ABU DHABI // It may seem a tad optimistic to expect children who are still learning English to understand a play written 400 years ago.
But this was the task taken on by the Bedouin Shakespeare Company this week as it performed The Tempest in Abu Dhabi Theatre to an audience of public school children.
The company, founded by former Abu Dhabi resident Edward Andrews in 2012, is on a mission to introduce the works of William Shakespeare to a younger generation of Emiratis.
Since Sunday, Andrews’s troupe of eight British actors has performed the play to 1,350 pupils in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and students from Al Ain University.
For most of those in the audience, it was the first experience of watching a play in a theatre.
“I thought that it was really amazing,” said Hessa Al Baloushi, 14. “It was like watching a movie in HD but it was real life, with the actors right there in front of us. It was the first time I’ve seen a play and I will repeat it many times because I loved it.”
Andrews, who also plays the role of Ferdinand, admitted that The Tempest was not the easiest play for young learners to understand, because it contains three stories.
To keep the audience engaged, the cast had to notch up the energy – and the laughs.
"Of the three stories that are told in The Tempest, the courtiers' story is when the kids get to find out that Shakespeare had a funny side, too," he said.
In this story, the magician Prospero’s hapless staff members – the servant Caliban, butler Stephano and jester Trinculo – try to wrest power from him.
Andrews made sure the three actors used as much slapstick as possible to overcome language barriers.
There was “knocking each other over the head and lots of panto-style rules of three to make comic relief within an otherwise heavy Shakespeare play”, he said.
There’s also a love story. “Miranda and Ferdinand fall in love, but Miranda’s father Prospero doesn’t want them to be together. That story reads very easily.”
The third plot involves Prospero’s revenge on his enemies, and finally his decision to forgive.
“The nuances of this could be lost on children,” Andrews said. “But I think they understand the general gist of it.”
Hajra Khal, a Grade 10 teacher at Hanain Girls’ School, admits she was worried before the performance that the plot would be difficult for her pupils to follow.
“The actors were amazing and the girls could understand the relationships between the characters, even if they couldn’t understand everything that was said,” said Ms Khal, a South African.
In moments when the plot became too difficult for them to grasp, she turned to the pupils sitting near her to explain what was happening.
Ms Kahl hoped the play would inspire them when they returned to the classroom.
“The girls are doing a group exercise where they’re writing a narrative and doing a role play,” she said. “I’m hoping that watching this play will give them some ideas.”
Andrews added plenty of music into his version of The Tempest.
“The musical effects were good, the singing was aligned with the story so you could understand what was going on better with the music,” said Maitha Al Ali, 15, from Hunain.
There will also be a public performance The Tempest at The Club in Abu Dhabi on Thursday evening.
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