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Shakespeare triple treat at Kings Park

21/Dec/2011

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Front L-R Trevor Ryan, Shareena Clanton. Back L-R Sean Walsh & Paul Montague. Picture: Andrew Ritchie Front L-R Trevor Ryan, Shareena Clanton. Back L-R Sean Walsh & Paul Montague. Picture: Andrew Ritchie

IT'S Shakespeare like you haven't seen it before.

The Bard's circa 1610-penned play The Tempest is being given a localised Indigenous reinterpretation as part of the perennially popular annual Shakespeare in the Park series in Kings Park - which, in a break from tradition, is this time comprising three plays (The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors and Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Abridged).

Shakespeare WA artistic director Paige Newmark - an internationally acclaimed theatrical scholar hailing from Oxford who is overseeing his third Shakespeare in the Park - was struck by The Tempest's relevance to a contemporary Australian society.

“So many issues are pertinent to what is going on today; a European arriving on a land that doesn't belong to him, and taking it over,” said Newmark, also adjunct associate professor of theatre studies at The University of Notre Dame.

“It has all these colonial overtones - sailors give the Indigenous drink and it sets the Indigenous character on a very bad course. Again, that's something that's happened in this country.

“There are questions for Aboriginal Australians and European Australians. When European Australians say this is our Australia, exactly how true is that?”

Newmark has cast two Indigenous actors in the play - WAAPA graduate Shareena Clanton and Trevor Ryan (Jandamarra) - as well as two dancers and a musician from the Wadumbah Aboriginal Dance Troupe.

“I am very committed to using Indigenous actors; it's something I did when I toured South Africa for three years - giving opportunities to people,” Newmark said.

“Australia is a nexus of European and Aboriginal culture and this play is a perfect way to explore those issues.”

Shakespeare in the Park 2012 runs from January 6-February 4.

Emilia Vranjes

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