THE performance, The Past is Prologue, will be staged at Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on Friday, 30 September and Saturday, 1 October at 6.30pm and Sunday, 2 October at 3pm.
What would happen if Shakespeare were propelled into a future not unlike our own, possessed of nothing but his own words, and finding himself in a world where his works have been reduced to museum-like artifacts of a great tradition? What would happen if he was given the opportunity to speak to this present and in so doing shatter the ‘protective’ glass that separates his works from his living audience? What would he say? What would he think?
These questions are at the core of The Past is Prologue. The title is taken from The Tempest and is ambiguous: it offers both the potential to abandon the past in favour of the glorious future waiting ahead, but also may point to the importance of the past in shaping both the present and future. The production plays with this ambiguity in seeking to ‘decolonise’ Shakespeare by reinscribing his works with newly imagined meanings, viewed through newly created lenses, which can speak to the ethos of our time.
Taking a whistle stop tour through some of Shakespeare’s most famous works, and reimagining them in performance, the production seeks to revitalise and ‘resurrect’ the theatrical Shakespeare, the one that existed before he became canonized by the gods of high art, the one who made populist, mass-appeal theatre and would, most likely, be appalled (or amused) by the ‘sacred space’ his works now occupy.
Tickets are R40 for adults and R20 for school pupils, students, pensioners and block bookings over 10.
Tickets can be reserved with Claudette Wagner on 031 260 3133 or via email at Wagnerc1@ukzn.ac.za, but must be paid for at the door.
Alternatively, tickets are available at the door one hour before the show.
