Global Shakespeare in Production: The Afghani COMEDY OF ERRORS with Actor-Director Corinne Jaber
Global Shakespeare in Production: The Afghani COMEDY OF ERRORS with Actor-Director Corinne Jaber
In May, 2012, a production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, set in Kabul and performed in Pashto, was presented at the Globe Theatre in London as part of the Globe’s “World Shakespeare Festival.” Imagine a farcical comedy about a splintered family, a threatened execution, and the search for identity set in war-torn Afghanistan. Is it even possible? The production takes the conflict between East and West as its starting point. It was directed by the well-known French-Syrian actor-director Corinne Jaber, who will be visiting campus on March 11. She will show clips from her production and discuss the challenges of, and solutions to, producing a comedy from the Elizabethan age in a radically different cultural environment.
Corinne Jaber is a prominent French actress and director with a richly interesting international background, having grown up with German and Syrian parents and having lived in Germany and Canada before settling in France. She has acted with the Royal Shakespeare company, toured in a bilingual production of Bruce Myer’s The Dybbuk for Two People, and performed extensively not only on the stage but in French and British films and television series. In 1987 she performed in Peter Brook’s famous production, Mahabharata, which took her on tour to India. In 2001 she received France’s Moliere Prize (equivalent to a Tony award) for best actress in a theatrical production for her performance in a play about Armenian genocide survivors. In 2005 she directed a production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost in Afghanistan with local actors and with Kabul as the play’s setting. In 2012, at the invitation of London’s Globe Theatre, she again directed an Afghani production of Shakespeare, this time The Comedy of Errors, set in Kabul and adapted into Dari Persian. The production was rehearsed in India before its premier at the Globe.
Her talk is sponsored by the Medieval-Renaissance Area Group, the Center for Literary & Comparative Studies, the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies).
In May, 2012, a production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, set in Kabul and performed in Pashto, was presented at the Globe Theatre in London as part of the Globe’s “World Shakespeare Festival.” Imagine a farcical comedy about a splintered family, a threatened execution, and the search for identity set in war-torn Afghanistan. Is it even possible? The production takes the conflict between East and West as its starting point. It was directed by the well-known French-Syrian actor-director Corinne Jaber, who will be visiting campus on March 11. She will show clips from her production and discuss the challenges of, and solutions to, producing a comedy from the Elizabethan age in a radically different cultural environment.
Corinne Jaber is a prominent French actress and director with a richly interesting international background, having grown up with German and Syrian parents and having lived in Germany and Canada before settling in France. She has acted with the Royal Shakespeare company, toured in a bilingual production of Bruce Myer’s The Dybbuk for Two People, and performed extensively not only on the stage but in French and British films and television series. In 1987 she performed in Peter Brook’s famous production, Mahabharata, which took her on tour to India. In 2001 she received France’s Moliere Prize (equivalent to a Tony award) for best actress in a theatrical production for her performance in a play about Armenian genocide survivors. In 2005 she directed a production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost in Afghanistan with local actors and with Kabul as the play’s setting. In 2012, at the invitation of London’s Globe Theatre, she again directed an Afghani production of Shakespeare, this time The Comedy of Errors, set in Kabul and adapted into Dari Persian. The production was rehearsed in India before its premier at the Globe.
Her talk is sponsored by the Medieval-Renaissance Area Group, the Center for Literary & Comparative Studies, the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies).
Tawes Hall