Review-African Tales by Shakespeare-Hong Kong Arts Festival
23-3-14
By: Olivia Rosenman
“An epic metaphysical journey” is the description offered in the program’s synopsis. Considering some of the several dictionary definitions of metaphysical, the adjective is applicable on many levels.
- - ‘Of or relating to the transcendent or to a reality beyond what is perceptible to the senses’: there were more than a few tracts of time when I felt like I had precisely no idea what was going on. Even the most exacting use of all your senses would have made you none the wiser.
- - ‘Highly abstract or abstruse; theoretical’: to take three Shakespearian dramas and filter them through a novel set in 1970s Capetown seems like an extremely abstract or abstruse thing to do to me.
- - ‘Relating to poetry that is highly intellectual and philosophical and marked by unconventional imagery’: Othello, the dark skinned Moor, was played by a short, round, balding Polish man whose skin is blackened only on the head and hands, evoking what these days is an extremely unconventional (and unacceptable!) image of a blackface.
African Tales by Shakespeare rips three heroes from the pages of King Lear, The Merchant of Venice and Othello and shoves them together on the same stage, adding a touch of South African politics by filtering the show through J. M. Coetzee’s novel, Summertime.
The result is four and a half hours of subtle confusion. Add two intervals - and you should know this - you’re going to spend more than five hours in the theatre. That is one tenth of your entire weekend. You have been warned. Don’t worry, wine & spirits are available at the bar.
The play is divided into three parts, the first focuses on Shylock, the Jew in Venice, a shrewd moneylender and victim of vicious anti-Semitism. The same round, balding Polish acts an excellent depiction of the man, who is portrayed as a butcher by trade, an amusing flourish that fits well.
The second part explores what would have happened to Othello had he lived into old age. He is ultimately destroyed and causes Desdemona unspeakable grief. The actress, Magdalena Poplawska, does an impressive job of the role of an abused and violated woman.
In the the third part, the play returns to King Lear. Cordelia - another abused and violated woman - finally confronts her father as he lies on his deathbed, demolished by throat cancer.
The play is dark and confronting. It forces the audience to rethink the Shakespearean classics they read as a teenager and come to terms with the fact that the experiences of many of the characters who never got the full attention of the spotlight were worthy of their own (extremely depressing) play in their own right.
The production was impressive. The quality of the acting, the set, the sound and the lighting were at a level of professionalism rarely seen in Hong Kong. The director, Krzysztof Warlikowski, is the master of discomfort. In a good way.
This is the second big Polish theatre production to come to Hong Kong in less than six months. The Polish Consulate’s Cultural Diplomacy representative is doing a good job it seems. The last Polish play was no less intense and bizarre.
If you’re sure you’re up for it, the play is well worth a viewing. Be quick, today is your last chance!
African Tales by Shakespeare is playing at the APA until March 23rd. For more information, click here.
Comments
No comment at the moment.