Hamlet is back!

Shakespeare stage productions in South Africa have been few and far between over the past two years. But we seem to be emerging from the shadow of Covid, and as the theatre sector builds some momentum again more Shakespeare can be expected.

In March, Janni Younge’s puppetry Hamlet was a one-night-only event at the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre. Now, in the same week that Neil Coppen’s live-online-reading of Hamlet (performed in May 2021) was nominated for a Naledi Award in the category “Best Production: Virtual Online Theatre”, Shakespeare ZA is glad to be able share some news from Abrahamse & Meyer Productions about the return of their Hamlet to Artscape ... en route to Denmark!

Marcel Meyer and Lungile Lallie in Hamlet

(All photos: Daniel Coetzee)

The Abrahamse & Meyer production of Hamlet premiered at the 2015 National Arts Festival and has since played to rave reviews and standing ovations across Europe, South Africa and the United States of America. The production takes its inspiration from the apocryphal tale of a performance of Hamlet in 1608 by the crew of the Red Dragon, while the ship was anchored off the east coast of Africa. 

This production re-imagines Shakespeare’s play within the context of this story, presenting a performance aboard the Red Dragon as a play within a play within a play, utilising a cast of six actors playing six Jacobean sailors who, in turn, play all the parts in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Later this year, the company will travel to Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark - the setting for Hamlet and also the site of the world’s oldest Shakespeare Festival (which has run continuously since 1816) - to perform at this iconic venue.

Hamlet features direction and set design by Fred Abrahamse, lighting by Faheem Bardien, costumes by Marcel Meyer and an original score by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder. Joining Meyer in the cast are original company members Matthew Baldwin [Ophelia & Guildenstern] and Jeremy Richard [Laertes & Rosencrantz], with veteran Shakespearean Michael Richard as Claudius. Completing the cast are up-and-coming actors Taylin Ramsamy [Horatio & Polonius]and Lungile Lallie [Gertrude]. 

The production runs at Artscape in Cape Town until 23 April. All tickets cost R80 and can be booked through Computicket or Artscape-Dial-A-Seat (+27 21 421 7695).

Shakespeare in Southern Africa volume 34

Shakespeare in Southern Africa volume 34 has gone to print and will soon be available online!

The cover shows a series of stills from the live-online-reading of Hamlet that took place earlier this year (directed by Neil Coppen). Marguerite de Waal writes about the production in a fantastic reviews section that also covers a range of recently-published books:

- Jyotsna Singh’s Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory (reviewed by Amrita Dhar)

- The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Social Justice (reviewed by Hassana Moosa)

- Eric Harber’s Shakespeare, Christianity and Italian Paganism, R. Allen Shoaf’s Lucretius, Shakespeare and the Nature of Things, and Cathryn Enis and Glyn Parry’s Shakespeare Before Shakespeare (reviewed by Tony Voss).

Volume 34 includes four research articles, on subjects ranging from the use of mixed reality digital games to teach Shakespeare in South African high schools (Gina Bloom and Lauren Bates) to the little-known “pre-history” of the Maynardville Open Air Theatre in Cape Town (Sheila Chisholm and Temple Hauptfleisch), and from Mauritian Shakespeares (Angela Ramsoondur and Sheila Wong Kong Luong) to a translation of Hamlet into Naija (Odirin Abonyi).

The volume closes with an obituary by Denise Newfield paying tribute to Shakespeare scholar Martin Orkin, and in his editorial Chris Thurman reflects on Orkin’s passing in revisiting the early years of the journal - first published in 1987, the same year as Orkin’s Shakespeare Against Apartheid - and the debates that have raged in its pages.

You can access Shakespeare in Southern Africa via SA Journals / Sabinet, African Journals Online (AJOL) and other scholarly databases.

SA Shakespeares in the news

This week saw the publication of two very different articles providing insight into the diversity of South African Shakespeares.

Soyiso Ndaba as Cassius

Soyiso Ndaba as Cassius

First it was the turn of Shakespeare ZA to enjoy some limelight, with prestigious scholarly journal Shakespeare Bulletin publishing a review of our #lockdownshakespeare project by Dr Henry Bell of the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). Monologue performances by Soyiso Ndaba, Buhle Ngaba, Amanda Seome, Oarabile Ditsele, Liatile Mohale and Ashleigh Harvey get special mention. You can read all about it via Project Muse or the UWS archive.

Then Laetitia Pople of Netwerk24 wrote an article about the announcement of an exciting partnership between our friends at the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre (TCC) and Legacy Underwriting Managers (LUM). The focus is on Afrikaans Shakespeares - recuperating the old and pioneering the new!

Click on the headline below to be directed to Netwerk24.

Shakespeare Schools Festival events in September

[PRESS RELEASE]

The third instalment of this year’s Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSFSA) will begin in Johannesburg on September 8, 2021. Thereafter the SSFSA will be presented in Durban, George and Gqeberha (the latter as a combined event with Makhanda).

The SSFSA, now in its eleventh year, is Africa’s largest annual Shakespeare youth drama festival. It strengthens the link between the arts and education, uniting and empowering children from across socio-economic spectrum using the transformational power of theatre and specifically the works of Shakespeare to achieve that goal. To date the SSFSA has seen the participation of more than 557 schools, over 10 000 learners and 693 educators across the various provinces in the country. Online and in-person audiences this year have totaled close to 26 000 people.

Hout Bay International School in Macbeth 2021 at Artscape.jpg
De La Bat School for the Deaf in Anthony and Cleopatra.jpg

As a creative outlet the SSFSA is an opportunity for young people, both at school and in amateur drama groups, to tap in to the performing arts, explore their dramatic capabilities and unlock their acting potential in a stress-free and non-competitive situation. Learners also enjoy on-stage coaching and accrue tips from professionals about costuming, lighting and set design while simultaneously gleaning skills beneficial to anyone working within the theatre industry.

For the festival, each school is required to prepare and perform an abridged version of the Shakespeare play of their choice, approximately 30-45 minutes in duration. The organisers encourage individuality and innovation, all the while fostering an atmosphere of camaraderie between schools, learners and educators. Staging a Shakespeare play is undoubtedly a challenge - for both novices and professional actors! - and in light of this the SSFSA provides guidance and resources throughout the preparation process.

The next SSFSA dates are as follows: Johannesburg Theatre from 8 - 11 September; the Playhouse Theatre in Durban from 28 -30 September, the George Theatre in George from 10-12 September and The Little Theatre in Gqeberha (including Makhanda schools) on 18 and 19 September 2021.

For exact dates, ticket info and venues in each city, please visit the festival’s Facebook page or visit www.ssfsa.org.za.


[ENDS]

A Dream: Shakespeare beats Covid

The excitement of our blog post last month was followed by disappointment, as Covid put the kibosh on yet another South African Shakespeare production. With the onset of a third wave of Coronavirus infections, the country had to reimpose previously lifted restrictions; this meant that Kickstart’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Durban Botanic Gardens had to be deferred.

Of course, this sadness was nothing compared to the sorrow, fear and deprivation experienced by so many people in KwaZulu-Natal following the violence, looting and destruction that ravaged the province earlier this month. It has been a grim time for our country.

There are, however, chinks of light and signs of hope. Community solidarity and a citizen-driven cleanup operation in KZN. The expansion of the vaccine delivery programme. Perhaps South Africa is slowly - very slowly - emerging from this winter of discontent.

If it’s encouragement you’re after, look no further than Perchance to Dream, an inspiring rendition of various Shakespearean scenes by a talented group of young performers from Westville Boys’ and Westville Girls’ High Schools near Durban. This “fantasy collage” of extracts from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, The Tempest, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night was a site-specific production that moved through various spaces on the Westville Boys’ High School grounds.

A recording of the production (which took place from 17-19 June) is now available. You can find out more about the cast and creative team here. As director Steven Stead has affirmed, “We could all do with a little respite and Dream time right now” - so enjoy!