Palestinian theater group's Arabic take on Shakespeare goes online

By Saneela Jawad

Ramallah-based theater group Ashtar Theater has certainly made a name for itself as a progressive non-profit organization with a global perspective and commitment for change, producing and performing various plays all over the world.

In 2012, Globe to Globe brought Ashtar Theater to perform an Arabic translation of Shakespeare’s Richard II in London, Oxford, Palestine, Dubai, Morocco and Algeria. Now, the critically acclaimed performance is available to stream or download online via the Globe’s on-demand viewer.

Starting off as an extra-curricular drama training program for students, Ashtar has now become a world-famous company due to their take on one of Shakespeare’s most iconic works.

The concept of bringing in political topics via culture in an artistic way is their unique selling point.

“It’s encouraging for people to be artistically and culturally involved in fighting for human rights,” said Iman Ayoun, the artistic director of Ashtar. “Palestine is occupied so there are many issues to discuss. Theater breaks boundaries and creates harmony between people.”

Ashtar’s adaptation of Richard II was translated by Iman Aoun and Bayan Shbib who both appear in the play as well.

The plot is about a despised King Richard II who deports two men, Bolingbroke and Mowbray, following a dispute peppered with accusations of treason and murder between the two. Disliked by the lords, the King’s downfall further spirals after selling land to fund a catastrophic war against Ireland – an unpopular decision that gave Bolingbroke the support he needed to overthrow Richard and seize the throne.

Now available online, this unique performance offers people around the world access to view different productions of the Globe 2 Globe festival in different languages (all of which are subtitled) and witness Shakespeare’s work in a more complex, culturally involved setting that can be seen as a stimulus for change.

For Ashtar, it exhibits the remarkable talent that Palestine has to offer and opens up unique artistic opportunities for young, passionate actors, producers, directors and professionals in the region.

Although the play does stay true to the original story plot and text for the most part, the theater company does incorporate their own modern setting, costume and flavor to make the play more complex. Although the play does not specifically say that it takes place in Palestine, there are enough elements to suggest that something similar is happening in Palestine, allowing the audience to relate, think and interpret in their own way.

By performing the play in Arabic, it also allows people in the Arab world to witness and appreciate works of the English literature legend in their own language, incorporating their own culture and traditions.

“The Globe had seen Richard II as somehow relevant to our kind of work, specifically that the play is very highly politicized. They had knowledge of our work as a company, that all the time we try to look into politics through culture, to marry one to the other through the eyes of high artistic presentation, but also to be totally and completely part of our situation and to be connected to our people and to the world,” said Aoun. “This is always in our mind and in our work, so in most of our productions you could sense either a commentary on our lives or on life in general and its connection to economics or politics or to human rights.”