The most exciting theatrical event is upon Nassau once more, and in its fourth year, Shakespeare in Paradise presents a dynamic offering of plays and performances during their international theater festival running October 5-13. As in every year, the festival will present its signature Shakespeare production adapted to a Bahamian setting "Merchant", an interpretation of "The Merchant of Venice" will examine Shakespeare's xenophobic dynamic played out between the Jewish merchant Shylock and his European surroundings through the lens of contemporary Haitian-Bahamian tensions. Yet the play is not all tragedy at its center is a love story as well as examinations of loyalty and gender and with its adaptation by director Gordon Mills, the play will engage Bahamian audiences with its clever story lines adapted to a local landscape and contemporary issues.
"Shakespeare is very adaptable to different settings that's the beauty of it," said Mills. "Shakespeare in Paradise has been very much a way of presenting Shakespeare by updating it and dressing it differently and making some changes to make it much more accessible without messing with the language and keeping the poetry and lovely recognizable lines." "Theater is one of the few avenues we have to interrogate social issues to the extent that we do," added assistant director Erin Knowles. "So it's extremely important to have the avenue and not let it die out because how else will we critically analyze what it is that we are doing in our every day lives?"
Indeed Shakespeare in Paradise will offer its signature Bahamian production in addition to their central Shakespearean play that will help its audiences examine social Bahamian issues and how things have changed (or not): "Out O' Wedlock", two one-act plays written by Jeanne I. Thompson and directed by Philip A. Burrows. In "Back O' The Moon", a ripped-from-the-headlines paternity scandal set in 1950s Nassau will juxtapose the more contemporary "Father's Day" study of a man, his wife and two sweethearts.
Festival Director Nicolette Bethel says the signature Bahamian production will offer insight and comedy to this year's audiences. "I think Bahamians will enjoy these they are humorous with a familiar message," said Bethel. "'Out O' Wedlock' will provide older Bahamians with a sense of nostalgia and the younger ones with a sense of history and of that time, so there's something for everyone." An exciting development in this year's festival is the production "Speak The Speech", a bare-bones performance where language takes center stage as the protagonist in the tale of Bahamian history.
Created by Bethel and the festival's Artistic Director Philip A. Burrows, and researched by a team of professors and members of the College of The Bahamas family, the performance tells the story of The Bahamas through key correspondences and speeches beginning with the 1492 landfall to Bahamian independence on the theme of struggles for freedom setting the festival up to stage a second part next year during the country's 40th year of independence, as well as educating audiences about their past. "Working on different shows for the past four years, we realize there is a big gap in Bahamian society when it comes to our own history," said Bethel. "So Shakespeare in Paradise has been working on plays that bring insight to that history."
"This is touching on different parts of the Bahamian past using words of the people from the time. Like Shakespeare, the language of the past centuries are a little different from our own but I think people will be amazed by the eloquence of the speeches we have been able to get a hold of." In the spirit of gearing up for a major milestone in our country's history, Shakespeare in Paradise will also invite two productions from our Caribbean neighbors also celebrating major years of independence Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. The two productions by young and vibrant theater groups in these countries will help engage dialogues about regional theater.
Finishing its successful run at the Philip Sherlock Centre at the University of West Indies, "Mrs & Mrs Black", written by Keiran King, examines a young upper-middle class couple that has everything but happiness. Meanwhile, "Lion City Live" will provide an evening of poetic and acoustic performance by the Trinidadian group, Freetown. Consisting of Muhammad Muwakil and Lou Lyons, Freetown examines through their performance work what it means to be Trinidadian from an urban society in a globalized world. By sharing international productions in the festival each year, says Bethel, audiences will get a taste of how theater and performance are treated outside of The Bahamas, helping to expand the discussion of local theater beyond regular and familiar dialogues.
"We've had a very fallow time in theater in general for the last 15 years or so and there is a resurgence, but it's a renaissance that needs grounding exposure to other standards and other approaches and other perspectives," said Bethel. "We have a very predictable theater scene in a way with our specific theater companies and directors and their styles, so we need to be exposed to different things to set off new sparks of imagination." In that vein, Shakespeare in Paradise also makes an effort to educate and collaborate during their festival every year their Young Artists' Programme invites emerging artists to design posters for each production in order to foster ties between different art media in The Bahamas, bulk up emerging artist experience and exposure, and also raise theater festival funds through the sale of limited edition t-shirts.
This year they have set aside special matinee performances for school groups again, especially since "Merchant of Venice" is on the syllabus of BGCSE literature examination and "Merchant" will help make Shakespeare's often intimidating work more accessible. With Freetown's visit, SiP will also partner with the nonprofit community and nation building group, the Indaba Project, for a workshop and outreach project to youth in the Fowler Street area on Freetown's creative philosophies. Every effort, says Bethel, works to foster a love for theater and performance in those who will grow the community.
"One of the things we suffer from in our theater here is a lack of exposure and I think it's really important for theater in The Bahamas to grow and to be exposed to what is going on both here and in the rest of the world," said Bethel. "So we always try to bring some unusual productions and do outreach because we want to inspire difference." The times and places for each of the five productions taking place as part of Shakespeare in Paradise vary, so be sure to check out their schedule online at http://ringplay.org/wordpress/tickets. Tickets for each production are $25 but a season pass to see all five productions is only $100.
Tickets can be purchased at the Box Office at the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Saturday. Call 393-3728 or 394-7179 for more ticketing information. For more about Shakespeare in Paradise, find them on Facebook and Twitter or at http://ringplay.org/wordpress. Come and hang out with the cast and crew at the Festival Bar during the festival evenings of Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at Café Delancy.
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