Thursday, April 28, 2011
"Hamlet's Arab Journey" available for pre-order
Woo hoo! Available for pre-order at Princeton: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9582.html.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
If you happen to be in Boston...
FREE Shakespeare PARADE, PERFORMANCES and SLAM!
Join us to celebrate the birthday of the Bard this Saturday in Harvard Square!
Actors' Shakespeare Project, Harvard Square Business Association &
ORFEO Group are pleased to once again announce
a birthday extravaganza for Mr. William Shakespeare and the Bookish Ball:
Saturday, April 30th
in Harvard Square
from 12:00-4:30 pm.
Timeline for the day:
12:00: Parade starts at Hotel Veritas, One Remington Avenue
12:00 - 6:00: Bookish Ball at participating bookstores
12:30 -3:30 - Activity tables in Harvard Square on Palmer Street
1:00-3:00 - Performances at the Palmer Street Stage
3:00-4:30 - Shakespeare SLAM! at Redline (14 JFK Street) - tickets can be reserved on April 30th at ORFEO Group's activity table
All events are FREE and all ages are welcome!!
Parade and SLAM! will take place come rain or shine.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monadhil Daood to produce Romeo and Juliet in London 2012
Romeo and Juliet, directed by Monadhil Daood - Iraqi Theatre Company, Baghdad
Shakespeare’s great love story, set against a backdrop of conflict between families, communities and generations, finds new purchase in the soil of contemporary Iraq, where sectarian strife between Sunni and Shia, ignited and fuelled from outside, has left its population exhausted by a cycle of violence and revenge. Baghdad’s Iraqi Theatre Company will create a Romeo and Juliet for a new generation, infused with Iraq’s rich traditions of poetry, music and ritual.For Monadhil's previous work, see the Baghdad Iraqi Theatre's web site. He also played a hammy Polonius in Sulayman Al-Bassam's Al-Hamlet Summit and a terrifying Catesby in Al-Bassam's Richard III.
UPDATE 7/8/11: Full details of the RSC's World Shakespeare Festival to be announced in September, but it seems the RSC is one of the collaborators in the London 2012 festival; it's listed as a partner on this show and others. There's also going to be an RSC production that is explicitly international, provocatively titled, "What Country, Friends, is This?"
Comparing Iraqi politicians to Othello
Writing on the Sotaliraq (Voice of Iraq) web site, op-ed writer Majid `Anqabi compares Iraq's governing elite to Othello (in Arabic). The headline is "Shakespeare's play Othello and the Fear of the Liberation Square Demonstrators."
`Anqabi mentions the theory "held by specialist scholars" that Othello was insecure about Desdemona because he was unable to satisfy her sexually, and thus became vulnerable to jealousy and had to kill her. His analogy is that the ruling Iraqi elite, unable to satisfy its people (e.g., by providing normal state services) is insecure and feels forced to crack down brutally when they demonstrate in Baghdad's Tahrir Square. A new twist to the woman-as-nation analogy. Also more evidence that most Arab readings of Othello are concerned with the spousal relationship, NOT the West.
Incidentally, the writer also invokes Safa' Khulusi and his nickname for Shakespeare, Shaykh Zubayr.
`Anqabi mentions the theory "held by specialist scholars" that Othello was insecure about Desdemona because he was unable to satisfy her sexually, and thus became vulnerable to jealousy and had to kill her. His analogy is that the ruling Iraqi elite, unable to satisfy its people (e.g., by providing normal state services) is insecure and feels forced to crack down brutally when they demonstrate in Baghdad's Tahrir Square. A new twist to the woman-as-nation analogy. Also more evidence that most Arab readings of Othello are concerned with the spousal relationship, NOT the West.
Incidentally, the writer also invokes Safa' Khulusi and his nickname for Shakespeare, Shaykh Zubayr.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Clips from Al-Bassam's Twelfth Night adaptation
Sulayman has put up a few clips of Speaker's Progress, with surtitles. Some version of this show is coming to BAM and Boston's ArtsEmerson this fall.
(Sorry I can't quite get the video to be the right width - working on it. Link here.)
(Sorry I can't quite get the video to be the right width - working on it. Link here.)
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Happy Shakespeare Day
يوم شكسبير سعيد - Hope everyone had a fabulous Shakespeare Day!
I saw that the Biblioteca Alexandrina is celebrating with a film festival. Anyone else do anything special? Did you talk like Shakespeare today, for instance?
I saw that the Biblioteca Alexandrina is celebrating with a film festival. Anyone else do anything special? Did you talk like Shakespeare today, for instance?
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Syrian student "Twelfth Night" production
Amid everything happening in Syria, students at the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts put on a production of Twelfth Night (of all things) earlier this month. `Ajaj Salim directed.
From the few pictures available it does not look like political allusions were the order of the day. Too bad: one could have a lot of fun with Malvolio.
The show then traveled to Sharjah, where it received warm reviews in Al-Bayan and Al-Ittihad (both in Arabic). Here's the press release with more background info.
From the few pictures available it does not look like political allusions were the order of the day. Too bad: one could have a lot of fun with Malvolio.
The show then traveled to Sharjah, where it received warm reviews in Al-Bayan and Al-Ittihad (both in Arabic). Here's the press release with more background info.
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