London's Globe to Globe Festival continues to celebrate Britain's most famous playwright with an Arabic-language adaptation of Shakespeare's "Richard II" by Palestinian theatre group Ashtar. The group is one of 37 companies from around the world to perform at the Globe theatre in London between April and June this year. "Richard II" portrays the downfall of the prideful medieval king, and Ashtar's production appears to bridge the gap between high political drama of the past and recent upheavals in the Middle East. While the original script and staging are left largely untouched in Ashtar's performance, the production is written in classical Arabic and actors wear contemporary military uniforms resembling those of the Arab dictators who were ousted from power last year in bloody revolutions. Palestinian actor Sami Metwasi, who plays King Richard II, admitted that he sometimes struggled not to let current political events influence his performance too much. "It's a contemporary setting for the play, but we try to avoid [comparisons to the modern Arab world] because we didn't want to be direct relating to what's happening now in the Arab world," he said. The troupe, which is based in Ramallah, debuted the play about the despotic king in an open-air courtyard of a ruined 8th-century palace in Jericho, one of the world's most ancient cities. Metwasi said he was pleased to have an opportunity to bring Shakespeare to an Arabic-speaking audience. "The political situation in the region, especially in Palestine, made us focus more on real stories coming out from that region, rather than taking from international works like Shakespeare, unfortunately, although as an artist I'd be thirsty to work on Shakespeare, Metwasi said. This is a good chance for us to do this play in Arabic, which is not the native language of the work itself." The festival has not been without controversy, however. A group of leading British actors, directors and film makers had expressed in a letter their objection to the inclusion of Israel's National Theater, Habima, which is due to perform "The Merchant of Venice" in Hebrew later this month. But director Conall Morrison said the Ashtar performers had not discussed the Israeli theater company. Every aspect of their [Palestinians] existence is very, very politicized; what crops they can grow in their back garden is literally controlled by the military occupation, and so on," director Conall Morrison said. "We [the group] didn't spend time talking about Habima or something like that, you know. The guys had stuff to get on with ... They brought their political experience and their awareness of all the different Middle Eastern regimes to bear with this play, you know. These guys know what their situation is; they know what their relationship with Israel is; they don't need to discuss it too much." Globe to Globe is part of a wider World Shakespeare Festival as well as the London 2012 Festival that ties in with the Summer Olympics. South Sudan, South Africa, Belarus and Afghanistan are some of the other countries represented. Similar productions are also taking place in Stratford upon Avon, where an Iraqi theatre group is set to stage a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Morrison says Ashtar's production is not about the Arab Spring per se and not bound by time or borders. "Somebody said, 'Oh, it's about the Arab Spring.' It's not about the Arab Spring, really, you know, we weren't trying to make it so, Morrison said. It is about the dynasties and the regimes that the Arab Spring was against. You know Richard isn't the worst despot in the world, but you know he overtaxes people, he is responsible for assassinations and so on, but he is deposed, and [Henry] Bolingbroke takes over. Basically what you have is one power elite supplanted by another power elite and a lot of dynasties within that, fathers looking after sons and uncles looking after nephews and so on, and that's very, very connected with the Arab world, you know, where dynasties try to replicate themselves."
The letter, published in the Guardian newspaper, attacked what it called Habima's "shameful" record of involvement with Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories and urged the Globe to withdraw its invitation.
