Play the Knave, Joburg: workshops for teachers

Gina Bloom (University of California, Davis) and Lauren Bates (Educasions) are no strangers to the Shakespeare ZA network! Bloom and Bates have been collaborating since 2020, developing resources, methods and materials to help South African high school teachers present Shakespeare’s plays to their learners.

Play the Knave is a digital theatre game developed by Bloom and her UC Davis colleagues. It provides a new way for students to encounter Shakespeare, getting them up on their feet to design and perform scenes using avatars in a Mixed Reality (MR) format.

Bloom and Bates have previously introduced Play the Knave and related classroom practices to teachers and learners in Cape Town. Now schools in Johannesburg have the opportunity to discover the world where Shakespeare and gaming technology meet!

Gina Bloom

Lauren Bates

Two teacher workshops will be held in August:

  • On Saturday 5 August at Christ Church Preparatory School and College in Midrand

  • On Saturday 12 August at the University of the Witwatersrand in Braamfontein

Both workshops will run from 9:00-12:00, followed by lunch.

Watch this BBC News video to see Play the Knave in action

Workshop participants will try out a Play the Knave lesson and discuss how it can be adapted for their own classroom use. Four lesson options explore violence in Shakespeare’s tragedies and in students’ own communities, focusing on Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello.

There will be free, ongoing support for workshop participants who wish to implement these lesson plans, including the equipment required.

CLICK ON ONE OF THE FLIERS BELOW TO REGISTER !

Keynotes: Shakespeare Towards An End

We are excited to share with the Shakespeare ZA community two brilliant video resources from the recent “Shakespeare Towards An End” conference. The event, co-hosted by the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa and the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre, was held at Spier Wine Farm from 24-27 May.

The keynote speakers were Ruben Espinosa (Arizona State University) and Jyotsna Singh (Michigan State University).

In his talk, “The Way To Dusty Death: Shakespeare and Tomorrow”, Espinosa interrogates how past uses of Shakespeare (all our yesterdays) have aligned him and his work with oppressive structures of power, before pointing to promising futures of Shakespeare through readings that underscore racial and other forms of justice and solidarity.

Singh’s talk, “Lyric Voices, Cultural Translations, and Dialogues across Time and Space: William Shakespeare and Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984)”, discusses Vishal Bhardwaj’s hit film Haider and considers, in particular, its use of the poetry of Faiz; she goes on to explore “lyric thinking”, both in the early modern period and in the present day.

Shakespeare Towards An End - in pictures

From 24-27 May, an inspiring group of scholars, educators and arts practitioners gathered at Spier Wine Farm in the Western Cape to participate in “Shakespeare Towards An End”. Constituting the twelfth triennial congress of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa and co-hosted by Wits University’s Tsikinya-Chaka Centre, the conference included keynote talks by Ruben Espinosa (Arizona State University) and Jyotsna Singh (Michigan State University), over thirty papers delivered by delegates, screenings, panel discussions, a rehearsed reading and of course lots of good food and wine. You can read the Call For Papers and download the conference programme to find out more. Shakespeare ZA is proud to present a visual tour of this fantastic event!

May 24th dawned cold but clear. For those who had arrived the previous day, there was a chance to drive out along the False Bay coast, to drop in on the Drama Factory Ensemble rehearsing scenes from Lekan Balogun’s Olórógun Caesar! and to enjoy the spectacular views and delicious wines at Uva Mira, before heading back to Spier for - of course - #ShakeSpier …

… but there was no time to dwell on further possible bad puns. More delegates joined in as Jessica van Rensburg of the Spier Arts Trust took the group on a walkabout to learn more about the farm’s contested history and Spier’s renowned art collection.

The next stop was Spier’s lovely Riverhouse venue, where the conference was to be held. At the opening cocktail function, convenors Chris Thurman and Sandra Young welcomed delegates and offered some introductory remarks to frame the discussion that would emerge in the days ahead. This was followed by a screening of four short films from the Speak Me A Speech project - an exciting collaboration between CineSouth Studios and the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre that will see dozens of Shakespeare monologues performed in South African languages by some of the country’s best performing artists. Filmmaker Victor van Aswegen was joined by actor-translators Anelisa Phewa and Buhle Ngaba for a panel discussion about the first two speeches in the series. (Watch the second video below for a short introduction to Speak Me A Speech.)

The next morning, the conferencing began in earnest - as did the rain - with Ruben Espinosa delivering the first keynote, “The Way To Dusty Death: Shakespeare and Tomorrow”. The Riverhouse was jam-packed for this riveting talk! (Full videos of the keynote speeches will be available on Shakespeare ZA soon.)

After a short break - the first of many over the next three days - for tea, coffee, Spier’s delicious snacks, chats, more chats and a chance to browse the book table ... it was time for the first panel of papers, “African Shakespeares: History, justice and identity”. Ifeoluwa Aboluwade, Stephen Collins, Marguerite de Waal and Lekan Balogun discussed Shakespearean translations and adaptations in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.

Panel 2 was on “The Racialisation of Enslavement, Family, and Lineage in Shakespeare’s Drama”, with Hassana Moosa, Lydia Valentine and Hanh Bui.

The final panel for the day was “Facilitating Student Engagements with Shakespeare”: Colette Gordon, Marta Fossati, Naomi Nkealah and Dyese Elliott-Newton. In the evening, the conference dinner was held at Spier’s marvellous hotel restaurant - there was much animated conversation until late that night!

Day 3 of the conference started with the second keynote speaker, Jyotsna Singh. Her wonderful talk, “Lyric Voices, Cultural Translations, and Dialogues across Time and Space: William Shakespeare and Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984)”, was followed by a panel on “Imagining Radical Justice with Shakespeare” featuring Lisa Barksdale-Shaw, Frances Ringwood, Lucy Wylde and Anthony Patricia.

After a break for lunch, Peter Holland, Henry Bell, José Manuel González and Peter Merrington constituted Panel 5: “Travelling (with) Shakespeare”.

Panel 6, “Teaching Shakespeare in South African Schools”, featured Linda Ritchie, Lauren Bates and Kirsten Dey.

After a busy day and yet more business - the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa’s general meeting - it was time for #ShakeSpierSip, a wine tasting sponsored by Easy Equities and presented by Carel Nolte.

The final day saw delegates braving the cold and wet weather (along with the horror of an early start!). Fortunately the panel on “Translation, appropriation and allusion - versions of Shakespeare in South Africa” made it all worthwhile: Giuliana Iannaccaro, Zwelakhe Mtsaka, John Simango and Anelisa Phewa.

The penultimate panel, “Against an end?”, discussed the production of “Endless Shakespeare” (David Schalkwyk), emphasised “Shakespearean Drama as an End in Itself” (Catherine Addison) and queried the notion of “Travelling Shakespeare” (Laurence Wright).

The title of Panel 9, “Ageing, Death and Life Hereafter”, may have suggested a morbid trajectory, but in fact Geoffrey Haresnape, Fiona Ramsay and Marc Maufort each concluded their papers on an uplifting note.

Finally, it was time to bring “Shakespeare Towards An End” to an end - but, fortunately, this occurred in a manner that gestured towards future prospects. The Drama Factory Ensemble (Khanyiso Thakholi, Yamkela Ntendiyo, Sibusiso Maranxa, Mava Silumko, Buhle Sam and Yongisipho Mtimkulu) performed selected scenes from Lekan Balogun’s Olórógun Caesar! Together, Balogun and the cast had workshopped and adapted the material to produce the beginnings of a Nigerian/South African hybrid work.

It's Shakespeare Schools Festival time again!

The thirteenth Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa (SSFSA) is taking place in cities around the country over the course of 2023. Its longest season yet is about to commence in Cape Town, at the District Six Homecoming Centre’s Star Theatre. 38 young ensembles will perform their 30-minute productions between the 8th and 27th of May.

This year’s theme is Unplugged and Illuminated in 2023! The learners have been given free rein over their pared-back productions. “We love how casts turn a play on its head and ‘own’ it, always thinking out of the box!" says the festival’s Managing Director Blythe Stuart-Linger. “Imaginations run wild and young people innovate wonderfully with their own props, costumes, sets and interpretations. Participants come out of the festival experience with improved ‘soft skills’ and feeling empowered to walk into their exams more confidently!”

Throughout the preparation process, the SSFSA team is also on hand to assist with scripts, acting and directing tips. Various educational programs are held in the lead-up to the event to benefit educators, learner-directors and casts. Festival founder and CEO Kseniya Filinova-Bruton describes the SSFSA as “a catalyst for youth empowerment”: “Over more than a decade we have developed a non-competitive, fully inclusive environment where school-going youth can build confidence, improve on life skills and have their voices heard, acknowledged, encouraged, challenged and respected.” A number of productions in recent years have been performed in translation (into isiZulu, isiXhosa and Afrikaans).

The SSFSA is Africa's largest Shakespeare festival. The numbers are impressive! Since 2009, across four provinces (Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape), approximately 30,000 audience members have watched nearly 600 productions performed by some 12,500 learners. The festival has also supported almost 700 teachers in their development as drama and performing arts directors, and has worked with 80 guest, student and volunteer directors. 

SSFSA 2023 is open for registration to prospective participants in Durban, George and Johannesburg. Visit www.ssfsa.co.za for more information. 

Booking for the Cape Town event is through Quicket. Tickets cost R110 and performances start at 19:30.

"Shakespeare Grounded" and a Birthday Lecture

April is not the cruellest month in South Africa - after all, it is full of public holidays! Although perhaps some Shakespeare ZA readers (teachers marking at home? actors missing their audiences?) would agree with TS Eliot ...

Either way, April brings a happy annual event: the Shakespeare Birthday Lecture, hosted by the Makhanda Branch of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa. The 2023 lecture will be delivered by Marguerite de Waal.

And this year, the month of April brings more good news: Buhle Ngaba’s popular “Shakespeare Grounded” programme has been relaunched!

The 2023 Shakespeare Birthday Lecture will take place at Amazwi Museum of South African Literature in Makhanda on Tuesday 11 April at 18:00.

Dr Marguerite de Waal (University of Pretoria) will deliver the lecture on the topic:

“‘I knew her, Horatio’: Performing Legacies in Hamlet 2021”.

Update (6 June 2023):

De Waal’s lecture can now be viewed on the #lockdownshakespeare YouTube channel

(Photographer: Marguerite van Eeden)

AND Shakespeare ZA is glad to share some news from Buhle Ngaba, who played Ophelia in (and was also associate director of) Neil Coppen’s “live-online-reading” of Hamlet in 2021. Buhle writes:

“Friends, South Africans and countrymen! I’ve recently returned from completing an arts residency in Basel, Switzerland, which included facilitating narrative workshops at schools. I’m back in Cape Town and offering my Shakespeare Grounded workshops (previously received with much enthusiasm at the Shakespeare Schools Festival, Vienna Festival, AFDA and the University of Cape Town). Please get in touch if you would like Shakespeare Grounded at your school!”

These workshops adopt a practical approach to making Shakespeare’s plays accessible to young South Africans. Students are guided through:

  • a basic (re)introduction to Shakespeare

  • narrative building and world making

  • adaptations, alternative forms and structure.