Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/670480
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 APRIL 2016 News 11 Othello 'Jealousy is the green eyed monster' 'Wear my heart upon my sleeve' The Merchant of Venice 'Bated breath' 'Love is blind' 'All that glitters is not gold' The Taming of the Shrew 'Break the ice' Macbeth 'One fell swoop' 'Be all and end all' Hamlet 'Cruel to be kind' Julius Caesar 'Let slip the dogs of war' 'Lend me your ears' The Merry Wives of Wind- sor 'As good luck would have it' King John 'Fight fire with fire' Romeo and Juliet 'Star crossed lovers' The Tempest 'Vanish into thin air' cartoons for instance, contain a plethora of references, starting from Gaston's nod to Macbeth when he yells 'Screw your courage to the sticking place' in Beauty and the Beast, to the Genie's reference to Julius Caesar with 'Et tu Brute?' in Aladdin, not to mention Hamlet being the inspiration behind The Lion King. "Shakespeare was no purist to begin with. He never even bothered publishing his original work, so what we have now are notes and scripts that include amend- ments made during rehearsals of the plays," she said, adding that these notes could also include contribu- tions from others, including fellow actors. The playwright and his actors Not by coincidence perhaps, some of the most vehe- ment admirers of Shakespeare's body of work, are ac- tors themselves. The MADC's artistic director, Marylu Coppini said she always felt an overwhelming sense of privilege and responsibility when playing one of his roles. "These are characters that have withstood the test of time, and they have been played by some of the most talented and well-known actors in history," she said, adding that like students, actors and directors were very concerned with the hurdle presented by Shake- spearean language. "Like all literary works, the plays are essentially, 'just' words beautifully put together, and so the challenge is to find a way to 'frame' the piece in a way that succeeds in drawing and holding the attention of a twenty-first century audience," she explains. However, despite the challenge this creates, the MADC still puts up an annual Shakespeare play at San Anton Gardens, choosing one of the best known com- edies, believed to be entirely his creation, "A Midsum- mer Night's Dream", for this pivotal year. Coppini says that the tradition remains one of the most anticipated events for local theatre-lovers. "It has come to form part of the identity of the MADC and is felt to be the most appropriate closure to our annual theatrical season," she said, adding that many also had a sense of nostalgic fondness for the plays, given that many people have studied the works at some point in their lives. "I think that as long as Shakespeare plays are pro- duced in a way that attempts to bring more relevance to a modern-day audience, with good language speak- ers and good use of ambiance, costumes, lighting and music, they will not fail to interest local audiences." Someone who seems to have grasped a way to breathe new life into Shakespeare's plays, is fellow thespian Leone Ganado. Fresh from directing The Two Gentle- men of Verona, he explained that the decision to put up the play in a pub sought to bring a sense of immersion that was commonplace in the original performances. "When you're watching Shakespeare in a big theatre, with actors in old-fashioned costumes yelling at the top of their lungs – it can be done very well and very beauti- fully – but that sort of confirms everything people think (wrongly) Shakespeare is," he said. He explained that by bringing Shakespeare into a cas- ual setting that people are already familiar with, he had tried to bring the edge off somewhat. "This is a play, ultimately, not a holy text. It can be fun, silly and engaging, and The Pub gave us the licence to play with those aspects more than most people are used to," he said, stressing that acting and directing Shakespeare always gave him a sense of privilege none- theless. Asked how Shakespeare performances could be made more current, Leone Ganado said that unconventional venues could go a long way, but that the aim of staging should always be engaging audiences rather than show- ing off the cleverness of the director or actors involved. "Shakespeare was an incredible storyteller; I guess our job as performers is just to tell his story in the best pos- sible way," he said, also pointing out that understand- ing every single word of the text was essential to passing on the message. "Relaying the language conversationally, as if they were speaking actual human words, not some sort of grandiose poetry, will help audiences understand them too." the Bard. MARTINA BORG explores the people who keep it alive lives must die Still not convinced Shakespeare's relevant nowadays? Here are a few expressions you might not even know were coined by the Bard… Philip Leone Ganado 'Shakespeare was an incredible storyteller; I guess our job as performers is just to tell his story in the best possible way'