When Edward Andrews, founder of the Bedouin Shakespeare Company, was a high-school student in Abu Dhabi a little more than a decade ago, he confesses that he found French lessons “absolutely horrifically boring”.
When the Briton visited Paris later in life, however, he felt annoyed he could not speak the local language. This may seem a largely irrelevant concern, coming as it does from a man whose passion is putting on plays in Shakespearean English, but 27-year-old Andrews shares it for a good reason – to show the importance of properly introducing children to new subjects and experiences.
“If your first experience of Shakespeare is in a schoolbook, then you’ll never realise how gritty, modern and exciting it can be,” he says. “You need to feel the beauty of it. Shakespearean language, spoken honestly but poetically by a great actor in a great costume, can move anyone.”
This is one of the reasons why Andrews and his troupe of British actors will this week stage Shakespeare's The Tempest for about 1,350 schoolchildren, during five performances at Abu Dhabi Theatre. A public performance will also be staged at The Club in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, October 20.
“We want to give children a chance to see Shakespeare being performed while they’re young, so that when they go back to the classroom and try to read his plays, they’ll remember how awesome it can be,” says Andrews.
Andrews developed his passion for theatre while a pupil at British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi. It had no theatre in those days – but he says this was actually a help, rather than a hindrance.
"We were forced to use our imaginations more," he says. "One of our shows, The Crucible, was held in the sports hall. We designed different levels, and everything had to be a bit more creative – plus, doing all the rehearsals in a classroom with the windows blacked out had an arty, bohemian vibe to it."
The Bedouin Shakespeare Company was founded in London by Andrews and his school friend, Mark Brewer, in 2012, with the aim of bringing the Bard’s work to the UAE.
Andrews has brought his 20-strong troupe to Abu Dhabi almost every year since.
When they are not performing in Abu Dhabi – where Andrews’ parents still live – the company puts on plays at the Arcola Theatre in London.
The Bedouin Shakespeare Company is also the only English-speaking company to have performed at another Elizabethan-style theatre, the Silvano Toti Globe Theatre in Rome.
In The Tempest, Andrews plays hapless romantic Ferdinand, who is shipwrecked on a mysterious island after a storm damages the ship carrying his father Alonso (the King of Naples) and Sebastian (Alonso's brother) among others. The storm, we find out, has been conjured up by a sorcerer named Prospero.
“Ferdinand thinks his father is dead and he’s very upset about it,” says Andrews. “He then sees Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, and falls madly in love with her.”
British actor Jonathan Kemp, 52, has his work cut out playing Prospero, Miranda’s vengeful, possessive father. His part has 600 lines – a third of the play.
“It’s a massive learn,” says Kemp. “But the most challenging aspect was finding a way to make the audience sympathetic towards me at the beginning, when I seem so severe and dark, so that later they’re with me.”
Because the Bedouin Shakespeare Company is a touring troupe that cannot easily transport bulky sets and props, a splash of imagination – and some clever costuming – is needed to bring a 16th-century ship to life on stage.
“Our opening sequence is done in mariner costumes, and the boat is imagined using a rope held by three people,” says Andrews. “It creates the triangle of the ship with all the actors in that. There’s a musical overture, with the sound of the storm over the top of that. Then the rope flies across the stage to show that the ship is being lost at sea.”
The most famous line from The Tempest is Prospero's comment: "We are such stuff as dreams are made of; and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
Andrews says it sums up the dreamlike quality of the play.
“There’s a metaphysical and surreal feel to it,” he says. “In fact, people say Shakespeare is being clever and that the tempest is really just all going on in Prospero’s head.”
This year marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, so it seems apt for the company to stage The Tempest, which was the last play Shakespeare wrote by himself, and is often referred to as his "farewell to the stage".
“You get a sense of that during the play,” says Andrews. “Towards the end, Prospero says: ‘Now I’ll return to Milan, where every third thought shall be my grave.’ It’s such a dark thing to say and he pulls it out of nowhere.
“It lends itself to wonder what Shakespeare’s frame of mind was when he wrote it. Does Prospero represent Shakespeare’s conscience? We’ll never know.”
• See The Tempest on Thursday, October 20, at The Club, Abu Dhabi. Doors open 8pm. Members Dh110, guests Dh130, non-members Dh150, junior members Dh55 and junior guests Dh65. Call 02 673 1111
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