SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK

What’s Old Is New Again

For the past three years, Shakespeare WA has provided us with new interpretations of the Bard’s classics under the stars with Shakespeare In The Park. This year’s season runs from Friday, January 6, ’til Saturday, February 4. Bookings can be made via shakespearewa.com or BOCS.

Shakespeare WA artistic director Paige Newmark is a hard man to get a hold of - right now he’s deep in rehearsals for Shakespeare WA’s three upcoming performances. “It’s the first year we’ve done three performances instead of one,” he explains. This year, Newmark’s players will perform an Aboriginal-European version of The Tempest, an ‘80s version of A Comedy Of Errors set in Fremantle, and the hugely popular The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

Newmark started up Shakespeare WA after the Deckchair Theatre lost their grant, and subsequently the rights, to perform the Shakespeare In The Park series.

“Someone sent me the article saying that Shakespeare In The Park would be no more, so I called up and offered to do it. Then Kings Park returned the license and issued another five year contract, and Shakespeare WA won it.”

Shakespeare WA is known for reimagining Shakespeare’s works in new settings. After they first performed The Taming Of The Shrew set in the 60s, they’ve committed themselves to making Shakespeare’s works more relevant for today’s audiences.

“I don’t find it hard, I mean there’s no secret method of doing it,” Newmark says.

“We don’t change the language, we might change the time and the place but the play is still Shakespeare’s play, the greatness of that still rings true. It’s doing it in such a way that the people understand it and can relate to it.

“I think that there seems to be a current feeling that Shakespeare is very highbrow and that it’s only for a very narrow segment of society. I truly believe that everybody can relate to Shakespeare, and everybody can enjoy him, so we are trying to get in audiences of all backgrounds. We’ve really gone out of our way to make him accessible.”

The Tempest has certainly been made more relevant to WA audiences by Newmark’s decision to focus on the relationship between the Europeans and Australia’s Indigenous communities.

“I thought it has to be relevant to today’s audiences. As I read it, scenes leapt out at me as a strong reflection of what’s happening in contemporary, current day Australia - Europeans coming over and taking a land which is not theirs,” Newmark explains.

“There were a number of things that were written in the play from 400 ago that seemed to have strong, contemporary resonance now. Such as who owns the land, and colonising land, and teaching language and the imposition of European language on Indigenous people, all of which are strong issues in the play.”

A Comedy Of Errors is another tale set to be reimagined in a modern-day setting - this time, it’s in the rather seedy world of 1980s Fremantle.

“Again, it’s finding a way to make the play speak to a modern day audience rather than one from four hundred years ago and having no relevance to today. The ‘80s just seemed like a fun time, they’re now a period for us and it was a time of rather awful dress and music,” Newmark laughs.

“It just lent a humourous backdrop to the play so people were able to recognise both the people and the situation, but not being so distant that it’s completely irrelevant of them.”

_TARA LLOYD