Dubai Shopping Festival 2013 Presents New Arabic Take On Shakespeare’s Richard II
The eclectic mix of entertainment options that the Dubai Shopping Festival is bringing to the city at this year’s celebration of “Dubai at its Best” reached a new level of celebration on Thursday, January 17, with the staging of Shakespeare’s history play Richard II in the Madinat Theatre, Souk Madinat Jumeirah.
The Bard of Avon’s epic tale of the lionhearted king of England was staged by Ramallah, Palestine-based theatre group “Ashtar” in its Arabic adaptation. Ashtar brought a direct story telling style to Shakespeare’s classic tale of politics, dislocation and insurrection written in 1595. Performed in Arabic and infused with the tumultuous energy of the Arab Spring, Ashtar’s production of this powerful history play was a re-telling and re-contextualizing for today’s global audience. The translation of the play performed by Ashtar on Thursday was an original one that it based on an older Egyptian version. It was directed by Irishman Conall Morrison, who worked with the cast through interpreters as he does not speak Arabic himself.
The performance was highlighted by a characteristic Arabic interpretation in general and a Palestinian one in particular. Shakespeare’s artistic and thematic universality was communicated through the use of Palestinian and Middle Eastern symbols and symbolism, as well as an Arabic influenced background music that made heavy use of the Oud, and the costumes which were based on traditional Palestinian designs and motifs.
“The point we tried to make is that this is not just a Palestinian performance but rather a generic Middle Eastern look at armies, dynasties, monarchies and politics,” explained Morrison. The second show of the play was staged on Friday, January 18 at the same venue.
Emirate: Dubai
Date: Jan 21, 2013
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