adminTafadzwa Zimoyo Entertainment Reporter
All is set for one show theatre performance of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet this Friday at the 7 Arts Theatre, Avondale.
The show, which will be staged by Globe Theatre, will be the only one Zimbabwe would get as part of a world tour which started early last year and is expected to end in 2016, covering 205 countries.
The show will also be part of the 450th celebration anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth and the 400th anniversary of his death.
According to the tour organisers, the project has already visited many countries throughout Europe, Americas and some parts of Africa.
The project has been granted patronage by UNESCO.
However, as part of the cultural exchange programme and a boost to the local theatre scene, The Globe Theatre will be holding a workshop in which cast members and the Globe’s technical staff will spend time with local students, theatre practitioners and arts workers to discuss their experiences of touring theatre, of Shakespeare in performance, and of the realities of working in the arts in various forms.
Rooftop Promotions is handling the show. Rooftop Promotions director Daves Guzha said the show will go a long way in developing theatre in Zimbabwe.
“By bringing in the world renowned theatre production house to Harare, Rooftop Promotions/Theatre in the Park is making a bold statement that Zimbabwean theatre scene will always be part and parcel of the global village. This is just the beginning of what will become a year of unparalleled and unrivalled theatrical appearances and as well as fresh and inspiring content,” he said.
Theatre director Peter Brook said the six simplest words in the English language are ‘to be or not to be’.
“There is hardly a corner of the planet where these words have not been translated. Even in English, those who can’t speak the language will at once recognise the sound and exclaim ‘Shakespeare!’ Hamlet is the most all-encompassing of Shakespeare’s plays.
“Everyone, young or old can today find an immediate identification with its characters, their pains and their interrogations”
“To take Hamlet in its original language around the world is a bold and dynamic project. It can bring a rich journey of discovery to new audiences everywhere,” he said.
The play is based on Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, who has not succeeded his father as King. On the throne is his uncle Claudius, who married Queen Gertrude immediately, upon the death of her husband, the first King Hamlet.
At midnight the ghost of the dead King appears to his son on the battlements of the castle and commands revenge.
Hamlet, unsure at first, simulates madness and asks for a performance of a play with a plot much like his father’s murder, so that he can see how the King responds. Claudius, deeply alarmed, plans to send Hamlet to England.
However, before Hamlet leaves, he kills Polonius (the father of Ophelia, the woman Hamlet loves) who is hiding behind a curtain in Gertrude’s room.
Encompassing political intrigue and sexual obsession, philosophical reflection and violent action, tragic depth and wild humour, “Hamlet” is Shakespeare’s ‘poem unlimited’, a colossus in the story of the English language and the fullest expression of Shakespeare’s genius.
Online Reporter