Latest news with #Shakespeare
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The most demanding role Hazem Shammas has ever played
When Shakespeare wrote his tragedy Coriolanus he was coming off the back of an outrageous run of successes. In just a few years he'd penned Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra. This was a writer at the peak of his powers, and with Coriolanus he pushed himself into even more daring territory. And yet the coming Bell Shakespeare production of Coriolanus is the first that Australia's pre-eminent adapters of the Bard have mounted in almost 30 years, and only the second time Bell has tackled the play at all. The last time around, the title role was played by company founder John Bell. This time, the fearsome Coriolanus will be incarnated by Hazem Shammas, who both wowed audiences and divided critics as Macbeth in Bell's 2023 production. 'I am working the hardest I ever have. A marathon is an understatement. I thought Macbeth was a marathon but this way surpasses it,' he says. Why is this play performed more rarely than Shakespeare's more obvious crowd-pleasers? Shammas says it's a more complex and ambitious work. 'It's a big block of granite and it is like Michelangelo carving his forms out of this rock. That's hard work. Maybe we're not liking hard work any more.' The rewards are many, though: 'the depth and complexity of his poetry, the writing and the insights, and the way he expresses psychological and dramatic states'. Bell's Coriolanus gives audiences the rare chance to see a Shakespeare play they might know nothing about. The story is surprisingly simple, Shammas says. After defeating his enemies in the Italian town of Corioli, the Roman general Caius Marcius is given the nickname Coriolanus. As he ascends the ranks of Rome's political power structures, however, he grows angry at the democracy that gives non-military citizens any form of power and eventually defects to the side of his former foes, to team up and try to take on Rome itself. 'It's either Rome's destruction or his destruction. He's a highly decorated war hero with not much political nous,' says Hammas. The machinations of war hawks and power-hungry despots certainly aren't alien to our lives today but Shammas says this is because they've always been with us. 'It's a study on power and its tentacles. However they're playing out now, it's not new. It's cyclical, and it keeps happening and happening.' For that reason he thinks of Coriolanus as a kind of morality play. It's provocative but he hopes audiences will engage with what they see. 'If they're willing to bring themselves to it as political humans with ethics and morals and ask themselves questions honestly about what comes up in the play, they're going to have a great night out. They're going to take something away.' Not that a night at the theatre is any kind of cure-all. 'It makes me sad because we keep telling these stories, and we keep having these rituals together to share these stories, and we don't seem to learn, or we don't even see it around us.' Coriolanus himself is a monster, Shammas says: 'There should be absolutely no sympathy for him.' At the same time, you don't have to look far to see monsters these days. 'I guess we all have capacity to be monsters. That's perhaps what it's about. Temptations of power … maybe being a monster is not that hard. This guy, it doesn't seem like there's much effort in his blood-lust because society allows it. Or society worships it, actually.' Shammas is keen to emphasise that the production doesn't treat a play by one of the great masters of theatre as a vehicle for any particular politics of today. It doesn't need to. 'What's fascinating is that Shakespeare can sit and have these meditations and write this for us to ponder 420 years later. It's all in the text. It's all in the script.' It's one of those roles that requires its performer to have the sort of life experience a young actor probably can't claim. Like King Lear, you don't give Coriolanus to a 20-year-old. Now 50, Hammas is confident he has the goods: 'the wisdom … well, at least, experience'. He's certainly enjoying a long streak of success. For his turn in 2018's TV thriller Safe Harbour he won a Silver Logie for most outstanding supporting actor. He was nominated for an Audience Choice Award for The Twelve at the 2022 AACTAs and has had recurring roles in Bump, Ladies in Black and other film and TV productions. I am working the hardest I ever have. A marathon is an understatement. Live theatre is a different beast, of course. You'd think the challenge of such a demanding role, night after night, would be heightened even further given Coriolanus' wife Virgilia will be played by his real-life partner Suzannah McDonald. The last time they played opposite each other was in Bell's 2013 production of The Comedy of Errors. The tone of that play couldn't be further from this tragedy. The creative bug runs in Shammas' extended family, too. His cousin Hanna is one of Haifa's leading satirical comics; his uncle and godfather Anton is a novelist and professor in Michigan; another cousin has made his name as a cinematographer. 'You know, Palestinians – we're storytellers,' he says. Not that any of that was enough to have the young Hazem's parents unreservedly encourage his acting career. 'I had a first-gen ethnic father who said I had to get a proper job before I became an actor. So I did a degree and worked in construction and probably should have flown to Dubai and built towers when all my other graduate friends were travelling over there.' He maintained his interest in the arts while studying for that more practical degree, and the skills he learnt have proven surprisingly helpful since. 'Dabbling in the arts and creative thinking was a nice balance to dabbling in engineering and constructive thinking. That's such an amazing skillset that I have that I can apply to all processes. To acquit projects is a skill that everyone should be able to learn.' He did finally study acting – a one-year course at Sydney's Actors Centre led to a three-year degree at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). He'd satisfied his parents' pragmatic expectations and was free to pursue his dream. 'The most beautiful success story about my parents is that they came out here with nothing and, yes, they're poor, but they did give us education and freedom. That's the most perfect legacy.' Loading Hammas has three young sons of his own now and, with two actors as parents, they're growing up around film sets and theatres. The nature of the business means periods working long days and nights alternate with more hands-on stretches with the kids. 'If I'm not working I'm looking after three boys. They're my buddies and we meet the world together every day. We bushwalk, we ride bikes, we make stuff. We paint, we draw, we read, write.' His eldest has even started sharing the stage with his dad during poetry readings recently. Would he give his own children a free pass if they wanted to follow in his creative footsteps? He laughs. 'Not unless they do something proper first.'
The Age
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
The most demanding role Hazem Shammas has ever played
When Shakespeare wrote his tragedy Coriolanus he was coming off the back of an outrageous run of successes. In just a few years he'd penned Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra. This was a writer at the peak of his powers, and with Coriolanus he pushed himself into even more daring territory. And yet the coming Bell Shakespeare production of Coriolanus is the first that Australia's pre-eminent adapters of the Bard have mounted in almost 30 years, and only the second time Bell has tackled the play at all. The last time around, the title role was played by company founder John Bell. This time, the fearsome Coriolanus will be incarnated by Hazem Shammas, who both wowed audiences and divided critics as Macbeth in Bell's 2023 production. 'I am working the hardest I ever have. A marathon is an understatement. I thought Macbeth was a marathon but this way surpasses it,' he says. Why is this play performed more rarely than Shakespeare's more obvious crowd-pleasers? Shammas says it's a more complex and ambitious work. 'It's a big block of granite and it is like Michelangelo carving his forms out of this rock. That's hard work. Maybe we're not liking hard work any more.' The rewards are many, though: 'the depth and complexity of his poetry, the writing and the insights, and the way he expresses psychological and dramatic states'. Bell's Coriolanus gives audiences the rare chance to see a Shakespeare play they might know nothing about. The story is surprisingly simple, Shammas says. After defeating his enemies in the Italian town of Corioli, the Roman general Caius Marcius is given the nickname Coriolanus. As he ascends the ranks of Rome's political power structures, however, he grows angry at the democracy that gives non-military citizens any form of power and eventually defects to the side of his former foes, to team up and try to take on Rome itself. 'It's either Rome's destruction or his destruction. He's a highly decorated war hero with not much political nous,' says Hammas. The machinations of war hawks and power-hungry despots certainly aren't alien to our lives today but Shammas says this is because they've always been with us. 'It's a study on power and its tentacles. However they're playing out now, it's not new. It's cyclical, and it keeps happening and happening.' For that reason he thinks of Coriolanus as a kind of morality play. It's provocative but he hopes audiences will engage with what they see. 'If they're willing to bring themselves to it as political humans with ethics and morals and ask themselves questions honestly about what comes up in the play, they're going to have a great night out. They're going to take something away.' Not that a night at the theatre is any kind of cure-all. 'It makes me sad because we keep telling these stories, and we keep having these rituals together to share these stories, and we don't seem to learn, or we don't even see it around us.' Coriolanus himself is a monster, Shammas says: 'There should be absolutely no sympathy for him.' At the same time, you don't have to look far to see monsters these days. 'I guess we all have capacity to be monsters. That's perhaps what it's about. Temptations of power … maybe being a monster is not that hard. This guy, it doesn't seem like there's much effort in his blood-lust because society allows it. Or society worships it, actually.' Shammas is keen to emphasise that the production doesn't treat a play by one of the great masters of theatre as a vehicle for any particular politics of today. It doesn't need to. 'What's fascinating is that Shakespeare can sit and have these meditations and write this for us to ponder 420 years later. It's all in the text. It's all in the script.' It's one of those roles that requires its performer to have the sort of life experience a young actor probably can't claim. Like King Lear, you don't give Coriolanus to a 20-year-old. Now 50, Hammas is confident he has the goods: 'the wisdom … well, at least, experience'. He's certainly enjoying a long streak of success. For his turn in 2018's TV thriller Safe Harbour he won a Silver Logie for most outstanding supporting actor. He was nominated for an Audience Choice Award for The Twelve at the 2022 AACTAs and has had recurring roles in Bump, Ladies in Black and other film and TV productions. I am working the hardest I ever have. A marathon is an understatement. Live theatre is a different beast, of course. You'd think the challenge of such a demanding role, night after night, would be heightened even further given Coriolanus' wife Virgilia will be played by his real-life partner Suzannah McDonald. The last time they played opposite each other was in Bell's 2013 production of The Comedy of Errors. The tone of that play couldn't be further from this tragedy. The creative bug runs in Shammas' extended family, too. His cousin Hanna is one of Haifa's leading satirical comics; his uncle and godfather Anton is a novelist and professor in Michigan; another cousin has made his name as a cinematographer. 'You know, Palestinians – we're storytellers,' he says. Not that any of that was enough to have the young Hazem's parents unreservedly encourage his acting career. 'I had a first-gen ethnic father who said I had to get a proper job before I became an actor. So I did a degree and worked in construction and probably should have flown to Dubai and built towers when all my other graduate friends were travelling over there.' He maintained his interest in the arts while studying for that more practical degree, and the skills he learnt have proven surprisingly helpful since. 'Dabbling in the arts and creative thinking was a nice balance to dabbling in engineering and constructive thinking. That's such an amazing skillset that I have that I can apply to all processes. To acquit projects is a skill that everyone should be able to learn.' He did finally study acting – a one-year course at Sydney's Actors Centre led to a three-year degree at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). He'd satisfied his parents' pragmatic expectations and was free to pursue his dream. 'The most beautiful success story about my parents is that they came out here with nothing and, yes, they're poor, but they did give us education and freedom. That's the most perfect legacy.' Loading Hammas has three young sons of his own now and, with two actors as parents, they're growing up around film sets and theatres. The nature of the business means periods working long days and nights alternate with more hands-on stretches with the kids. 'If I'm not working I'm looking after three boys. They're my buddies and we meet the world together every day. We bushwalk, we ride bikes, we make stuff. We paint, we draw, we read, write.' His eldest has even started sharing the stage with his dad during poetry readings recently. Would he give his own children a free pass if they wanted to follow in his creative footsteps? He laughs. 'Not unless they do something proper first.'
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Bestsellers behind the box office: 5 books that made Bollywood history
(Written by Somya Panwar) Lights! Camera! Literature! Over the years, Indian cinema has drawn inspiration from literature and transitioned the audience from readership to viewership by giving us some hit book-to-movie adaptations. This collaboration of Bollywood and literature has made it more convenient to absorb the plot through visuals. These films not only widen the scope of literature but offer a unique blend of cinema and books. Let's explore five such adaptations that made their way to the silver screen: Haider (2014), a cult classic by Vishal Bharadwaj, reimagines Hamlet, Shakespeare's five-act revenge tragedy against the the politically charged backdrop of conflict-ridden Kashmir. If movie-goers found the film politically resonant, the credit reportedly goes to the film's poet-lyricist Gulzar as the film had earlier been conceived as an espionage thriller. Much like the tortured Prince Hamlet, Haider, – essayed by Shahid Kapoor – returns to the restive valley upon learning of his father's disappearance to confront his uncle, whom he suspects of foul play. Irrfan Khan, playing Hamlet's Ghost (Roohdaar), masterfully haunts both Haider and the audience, as he seeks justice. Tabu is dazzling as Haider's mother (Gertrude), while Kay Kay Menon does justice to the formidable and slippery Khurram (Claudius). Unlike Shakespeare's Hamlet, who delivers seven soliloquies, Haider distills this inner turmoil in just one: 'Hum hain ki hum nahin' ('To be or not to be'). Bhardwaj's Haider is the final installment in his acclaimed Shakespearean trilogy, following Maqbool (2003), inspired by Macbeth, and Omkara (2006), based on Othello. Each film masterfully transposes Shakespeare's themes of ambition, jealousy, and revenge into the Indian socio-political landscape. Shahid Kapoor's performance in the titular role is widely regarded as one of his finest, earning him accolades including the National Film Award, Filmfare Award for Best Actor, and the IIFA Technical Award. With evocative cinematography and an emotionally charged narrative, Haider captures the existential anguish and moral conflict at the heart of Hamlet, while grounding it firmly in the reality of modern Kashmir. Despite its slightly extended runtime, the film maintains narrative momentum and emotional depth throughout. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya (2008) is a lavish and stylised cinematic adaptation of White Nights, a short story by 19th-century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. Bhansali reimagines Dostoevsky's tale of unfulfilled love and emotional isolation within the grand framework of Bollywood, casting Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor in the lead roles. Through his protagonist who yearns for love, Bhansali remains faithful to Dostoevsky's recurring themes of self-destruction and human alienation, distilling the essence of White Nights on the big screen. Despite its impressive visuals and music, the film falls short on emotional depth due to an impoverished plot. Despite its lack of commercial success, the film remains a guilty pleasure for cinema enthusiasts who admire Sanjay Leela Bhansali's lavish and larger-than-life direction. A perfect title that resonates with the identity crisis, a brilliant cast that strengthens the narrative, and music that evokes a sense of belonging, Mira Nair adapted Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri's novel with remarkable finesse. The Namesake, starring Irrfan Khan and Tabu in lead roles dwells on the complexities of the immigrant experience and is best known for exploring themes of cultural displacement and love through her body of work. The film's script reflects Lahiri's literary style, providing a faithful representation of her voice. The film explores, with great sensitivity, the cultural and social conflicts that come with an identity crisis—particularly for the children of immigrant parents. Mira Nair, known for her cinematic explorations of similar cultural themes, adeptly blends her directorial approach with Lahiri's nuanced storytelling. The protagonist, ashamed of his American-Desi identity, struggles to adapt to a foreign lifestyle and resents his parents for their cultural imposition. Nair aimed to portray a more empathetic and humanised version of Gogo, the protagonist, and her effort to capture this sense of 'in-betweenness' translates to the screen. Vishal Bhardwaj's 7 Khoon Maaf is an adaptation of Ruskin Bond's classic short story Susanna's Seven Husbands. The plot follows the mysterious deaths of all seven of Susanna's husbands, holding the audience's attention with a suspenseful, well-constructed narrative. Recognising the story's cinematic potential, Bhardwaj expanded the script, giving each character adequate screen time. The film integrates the seven deadly sins from Roman Catholic theology, aligning closely with Bond's original vision. However, despite these creative choices, the film's overdramatised execution and heavy-handed use of music undermined its impact, affecting its box office performance. Several actors, including Ruskin Bond himself, made a cameo in the film. Try to spot him if you watch the film! Guide, directed by Vijay Anand, is a cinematic interpretation of RK Narayan's celebrated novel of the same name. Narayan, one of India's most respected authors, is best known for creating the fictional town of Malgudi. In 1964, Dev Anand approached Narayan to acquire the film rights for The Guide. Though the film went on to achieve both critical and commercial success, Narayan initially had reservations about major changes made to the plot, which he felt deviated from the spirit of his novel. When Dev Anand offered him a modest financial arrangement and a share of the profits, Narayan famously declined, saying, 'Let me rise or sink with your film. I do not want to exploit you.' Despite these early concerns, Guide went on to receive numerous awards and accolades, including an Oscar nomination. The film's rich visuals and linguistic elegance set a new benchmark in Bollywood's cinematic landscape, and continues to be revered as a landmark in Indian film history. (The writer is an intern with The Indian Express.)
Time Out
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Five great open air theatre shows to watch while London swelters this summer
London is hot right now. Literally. And it's only going to get hotter. Next week, it'll probably cool down a bit at the start and then get hot again. It's basically unbearable, but at the same time it's outdoor frickin' theatre season, baby. Where better to cool down than at an open air theatre with a gentle night breeze and glass of something cold, preferably watching something classy but not aggressively difficult. Here are five outdoor shows on right now or about to start that will take you outside the scorching concrete hellscape that is our beloved city. 1. The free outdoor musicals festival Is it possible to simply show tune your way through 30-plus degree heat? They'll be giving it their best try at West End Live this weekend, the two day festival at which the cast of pretty much every musical in town will be singing a song or two, for free, in Trafalgar Square. The catch? The best shows are early on the Saturday, and it'll hit capacity rapidly. Plus it'll be 'el scorchio'. For a complete guide including full line up, head here. Trafalgar Square, Sat Jul 21 and Sun Jul 22. 2. Shakespeare's daftest play The Globe has fine productions of Romeo and Juliet and Arthur Miller's The Crucible currently in its rep. But if tragic deaths and people named Goody are a bit much for your heat fogged brain, get down to its new production of Shakespeare's dumbest play. The Merry Wives of Windsor is a joyously silly romp in which his beloved character Falstaff – who dies offstage in Henry V, which is set in 1415 – is somehow not only alive but getting up to mischief with the womenfolk of Elizabethan England. It's a hoot! Shakespeare's Globe, Jul 4-Sep 20. Buy tickets here. 3. A YA thriller There'll be nothing trashy about the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's stage adaptation of Malorie Blackman's immortal dystopian race drama Noughts & Crosses. However, it's not going to be arty, impenetrable theatre: it's a thriller, a properly accessible, teen-orientated story that should get the pulse pounding enough to let you forget the heat. Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, Jun 28-Jul 26. Buy tickets here. 4. Shakespeare's darkest play (but fun!) Okay that was a bit of a shout back to number two: The Taming of the Shrew probably isn't really Shakespeare's darkest play, but taken at face value its account of how boisterous Petruchio breaks the spirit of the feisty Katherina is pretty damn problematic. But you can massage it to make it a lot less grim, and I gather that's the deal with this pop song-saturated production from the redoubtable Shakespeare in the Squares. They're midway through their annual tour of London's outdoor spaces – check out the schedule to see if they're coming near to you soon. Various venues, now until Jul 12. 5. Stand in the street and watch Rachel Zegler sing 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' Jamie Lloyd's Evita revival has made worldwide headlines this week for its typically ballsy showstopper moment, wherein US star Zegler sings the anthemic 'Don't Cry to Me Argentina' from a balcony on Argyll Street. Nobody is suggesting that this constitutes an entire theatre show, but it's a uniquely London theatrical moment that will probably never be repeated in our lifetimes, and you do get a pretty banging song sung by a celebrity for five minutes or so at a time of day (around 9pm) when the temperature is finally something approaching 'pleasant'.
Scotsman
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Gordon Barr on the Bard in the Botanics festival in Glasgow: 'we're very vulnerable to the weather'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When Gordon Barr stepped up earlier this month to accept the Best Production of the Year Award at this year's Critic's Awards for Theatre in Scotland, few people in the world of Scottish theatre were surprised. As artistic director of Bard In The Botanics - the company that presents a powerful season of Shakespeare and other classics in Glasgow's Botanic Gardens every summer - Barr may be running a shoestring operation, compared with many of his colleagues. Yet the combination of brilliant classic texts, two magical midsummer settings outdoors in the gardens and in the Kibble Palace, and the gradual development, over more than 20 years, of an acting company whose skills have been honed by contact with some of the greatest dramatic poetry ever written, never fails to produce some breathtaking moments. And Barr's short but overwhelmingly intense 2024 version of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, staged in the Kibble Palace and starring Nicole Cooper, overtook some spectacular competition to win the CATS premier award for the 2024-25 season. Gordon Barr | Contributed 'We don't really receive any direct public funding,' says Barr, in a break from rehearsals, 'although we depend on massive in-kind support from Glasgow City Council, who give us a very generous deal for the use of the Botanics, and for some storage space there. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'But apart from that - well there are some donations and so on, but 80 per cent of our income is from the box office, and that of course makes us very vulnerable to he vagaries of the Glasgow weather. Last year wasn't a great summer, and that meant we had to think in terms of a good, popular programme for this year, to try and boost our ticket income again.' The result is a four-show programme that features outdoor productions - directed by Barr himself - of two of the most popular Shakespeare plays in the canon, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo And Juliet; alongside Kibble Palace versions, by Barr's associate director Jennifer Dick, of Christopher Marlowe's Faustus, and her own play Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal In Bohemia, adapted from three of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous Holmes stories. 'All of these plays involve titles that audiences will recognise,' says Barr, 'and that they'll enjoy seeing in new versions. For me, though,' adds Barr, who is famous for his radical gender-shifting approach to Shakespeare's texts, 'this season marks a really interesting return to the first two plays I ever directed in the Botanics, when I arrived in 2004. For Romeo And Juliet, in the second half of the season, I'm looking at quite a modern dress approach. Sam Stopford is playing Romeo, with Lola Aluko as Juliet, and I'm hoping to foreground the young people in the story, and explore how they feel they have been failed by the older generation, and left to live with the broken society they have created. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rehearsals for A Midsummer Night's Dream at Bard in the Botnics | Contributed 'And for A Midsummer Night's Dream - well I think I'm taking a relatively conventional approach this year. At any rate, all four of the lovers will be as written by Shakespeare, in terms of gender; and I'm focusing very much on the play's relationship with nature. Titania's fairies will be real magical creatures, spirits of the natural world. 'One thing I have changed, though,' says Barr, 'is the relationship between Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen. What happens in the original - with Oberon doing Titania wrong, and then using his magic to trick and mock her into accepting it - just seemed too patriarchal, to me. 'So in this version, it will be Oberon who is put under a spell, and who falls in love with an ass. With Allan Steele playing Bottom, that should be fun. And that will be out on our glorious garden stage, of course; where there's no avoiding the sheer power of the natural world, for better or worse, and whether it smiles on us or not."
