Isango Ensemble's "Midsummer"

Isango Ensemble's "Midsummer"

Postnet Suite 181, Private Bag X18, Rondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa, 7700

The Isango Ensemble’s Production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was presented at Emerson College in November of 2015 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. Based in Cape Town, the core of Isango Ensemble was founded in 2000 by artistic director Mark Dornford-May and co-music director and actress Pauline Malefane. The company predominately draws its performers from across the townships surrounding the city, and is known for their commitment to creating works that is accessible to all South Africans, that reflects the diversity of the country, as well as uniting its citizens. While the ensemble has been around since 2000, their production of “Midsummer” is relatively new, as it was first performed in 2014. Shakespeare has historically been known to shift from country to country with every play, he never wrote a play set in Africa. Isango Ensemble changes that; their mission is to “reimagine classic works of the Western canon” and “find a new context for the stories within a South African or township setting”. This mission is apparent in the adaptation, which wraps elements of both Shakespeare’s comedy and Benjamin Britten’s 1960 opera into a woods outside Cape Town milieu. The story is just the same as Shakespeare’s play: the king and queen of the fairies get involved in manipulating the affections of four lovers with shaky allegiances. Along the way, an actor gets turned into a donkey, various love philters get spread around, and affections go every which way until things finally get straightened out. However, some changes occur thanks to the new setting of the play. Puck is transformed from fairy to “tokoloshe”, a folklore South African tale with the same sensibilities- a small, hairy spirit bent on mischief, with an eye for kids. The majority of the performance is spoken in the Xhosa and Tswana languages, and the heavily-accented English of some performers in the ensemble can make it a challenge to make out certain lyrics. Subtitles would have been helpful; however, their acting and singing is so expressive, and the stories of both operas are so well known, that it doesn’t amount to a significant impediment to understanding. The cultural shift is evident in the many changes the play makes. Stretches of the score are tossed out; choral odes and dances from South African traditions are folded in; vocal lines are sung mostly in English but also in Zulu, Xhosa and Tswana; the orchestra is turned into a mesmerizing ensemble of marimbas, drums and percussion; and vocal lines are often accompanied by droning marimba tremolos and ululating choristers. The stage transforms into an African catwalk with each new costume. Every piece bursts with culture. Feathers, face paint, brooms, whites, greens, blues, and browns transform the stage and breathe an extra life into the adaptation. The touches of culture underscores the universality of Shakespeare’s work as well as distances itself from the Bard’s vision. An important feature in the adaptation is the use of the ensemble. They are present in almost every scene, and they watch on and create music from the side of the stage. Every actor is utilized as much as possible in this production; it focuses on the play as a telescope. The life and magic happening within the lens is unburdened by outsiders, the only outsiders of the play being the fairies- though, they too have a hand in the plot.

http://theshakespearestandard.com/a-midsummer-nights-dream-iphupha-lobusuku-be-ntwasahlobo-global-shakespeare/