BAMorg — May 18, 2009 — Jun 9—12 at 7:30pm at BAM
Sabab / Sulayman Al-Bassam Theatre (Kuwait)
Adapted and directed by Sulayman Al-Bassam
“Al-Bassam’s work is about as original and pulse-quickening as you could wish.” —The Times (UK )
In an oil-rich kingdom, a dictator’s bloody rise to power becomes an allegory of our own times in Richard III: An Arab Tragedy, Kuwaiti director Sulayman Al-Bassam’s groundbreaking remake of Shakespeare’s Machiavellian masterpiece. Grainy TV confessions, sophisticated propaganda, and a wealth of Arab music and ritual lend themes of leadership, religion, and foreign intervention an uncanny relevance, turning this classic play into a cautionary contemporary tale.
This work was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of the Complete Works Festival.
Part of Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas
BAM Harvey Theater
Running time: 110min, no intermission
Subscription tickets: $20, 28, 36
(Full price: $25, 35, 45)
In Arabic with English titles
More: http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=866
In Richard III “An Arab VIP”, a documentary film crew follows a spectacular touring Arab production of Shakespeare’s eponymous play as it moves from an initial rehearsal period in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf State of Kuwait to the charged atmosphere of a U.S. premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and on to the United Arab Emirates – for a command performance at the behest of local princesses in Abu Dhabi. In between, the cast and crew assemble and disassemble in various cities across the Arab world — Damascus, Beirut, Baghdad, Abu Dhabi — and the process of breathing life into their fictional characters begins to take shape in a way that uncannily reflects the politics and turmoil that surrounds them…
From Summit to Tragedy: Sulayman Al-Bassam’s Richard III and Political Theatre
By Graham Holderness | July 25, 2013Richard III is one of Shakespeare’s best-known characters, a familiarity independent of the history plays, Henry VI and Richard III, in which he appears. Read More
Sulayman Al-Bassam’s An Arab Tragedy: Introduction
By Graham Holderness | July 25, 2013Sulayman Al-Bassam’s Richard III: An Arab Tragedy premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in February 2007 as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s ‘Complete Works’ project. Read More
An adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III set in an unnamed Gulf state. The production, part of Sulayman Al-Bassam’s Shakespeare trilogy, is performed in Arabic and set in the modern Middle East. See also The Al-Hamlet Summit and The Speakers’s Progress. Read More
