“Othello never knew,
He was getting schemed on by a member of his crew.”
Monday, September 02, 2013
Hip-hop remix of “Othello” strikes a chord with prison inmates
“Othello never knew,
He was getting schemed on by a member of his crew.”
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3 comments:
I love modern remakes of old classical plays. I usually find them to be so innovative and special.
Sure, I believe that we should continue to stage classical plays like they were intended to be staged. However, I believe that not everyone can relate or sit through a 3 hour classical production of Shakespeare. On the other hand, many people will be able to relate to a contemporary version of the same Shakespearean play. The fact is, that these classical plays have so much depth in them and great ideas that it's a shame not to be able to share them even with audiences that cannot sit through a difficult classical production.
This is so important. I'm 100% in favor of adapting and reinterpreting great works of art. While it is important to uphold traditions and keep performing Shakespeare's original work, there is nothing disrespectful or negative about taking his plays and making them relevant to contemporary audiences; on the contrary, it's an homage to his work.
After all, art is constantly re-interpreting itself, and every story is simply a different version of one previously written.
The inmates' responses alone make a great case for performing modern adaptations of great plays.
This is a much different approach than I've seen with other articles, and it's making me smile! It reminds me a lot of this stand up bit I saw once about this guy who was trying to teach American history to inner city kids, and he had to make it more "relatable." It was pretty funny (I found it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2m7THG44tM). Back to the article, I think just making art accessible in general to prisons is so important. That means that they don't necessarily have to have a theatre program in the prison; having guests come and perform is just as great in a different way! I think it is so freaking cool that they took a classical text like Shakespeare and translated it into a more modern format. Reinterpreting art in this way to make it more accessible is really great. Many people can be turned off by the language of Shakespeare (including me!!!) and miss out on important lessons and great storytelling. This quote sums it up well: "Taking the play behind bars, the brothers expected the inmates would apply themes written four centuries ago to their own lives today." And this quote is proof of their success: "'In hip-hop,I finally found out what Shakespeare really is.'"
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