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Comment:
Annual interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition
I have read with piquant amusement the letter by Kay Es (K.S?)
expressing his/her personal opinions on this year's Annual Interschool
Shakespeare Drama Competition which appeared in the Daily News Oct 24
and again in the Sunday Nation of Oct 30 and again in ( I was informed)
the Lakbima of a few days back.
Opinions however "humble" will inevitably create "ripples". The
writer is certainly entitled to his/her "opinions". But when they are
reiterated in so many newspapers, one is provoked to step in with
information which might enlighten the writer and the readers.
To begin with, Shakespeare created drama for his audiences both to
entertain and to enlighten them with his thirty-four odd plays. There is
some disagreement among scholars as to the exact number. Many eminent
directors have very successfully presented these to varied audiences in
different continents at different times and in a variety of modes. To
give at random some of these I've seen in my lifetime of seventy-five
years - Kurosava of Japan turned Macbeth into The Throne of Blood, Peter
Brook, renowned English director set A Midsummer Night's Dream in a
circus tent in Middle-Eastern costume, Othello was stunningly performed
in Kerala in Kathakali dance mode. Here in Sri Lanka, Richard Burge used
an eclectic mixture of costumes and modes in his production of The
Tempest for the Peradeniya Dramsoc - sherwani for Prospero and
Ferdinand, modern Naval costume for the sailors, didgeridoo for the
island music, and so on -
G.K.Haththotuwegama and Haig Karunaratne did a Hamlet in Sinhala in
Peradeniya which was later taken to campuses all over the island from
Jaffna to Matara. Guided by Fritz Bennewitz, G.K. Haththotuwegama
produced A Midsummer Night's Dream in a working-class Sinhala background
and Jehan Aloysius has given us "Shakespeare in folksy vibrancy" (Sunday
Times Plus of Oct 30) with his production "Pyramus and Thisby". The
writer Kay Es who talks of the "Sinhala Literary Intelligentsia" is
probably not aware that Sinhabahu has been very successfully translated
into English and produced to an appreciative audience.
There have been many more productions of Shakespeare in eclectic
styles which have never lost the essence of Shakespearean drama nor have
these productions missed the communication with the audience. These are
not mere experimental flukes. But are meaningful, creative and
challenging productions which have maintained the Shakespearean sense of
tragedy or comedy while engaging and involving the audience completely.
Surely, the essence of expression in any art is not simply the
archaelogical preservation of past forms but the use of knowledge and
experience of existing works with skill in execution to achieve creative
expression, "Localizing," as shown by some of the examples I have
referred to, is just one form of creative interpretation. In fact it
makes the essence of any work more immediately communicable and
accessible to an audience.
Three eminent judges who have had first-hand experience of theatre
and theatrecraft cannot all be wrong in their choice of the winners of
the girls' category of this competition which was "localised" without
any sacrifice of language, pronunciation or context. Extracts from this
production are available on line from Sunday Times.lk or Lakbima.lk for
those who wish to check for themselves.
Mrs. Bridget Halpé
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