Shakespeare visits Maitisong Theater

Dumisani Ncube | Thursday February 4, 2016 15:00

The British High Commission, in partnership with Maru-a-Pula School and Maitisong, has launched ‘Shakespeare o a Tshela’, part of the Great Britain Campaign and British Council’s ‘Shakespeare Lives’ project.

‘Shakespeare Lives’ is a global programme of events and activities designed to engage people all over the world in celebration of Shakespeare’s work on the occasion of the 400th anniversary in 2016 of his death. As part of the Shakespeare o a Tshela project, a series of film screenings of the author’s literature works will be played at Maitisong Theatre

So far, only one film adapted from the book Macbeth was played late last year at Maitisong Theatre. The next film is, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ which will be played on February 6 in the afternoon.  “We hope that the project will encourage students to embrace the study of Shakespeare through re-interpretation and live performance. As the Creative Economy is still at an extremely embryonic stage in Botswana, arts practitioners can benefit greatly from exposure to different ways of interpreting Shakespeare from around the world,” said Alastair Hagger the project director.

He said the audience was excited to be exposed  to Shakespeare in a new way. Hagger stated that during the screening, the audience will be able to experience how it felt to watch a Shakespeare play in Shakespeare’s time.

There will be at least three more Shakespeare films to be screened at Maitisong Theatre before the month of April. Hagger said during the Maitisong Festival, there will also be stage performance inspired by Shakespeare’s writings.

Entrance fee for the screenings is free and it is open to anyone interested in watching.

“The Company@Maitisong will deliver a performance at Maru-a-Pula School as part of the Maitisong Festival 2016 in April.

There will also be a showcase performance of government school students and Maru- A- Pula students work at Maitisong during the Maitisong Festival”.