A Different Romeo & Juliet. Photograph: Tanvir Murad Topu
Esha Yousuf, Bangladesh
What I think is interesting with Shakespeare's work, especially in Bangladesh, is that it brings in a different culture and the values of a different society. It makes you a very rich person, it gives you a really good knowledge of a language which is spoken worldwide. Shakespeare teaches you: it teaches you love, it teaches you tragedy, it teaches you violence. It teaches you all these shades and textures of life from a different perspective and I think that’s very important in order to grow as a human being.
Romeo and Juliet is very, very important now in Bangladesh. The other day I was reading this article about a boy – I think he was in [secondary school] – who wanted to tell a girl that he loved her. So he got 11 of his friends and they helped him to design and craft this proposal. And the boy went up to the girl and proposed, and all his friends helped him. Guess what happened? All these 12 boys were arrested by the police. And all these killings are happening in Dhaka and all over the country, killings that are based on religious fundamentalism and killings which are based on lifestyle, people’s life choices. That’s disgusting. The police have not been able to find a single key person who would be able to give them more information about these religious fundamentalists in our country. And here we are, arresting lovers. So Romeo and Juliet is very important right now and it’s very interesting to see how similar it can be, the experience in Britain of Romeo and Juliet and what is happening now in Bangladesh.
Working with British director Jenny [Sealey] was one of the best opportunities that I got in my theatre career. She is amazing. The way she thinks, the way she conveys, the way she interprets her visual images, her expressions, her acting. It’s wonderful how she communicates with everyone, even when people speak different languages. What she made possible, creating a production with disabled actors and musicians, it’s just unbelievable. Nothing like this has happened in Bangladesh. Jenny is precious. She’s priceless.
When you have an artist from a different culture, I can give him or her something and she or he can give me something. And this exchange, this interaction is something that only artists share. That’s the beauty of it.
Esha Yousuf is a director and actor at Dhaka Theatre. She was assistant director of
A Different Romeo and Juliet, Bangladesh. A documentary about the production is screening for free from 20 to 30 May 2016 at Alchemy.
A Winter's Tale in Urdu. Photograph: Southbank Centre
Zain Ahmed, Pakistan
Shakespeare remains one of the most exciting and complex playwrights. It is always a challenge to try and perform the sheer range of emotions and desires that Shakespeare invests his characters with.
The Winter’s Tale is very relevant to contemporary Pakistan for its themes of honour, jealousy, revenge and ultimately redemption. As a more traditional society undergoing a transition, Pakistani society has to confront many changing values and many must learn to adapt to avoid tragedy.
Working with the British director Gregory Thompson has been a privilege for us. His method of making Shakespeare immediate for the actor as well as the audience has been a wonderful experience. It was a great learning experience for the actors. The collaboration worked and a great show was created.
Zain Ahmed is artistic director of the NAPA Repertory Company, Pakistan. He produced
A Winter’s Tale in Urdu, which will be performed on 29 May 2016 at Alchemy.
Divya Dev Pant as Hamlet and Shristi Shrestha as Ophelia-Ojaswi. Photograph: Pratap Jung Thapa
Bimal Subedi, Nepal
Shakespeare is a great playwright who puts thrilling drama into any scene, full of intensity and poetry. It’s hard to find other plays with such richness even 400 years after his death. There are many layers within layers in his text. As an actor and director it’s a very good opportunity to play with such complexity. I have worked on Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and now Hamlet.
We had a very tough time creating this production because of the political and economic situation of our country. There was no medicine and no fuel, due to a blockade, so it was difficult for us to even get to rehearsals. But I learned many things from working with the British director Gregory Thompson. I really like his process of enabling actors to find their own understanding of the text. He never forces his ideas on to others but he helps actors to find their way into it.
Hamlet is very relevant to our political context. We adapted the play loosely and drew on the royal massacre that happened several years ago in Nepal. British audiences won’t see a British Hamlet; you will see a Nepali Hamlet.
Bimal Subedi is artistic director of Theatre Village, Nepal. He was assistant director of
Hamlet in Nepali, which will be performed on 27 to 28 May 2016 at Alchemy.
A Different Romeo and Juliet (Bangladesh), Hamlet in Nepali (Nepal) and A Winter’s Tale in Urdu (Pakistan) were commissioned as part of the British Council’s Shakespeare Lives programme.
