre is hoping that won't discourage
bookings for what promises to be the greatest multilingual Shakespeare
adventure undertaken.
Across six weeks next northern spring, the Globe Theatre in London
will present all 37 of Shakespeare's plays in 37 languages or dialects,
performed by 37 international companies.
It is a feat that has led Dominic Dromgoole, the Globe's artistic
director, and Tom Bird, his festival director, around the world in
search of rare theatrical treasures, returning with an Afghan take
on The Comedy of Errors, a hip-hop Othello from Chicago and The Two
Gentlemen of Verona performed in "township style" by two gentlemen
from Zimbabwe.
The run begins on April 23 next year, Shakespeare's birthday, with
a Maori Troilus and Cressida, preceded by a haka Dromgoole promises
"makes the All Blacks look like a bunch of ballroom dancers". It ends
with the only straight English-language production, Henry V.
Along the way a Brazilian Mercutio will curse a Brazilian Romeo
by placing "Uma praga em ambas suas casas" (A plague o' both your
houses); an authentically Italian Mark Antony will declaim "Amici,
romani, concittadini, prestatemi le vostre orecchie "
(Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears); and Love's Labour's
Lost will be performed
in British sign language.
For the most determined Shakespeare enthusiast there's a pound stg.
100 ($160) ticket available to cover all 37 plays. Even for seasoned
theatregoers, the program includes a litany of firsts. After 50 years
of violent struggle, the world's youngest country, South Sudan, is
sending a production of Cymbeline. It was included after the South
Sudanese sent in a "simply overwhelming" 20-page pitch document with
a passage from the new presidential adviser on culture, who wrote:
"I used to lie in the bush under the stars reading Shakespeare's plays,
not thinking about the killing that would take place in the morning."
The trilogy of Henry VI plays, about England's first great civil war,
is to be performed in a single day by the national theatres of three
war-stained Balkan countries: Serbia, Albania and the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia. The acclaimed National Theatre of China is
making its first trip to Britain with Richard III and there are
plays by the Israeli National Theatre (a Hebrew Merchant of Venice)
and the Palestinian company Ashtar Theatre (Richard II).
Each company will get at least two performances of a maximum length of
two hours, 15 minutes. There will be no surtitles; Dromgoole believes
they undermine the chance to "slip free" of the text and consider
the play in a fresh light.
His budget stands at pound stg. 1.8 million. This relies on the Globe
selling 45 per cent of its 1500 tickets for each performance.
"An Armenian King John," he says, beaming.
"There's a show to test a marketing department."
By Ben Hoyle
The Australian
September 29, 2011 Thursday
1 - All-round Country Edition
IN Shakespeare's immortal words, perhaps the most famous in all of
literature: "Buti ar nebuti, tai klausimas."
To Lithuanians who know Hamlet the line is instantly familiar:
"To be or not to be, that is the question." To everyone else it's
in Lithuanian. But a British theatre is hoping that won't discourage
bookings for what promises to be the greatest multilingual Shakespeare
adventure undertaken.
Across six weeks next northern spring, the Globe Theatre in London
will present all 37 of Shakespeare's plays in 37 languages or dialects,
performed by 37 international companies.
It is a feat that has led Dominic Dromgoole, the Globe's artistic
director, and Tom Bird, his festival director, around the world in
search of rare theatrical treasures, returning with an Afghan take
on The Comedy of Errors, a hip-hop Othello from Chicago and The Two
Gentlemen of Verona performed in "township style" by two gentlemen
from Zimbabwe.
The run begins on April 23 next year, Shakespeare's birthday, with
a Maori Troilus and Cressida, preceded by a haka Dromgoole promises
"makes the All Blacks look like a bunch of ballroom dancers". It ends
with the only straight English-language production, Henry V.
Along the way a Brazilian Mercutio will curse a Brazilian Romeo
by placing "Uma praga em ambas suas casas" (A plague o' both your
houses); an authentically Italian Mark Antony will declaim "Amici,
romani, concittadini, prestatemi le vostre orecchie "
(Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears); and Love's Labour's
Lost will be performed
in British sign language.
For the most determined Shakespeare enthusiast there's a pound stg.
100 ($160) ticket available to cover all 37 plays. Even for seasoned
theatregoers, the program includes a litany of firsts. After 50 years
of violent struggle, the world's youngest country, South Sudan, is
sending a production of Cymbeline. It was included after the South
Sudanese sent in a "simply overwhelming" 20-page pitch document with
a passage from the new presidential adviser on culture, who wrote:
"I used to lie in the bush under the stars reading Shakespeare's plays,
not thinking about the killing that would take place in the morning."
The trilogy of Henry VI plays, about England's first great civil war,
is to be performed in a single day by the national theatres of three
war-stained Balkan countries: Serbia, Albania and the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia. The acclaimed National Theatre of China is
making its first trip to Britain with Richard III and there are
plays by the Israeli National Theatre (a Hebrew Merchant of Venice)
and the Palestinian company Ashtar Theatre (Richard II).
Each company will get at least two performances of a maximum length of
two hours, 15 minutes. There will be no surtitles; Dromgoole believes
they undermine the chance to "slip free" of the text and consider
the play in a fresh light.
His budget stands at pound stg. 1.8 million. This relies on the Globe
selling 45 per cent of its 1500 tickets for each performance.
"An Armenian King John," he says, beaming.
"There's a show to test a marketing department."