Shakespeare in the “Post”Colonies: What’s Shakespeare to Them, or They to Shakespeare?

The 49th annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America will take place in Austin, Texas, from 31 March to 3 April 2021. Enrollments for seminars and workshops are now open. A number of the seminars may be of particular interest to South African Shakespeareans, and we are glad to make Shakespeare ZA available as a platform to publicise these.

The Shakespeare Association of America has relaxed its in-person participation rules for the 2021 conference, so participants can join a seminar online. If you are interested in enrolling for a seminar but are uncertain of being able to attend in person, contact the organisers to make the necessary arrangements.

Shakespeare in the “Post”Colonies:

What’s Shakespeare to Them, or They to Shakespeare

Shakespeare Association of America Seminar for Annual Meeting 2021 in Austin, Texas (31 March to 3 April 2021)

Co-leader: Amrita Dhar (Ohio State University)

Co-leader: Amrita Sen (University of Calcutta)

 

Seminar keywords: vernacular, local, multilingual, intersectional, indigenous, postcolonial, race, caste, pedagogy, influence

This seminar investigates what Shakespeare means in the twenty-first century in erstwhile colonial geographies (especially those under the British Empire), and how the various Shakespeares worldwide impact current questions of indigenous rights, marginalised identities, and caste politics in “post”colonial spaces.

The violence of colonialism is such that there can be no truly post-colonial state, only a neo-colonial one. Whether under settler-colonialism (as in the US and Canada) or extractive colonialism (as in the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean, and the African continent), the most disenfranchised under colonial rule have only ever changed masters upon any political “post”colonialism.

Given the massive continued presence of Shakespeare everywhere that British colonial reach flourished, and the conviction among educators and theatre practitioners that the study of Shakespeare can and should inform the language(s) of resisting injustice, this seminar explores the reality of 21st-century Shakespeares in geographies of postcolonial inheritance, such as the Indian subcontinent, continental Africa, the Caribbean, Australasia, and indeed, North America. We ask what this presence of Shakespeare means for our world of strange mobilities and borders, estrangements and loyalties, distinct identities and shared commitments.

Here are some questions that we seek to address:

– When school and college syllabi in India or Uganda or the West Indies or Canada still have a compulsory Shakespeare component, what work does Shakespeare do today?

– What does a Dalit Shakespeare look like, or a Maori one, and how do these Shakespeares influence the “mainstream” currency of Shakespeare in the UK-US axis?

– Why is Shakespeare relevant, even important, in worldwide local, vernacular, and indigenous registers?

– Why and how does Shakespeare’s language have the power to move even when removed from the original?

– What is the relationship between the local and the global, and how does Shakespeare help us parse that difference?

– Who gets to do/own/perform/read/interpret/teach Shakespeare, and where, and how? And what do these engagements mean?

– What can our understanding of Shakespeare beyond English, and beyond the early modern, do for coalitional dialogue with race and ethnic studies and premodern critical race studies?

Engaging scholars of race, caste, gender, postcolonialism, adaptation, performance, multilingualism, disability, and indigeneity, this seminar raises questions about critical terminology and methodology (particularly the neo- and post-colonial); caste and class; pedagogy and curricula; linguistic belonging and otherness; centre and margin; past and present.

Seminarians are asked for short scholarly papers, critical responses, and engaged conversation.

Participation from graduate students (at the candidacy level), scholars based in or working on areas outside the US-UK axis, and scholars working in one or more intersections of culture and identity as outlined above is especially welcome.

 

Reading and Preparation

Although no prior preparation is necessary—we will circulate seminar plans and readings in autumn 2020—we are assembling a living document of scholarship and texts on our topic: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G8TzPhBuB5IKlYAnbS3qJoRJLz4n45pLnjdmYahP8-4/edit?usp=sharing.

NOTE:

This is a living document, and still in the making; please help us update this bibliography with work that is compellingly at the forefront or intersections of postcolonial studies, Dalit studies, critical and premodern critical race studies, Indigenous and Adivasi studies, adaptation and translation studies, travel/encounter/interculturality studies, border and migration studies, and Shakespeare studies. Please write with suggestions to dhar [dot] 24 [at] osu [dot] edu.

This document lists ONLY work in English–while the majority of work on postcolonial/“post”colonial Shakespeares in the world is in other languages. We are working on a bibliography across languages, and similarly welcome input for it. Please write to dhar [dot] 24 [at] osu [dot] edu with suggestions.

Relatedly: if you are struggling to get a hold of any of the texts listed in our bibliography, please let us know.

 

About the Seminar Leaders

Amrita Dhar grew up in Calcutta and was educated at the universities of Jadavpur, Cambridge, and Michigan. She is currently Assistant Professor of English at The Ohio State University, where she researches and teaches in early modern literature, disability studies, and migration studies. Her interests further include premodern critical race studies—particularly where it opens conversations on caste, gender, and physical ability—and the digital humanities. She is currently at work on two mutually informing book projects, Milton’s Blind Language and Regarding Sight and Blindness in Early Modern England. Her work—on blind poetics, theatre and disability, Shakespeare adaptations and caste—has appeared or is forthcoming in a range of journals and scholarly collections. She is also an active traveller of mountains and writes on world mountaineering literatures.

Amrita Sen is Associate Professor and Deputy Director, UGC-HRDC, University of Calcutta and affiliated faculty of the Department of English. Her research interests include the East India Company, early modern literature and culture, theatre history, civic pageantry, gender theory, race and postcolonial studies. She has published on East India Company women, Bollywood and regional Indian appropriations of Shakespeare, and early modern ethnography. She is the co-editor of Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London (2020) and a special issue of the Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies on “Alternative Histories of the East India Company” (2017).

Thank you BASA and CN&CO!

Shakespeare ZA is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a supporting grant by Business and Arts South Africa (BASA).

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BASA’s Supporting Grants Programme focuses on “amplifying and extending existing partnerships between arts and businesses that aim to meaningfully impact society through shared value and social cohesion”. The Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa has enjoyed the support of our wonderful partners at CN&CO since 2018 - this has made possible a number of our projects over the last two years, and we are excited that the BASA grant will help us to extend various aspects of the collaboration.

Most immediately, it provides a boost to our #lockdownshakespeare initiative (if you don’t know about this, you’ve been missing out), which is good news for the South African theatre makers involved. The generosity of BASA and CN&CO will also help us to continue developing and curating new arts education resources here on Shakespeare ZA.

So you’ll be seeing a lot more of this sign, as we display it proudly - a badge of honour for our Shakespeare ZA endeavours, and one we are very glad to share with all the artists and organisations who have benefited from South African businesses supporting the arts!

South African Shakespeares on screen this week

Theoretically, South Africa’s theatres are allowed to open again. But given the logistical and financial complications that reopening under current circumstances would bring (not to mention the heavy responsibility of preventing the spread of the Coronavirus among theatre goers and theatre makers alike), many - if not most - stages will remain “dark” for some time to come.

Happily, unless you’ve been living under the proverbial rock for the last few months, you’ll know that there are plenty of opportunities to see South Africa’s performing artists exercising their craft for online audiences. What you might not know is that this week brings two South African Shakespeare productions into the digital limelight!


In 2019 ... a lifetime ago, when the world was young - that is, um, last year ... director Greg Homann put together a crackerjack cast to workshop a concept treatment for a production of Twelfth Night. With support from the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa and the Market Theatre Laboratory, this team rehearsed and filmed a selection of scenes, which have now been released online. We at Shakespeare ZA can’t wait to see a full version on stage! For now, you can get a taste of the production here:

This production concept was developed in 2019 under the direction of Greg Homann. Selected scenes were rehearsed and recorded at the Ramolao Makhene Theatre ...

Directed and designed by Greg Homann; starring David Dennis, MoMo Matsunyane, Esmeralda Bihl, Billy Langa, Conrad Kemp, Phillip Dikotla and William Harding; lighting design by Hlomohang “Spider” Mothetho.


Each year, as South Africa’s winter solstice passes and June blurs with July, arts aficionados turn their attention to Makhanda for the National Arts Festival. This remains true even in 2020’s bleak midwinter - with one slight difference. The Virtual National Arts Festival runs from 25 June to 5 July and boasts a rich programme, including Third World Bunfight’s Macbeth.

This adaptation of Verdi’s opera toured globally (to over 30 cities) after opening in 2014, but few South Africans have had the chance to see it. Now, wherever you are, you can watch it as part of the Festival! Buy tickets here.

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Directed and designed by Brett Bailey; music adapted by Fabrizio Cassol; Premil Petrovic conducts the No Borders Orchestra; Lady Macbeth is sung by Nobulumko Mngxekeza, Macbeth by Owen Metsileng and Banquo by Otto Maidi.


Under The Greenwood Tree: Meditation, reflection and positive change in the Forest of Arden

LAUREN BATES shares her experience of workshopping and staging Under the Greenwood Tree, a production inspired by As You Like It and developed for the Shakespeare Schools Festival event at the Fugard Theatre in March this year.

A delightful short play combining songs and moments from Shakespeare's As You Like It with the original creative writing work of Vista Nova High School stude...

Under The Greenwood Tree is a workshopped piece of theatre created by the Drama Club at Vista Nova High School under the facilitation of teaching artists Lauren Bates and Keenan Rishworth. It was presented at the Fugard Theatre as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival in March 2020.  The piece combines songs and excerpts from As You Like It with the original writings of the high school performers to create a montage of thematic musings unified by the narrative of Orlando’s encounter with Duke Senior in the Forest of Arden. The students had already explored the full story of As You Like It, as the original intention was for them to perform this at the festival. For various reasons, this was no longer ideal, but remaining in the Forest of Arden certainly was.

Living in South Africa (and the world in general) these young people have much going on around and within them that is traumatic, anxiety-ridden, perplexing and painful. The violence and horror they face on a daily basis, and the helplessness and hopelessness that accompany this, can lead to their acting out or withdrawing in destructive ways. Theatre is one of the mechanisms through which much that is troubling can be processed, and through which they can gain a voice, a sense of autonomy, a feeling of being physically present, and the assurance that comes from being part of a nurturing community. These valuable benefits are enhanced when the students’ own utterances are included in a performance piece, as each individual is empowered through the celebration of their unique voice and the airing of their inner world.

Near the beginning of the workshop process, the students were given a set of quotations from the play as writing stimuli, with space beneath each to write. They found a comfortable place on their own, under trees in the sunny Friday afternoon bliss of the school yard. This sense of tranquility as they wrote was essential to the process, and also mimicked the pastoral aesthetic of As You like It. They needed to set aside the stresses of school and home, and enter into a contemplative space, a space to breathe, where they could reflect deeply and creatively, experience their feelings authentically, and thoroughly think something through. The following quotations were given: “Your gentleness shall force / More than your force move us to gentleness”(2.7.103); “One man in his time plays many parts”(2.7.145); “Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly” (2.7.186); “Life is but a flower”(5.3.29); and “This our lives, exempt from public haunt / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones and good in everything” (2.1.15-17). The responses ranged from pithy haiku, passionate speeches, deeply personal free verse and rhyme-bound poetry, assertive rap style poetry, and short, sage statements. These were then edited by the facilitators and woven into a new theatre piece.

The central theme explored in Under The Greenwood Tree is how nature is truthful, even when harsh, which contrasts with the masks of human civilisation and its meaningless, often dangerous, posturing. This theme is linked directly to the setting of the play as the entire play takes place outdoors, under the greenwood tree, beside a brook, with two rocks upon which various characters sit at different times. The setting is referenced directly, as this play draws to a close, when Duke Senior states how he finds: “tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” The ensemble then echoes this statement in unison as the play ends. Thus the setting and theme are intricately linked. All around the characters - the tree, brook and stones - are the very elements that have been imbuing them with wisdom. There is a conversation happening between nature and characters. Adding to this conversation is the constant sound of twittering birds and running water in the background, bringing the audience in closer contact with nature’s lessons, its wisdom gently whispering all around them.

The play begins with the titular song “Under the Greenwood Tree” sung by the cast, which immediately sets up the theme of being in nature away from “enemies” and “ambition”. It is only the bad weather that can harm them, and it is an honest harm that contrasts with the underhanded harm at court, reinforcing the over-arching theme of the play. After a relaxed opening, the tranquility is disturbed by Orlando charging in, demanding food from the peaceful forest-dwellers. The Duke advises him that gentleness has more power than force, and Orlando is completely disarmed and ashamed of his show of violence. He is welcomed into their community and this act of compassion is then followed by reflections on the concept of kindness being stronger than aggression. For example, one of the performers points out sorrowfully that: “We use force against the more gentle-spirited, just to get what we want” and another suggests that: “Being kind takes no more energy than being forceful, so why not use a more gentle approach?” The play then turns to Jacques’s iconic speech “All the World’s a Stage” which is divided amongst the ensemble, one person per age. Following this is a reflection on the different stages of life and the various challenges and roles that we play. Lessons on making the most of your life are uncovered in statements such as: “You’re birthed to die: What you do with the time in between is up to you” and “You do things to leave imprints for the future so others can be inspired to help the world and make it wonderful.”

After these reflections on making the most of life is another song, this time with a more sombre tone. The opening verse:

Blow, blow, thou winter wind

Thou art not so unkind

As man’s ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen,

Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude

highlights how human cruelty exceeds harsh weather, further bolstering the central theme. The key phrase of the chorus, “most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly” was pulled out as a stimulus. It resonated very readily with the students, who are constantly travailing the treacherous terrain of love and friendship. There had even been incidents of betrayal and hurt between members of the group that seemed to find some sense of resolution in their poetic expressions. However, they didn’t merely dwell on betrayal in these poems, but found positive counterpoints to this impulse, with declarations such as: “Being deceitful isn’t peaceful / Being kind is glory to mind” and directives such as: “Be with people who’ll accept you and honour your virtue / Rather than people who will just degrade and hurt you”. The final piece of this section was written by a student who has had difficulties in making and retaining true friends. The poem was dedicated to Keenan Rishworth, one of the teaching artists, and expressed the wonder and joy in finding a true friend. The final two stanzas of their poem conclude:

I can say

As someone

You might call

A friend

You,

Opening your arms,

To me

Without any doubt

Are warm

The poem picks up the tentative manner in which this young person approaches friendships. Being hurt and betrayed countless times has caused them to struggle with trust. In their poem they slowly and steadily grow in certainty that this person they are writing about is in fact a true friend who will not abandon them. They conclude that this friend is indeed true and “warm”. After this poignancy, there is a moment of silence, immediately followed by a complete mood change with the song “It was a Lover and His Lass”. This is performed with beat boxing and drumming on the boxes, creating an upbeat vibe. The ensemble sing the choruses and one performer belts out the verses in a jazzy style. A cheerful mood permeates. The next stimulus text comes from this song and it speaks to the brevity of life: “life is but a flower”. The students communicate hard-hitting truths about life’s transience through lines such as: “life is but a flower. It grows, each petal unfurling in the sun. And once they’ve grown, they die”. They also reflect on the journey of this growth and what is gained along the way:

We are born on the earth in the form of a rose bud, slowly opening up to the world and becoming a flower. Each petal is a form of emotion or task we face. As we bloom, we face it all. The stress from school; the fights at home; we keep living through life and all its changes.

Pairing the Shakespearean verse with personal experience in the line “the stress from school; the fights at home” gives this student a sense of overcoming these difficulties and merging her struggles into a broader poetic narrative, through which she empowers herself. She is also empowered through a paper flower that she holds, peeling off petals as she talks about the passage towards death. This gives her a tangible connection to this image of life unravelling, helping her confront this hard truth without fear. After her poem, another student delivers a haiku describing a gardener slashing at flowers and the ensemble all become the flowers, dropping to the ground. The actor playing Duke Senior then emerges from the shadows and begins to deliver the final Shakespeare text of the play. It is his iconic speech, made the first time we encounter him in the woods with his merry men in As You Like It. This speech thoroughly reiterates the central theme of nature being honestly harsh while humans are cunningly cruel. The Duke describes the harsh weather endured when you live outdoors, concluding that: “This is no flattery: these are counsellors / That feelingly persuade me what I am.” The pelting elements confront him with his frailty, whereas humans flatter in order to deceive. He finishes with the statement previously discussed: “And this our life exempt from public haunt / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones and good in everything.” This is the final stimulus and leads into the last collection of poetry, including a piece presented by Orlando which articulates the transformation he has experienced in the woods:

I walked into a forest in which I’d never been before

When I walked out of the forest I felt transformed, something more

I looked at a tree

a gentle pillar of the community

I looked at a stone

Untouched by the fickle thoughts of others, bold alone

I looked at a stream

Adventuring into the unknown, following a dream

I came out of the forest

Gentle, bold and adventurous

A tree, a stone, a stream

This poem summarises lessons that Orlando, and by implication the cast and audience, has learnt through their time in the Forest of Arden: the concepts of gentleness being a more powerful force than aggression; extracting oneself from the fickle influence of false people and institutions; and the adventure of life, its seven acts and its brevity that requires us to savour it. These lessons are linked with the tree, stones and stream of the Duke’s speech and Orlando now affirms the truth of their wisdom. Before the final reiteration of “this our lives” by the full cast, another actor comes forward and says: “If you listen to all the music of nature, it can heal your body, mind and heart.” The music within the magic of nature is emphasised, which links with the use of songs in the play and the healing power that nature’s melodies can have. The play ends with the cast forming a line at the front of the stage along the banks of the running brook. They sing the opening song again:

come hither, come hither, come hither,

here shall you see no enemy

but winter and rough weather

inviting the audience to “come hither”, to enter their own Forest of Arden, a space of meditation, reflection and positive change. Come hither ...