Bard with a Kalashnikov
22 May 2012 4:33 AM GMT
Shakespeare? In Afghanistan? You must be kidding, right? Yes, one doesn't normally associate the Taliban-wrecked country with entertainment and culture of any kind post-Taliban raj, least of all with Shakespeare.
Yet the impossible has been made possible. A group of 10 actors from the war-ravaged country will be taking the stage to enact Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors in the city today. Theatre, among other form of arts, was banned by the Talibans.
The play, staged by The Afghan Theatre Company, will be performed in Dari along with English subtitles, says director Corinne Jaber, who was busy rehearsing along with the other actors when we caught up with her on Monday.
The last time they tried to rehearse though, does not bring back happy memories as suicide bombers and gunmen had stormed their compound where they rehearsed, killing 12 people. 'We were saved thanks to a last minute change of schedule,' she says.
'I had asked the cast if they wanted to rehearse in the early hours because it was Ramadan, but they said they didn't. The attack happened at 5.30 am, so that decision saved us,' says Jaber. 'We didn't have a place to rehearse,' she adds.
Jaber has been working in Afghanistan since 2005. It is there that she met up with the actors and actresses. 'A lot of them have worked with me earlier and some we met along the way,' she says. Why Shakespeare though? 'Because we were invited to be a part of the Globe to Globe Festival where different theatre companies are supposed to perform Shakespeare's plays in different languages,' she explains. The festival [from 21 April to 9 June] stages 37 plays in as many languages.
Jaber and the actors have given the Shakespearean comedy an Afghani twist. So here, you will find two sets of identical twins, separated as babies during a sandstorm. They find themselves in the city of Kabul for the first time as adults. Soon, their friends mistake the twins for one another and bewilderment abounds, as the wife of one man declares the other to be her husband, pronouncing him mad when he denies the claim. The play is set in the bustling back streets of modern-day Kabul.
'It is always very encouraging and exciting to see the reemergence of artistic forms in Afghanistan after a long period of turmoil and instability. Promotion of arts and culture invariably brings certain sense of normalcy and stability to any society. Cultural diplomacy works not only between different nations but also within the society to add strength and stability to it,' says Dr Suresh K Goel, Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), which has brought the play to the city. Â
'When the proposal for production of The Comedy of Errors in Dari language by the Afghan Company Rah-e-Sabz was brought to ICCR, we accepted it because of our traditional links with Afghanistan. The Dari version will bring to us struggles and dreams of the contemporary Afghanistan society,' he adds. And dreams are what the Afghan actors have too.
DETAILS
At: ICCR'S Azad Bhavan Auditorium, IP Estate
When: Today, 7 pm
Yet the impossible has been made possible. A group of 10 actors from the war-ravaged country will be taking the stage to enact Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors in the city today. Theatre, among other form of arts, was banned by the Talibans.
The play, staged by The Afghan Theatre Company, will be performed in Dari along with English subtitles, says director Corinne Jaber, who was busy rehearsing along with the other actors when we caught up with her on Monday.
The last time they tried to rehearse though, does not bring back happy memories as suicide bombers and gunmen had stormed their compound where they rehearsed, killing 12 people. 'We were saved thanks to a last minute change of schedule,' she says.
'I had asked the cast if they wanted to rehearse in the early hours because it was Ramadan, but they said they didn't. The attack happened at 5.30 am, so that decision saved us,' says Jaber. 'We didn't have a place to rehearse,' she adds.
Jaber has been working in Afghanistan since 2005. It is there that she met up with the actors and actresses. 'A lot of them have worked with me earlier and some we met along the way,' she says. Why Shakespeare though? 'Because we were invited to be a part of the Globe to Globe Festival where different theatre companies are supposed to perform Shakespeare's plays in different languages,' she explains. The festival [from 21 April to 9 June] stages 37 plays in as many languages.
Jaber and the actors have given the Shakespearean comedy an Afghani twist. So here, you will find two sets of identical twins, separated as babies during a sandstorm. They find themselves in the city of Kabul for the first time as adults. Soon, their friends mistake the twins for one another and bewilderment abounds, as the wife of one man declares the other to be her husband, pronouncing him mad when he denies the claim. The play is set in the bustling back streets of modern-day Kabul.
'It is always very encouraging and exciting to see the reemergence of artistic forms in Afghanistan after a long period of turmoil and instability. Promotion of arts and culture invariably brings certain sense of normalcy and stability to any society. Cultural diplomacy works not only between different nations but also within the society to add strength and stability to it,' says Dr Suresh K Goel, Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), which has brought the play to the city. Â
'When the proposal for production of The Comedy of Errors in Dari language by the Afghan Company Rah-e-Sabz was brought to ICCR, we accepted it because of our traditional links with Afghanistan. The Dari version will bring to us struggles and dreams of the contemporary Afghanistan society,' he adds. And dreams are what the Afghan actors have too.
DETAILS
At: ICCR'S Azad Bhavan Auditorium, IP Estate
When: Today, 7 pm
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