Julius Ceasar cast on stage
By Simon Manda
Adelaide Tambo Special School in Soweto recently performed William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the Joburg Theatre as part of the Shakespeare School Festival (SA).
The rendition of the play, directed by multi-award-winning theatre practitioner, director, writer, actor, a drama teacher and a TV actor, Seiphemo Motswiri, was one of the main plays featured at the annual festival.
The 13th Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa (SSFSA) announced its longest season yet with the event taking place over one week at the Lesedi Theatre at the Joburg Theatre Complex from September 5 to 10, 2023. This marked the thirteenth time that the SSFSA has taken place at this venue.
“As a team, we are passionate about building optimism especially post-pandemic, to share hope for the future in what many find to be an unsettling time. The SSFSA is a catalyst for youth empowerment and over more than a decade we have developed a non-competitive, fully inclusive environment where school-going youth can build confidence, improve on life skills and have their voices are heard, acknowledged, encouraged, challenged and respected,” said festival founder and director, Kseniya Filinova-Bruton.
The take on Julius Caesar in a South African political context was performed by the learners from Adelaide Tambo School who are all drawn from the four corners of the country and have different disabilities.
During rehearsals, the learners were struggling to understand the idioms in Shakespearean writing of Julius Caesar; and it was decided to find similarities between idioms in Shakespeare’s writing and the individuals’ mother tongues. This was done to assist the learners to have a better understanding of what writer was trying to communicate and appreciate the Shakespearian writing.
Themba Mkhoma, a drama therapist from Wits University’s Drama for Life program, says when he studied African languages, he realised that they are packed with idioms, and in the process of finding idioms used in Julius Caesar, the crew discovered that there were similar idioms used in the play.
For instance, in Mark Anthony’s speech addressing the commoners after Julius Caesar was killed; he opened his speech by saying “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”. For the learners to have a better understanding, they had to find the same idiom in vernacular languages and found out that the Setswana idiom that says “nkadime ditsebe” translates to “lend me your ears”.
During text analysis, the learners used their mother tongue to help them grasp the subtext and have a better understanding of what the writer was trying to communicate. Similarities in Shakespearian language and South African languages were adopted so as not to lose the rich Shakespearian language. With better understanding of the text and being able to grasp the story of Julius Caesar, the learners started bringing their characters to life.
For a female who played one of the leads as Brutus, Lizayo Gwadana remarked, “This was a great experience that I enjoyed. It was hard playing a male character as I joined the group late, but teamwork and everyday practise saw me through.”
he crew from Adelaide Tambo School was made up of, Ntokozo Mahlangu playing Julius Caesar, Lizayo Gwadana: Brutus, Nontuthuko Mbatha: Mark Anthony, Masimbonge Vane: Cassius, Lwazi Mchunu: Casca, Sibusiso Mseko: Decius, Elethu Zikizela: Popolius, Bongani Magudulela: Trebonius, Buntu Ngqakavu: Calpurnia, Asiphile Mtshaka: Portia, Cwenga Mhlane: Soothsayer and Zanele Makhatiti, Mzomhle Mtwa, Elethu Zikizela, Lugelo Meyiwa, Cwenga Mhlane, Lwazi Mchunu, Sinothile Dlomo as commoners/plebeians.
“Disability topic is very close to my heart because my father had a disability and my research paper at Wits University was on how theatre of the oppressed can be used to empower persons with stabilities in rural areas,” quipped Motswiri.
“All my experience with persons with disabilities made it easy for me to work with Adelaide Tambo leaners with different disabilities.”
