The Past is Prologue
forms part of UKZN’s Shakespeare Festival and is devised by Tamar Meskin, with
Kamini Govender, Devaksha Moodley & Donna Steel. Meskin also directs the
production.
What would happen if Shakespeare were propelled into a
future not unlike our own, possessed of nothing but his own words, and finding
himself in a world where his works have been reduced to museum-like artifacts
of a great tradition?
What would happen if he was given the opportunity to speak
to this present and in so doing shatter the glass that separates his works from
his living audience?
These two questions are at the core of The Past is Prologue. Taking a whistle stop tour through some of
Shakespeare’s most famous works, and reimagining them in performance, the
production seeks to revitalize and ‘resurrect’ the theatrical Shakespeare, the
one who made populist, mass-appeal theatre and would, most likely, be appalled
(or amused) by the ‘sacred space’ his works now occupy.
Threaded through the play – and in the voice of perhaps
Shakespeare’s most famous character, Hamlet – is a narrative of movement from
past to present, from Renaissance England to post-apartheid South Africa, allowing
the plays to speak to and for us in our time.
“Presented as part of the department’s Decolonising
Shakespeare Festival and Colloquium, coinciding with the global commemorations
of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we hope the production will
dust off these old plays, and make you think about them in new ways,” says a
department representative.
Also as part of the Festival, the Robben Island Bible
Exhibition is on display at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, and the actual book
will be there at the performance on October 1.
Presented by The College of Humanities (School of Arts)
& Drama and Performance Studies, UKZN (Howard College) performances of The Past is Prologue take place at the Elizabeth
Sneddon Theatre on September 30 and October 1 at 18h30 and on October 2 at
15h00.
Bookings through Claudette Wagner on 031 260 3133 or wagnerc1@ukzn.ac.za or Lori Barausse on 031
260 2380 or Baraussel@ukzn.ac.za.