#1 Muslim Hamlet in Bosnia
Posted: 23/09/2005 14:24
The Guardian
September 20, 2005
Paul Arendt
To be or not to be is still the question, but in a new Bosnian staging of Hamlet things have changed for Shakespeare's prince. His uncle Claudius is a sultan, his god is Allah, the churches are mosques and Elsinore is part of the Ottoman empire.
Director Haris Pasovic has transformed Hamlet into a Muslim hero struggling to survive in an ancient Islamic superpower. "Something is rotten in the state of Turkey," Pasovic says."I learned a lot about Ottoman court, and it was very Shakespearian in essence. Stories like the one in Hamlet did happen several times in the 500 years of Ottoman history."
Pasovic wants his production, which is showing at the Bosnian National Theatre in Sarajevo, to speak to both Muslim communities and the wider world. "Every time has its own Hamlet," he says. "It's palpable today that, as Shakespeare said, the time is out of joint. We live in a fractured world."
The Pasovic Hamlet is one of the largest co-productions the Balkans have seen for 20 years - artists from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia are involved. Pasovic says the multicultural casting was not political; he wanted to work with artists he appreciated.
Zagreb, Belgrade and the British Council have all contributed funding. Pasovic plans to approach the Barbican about staging his show in London, too. A renowned theatre director in Bosnia, Pasovic is well known for avant garde and experimental productions. In 1993, he worked with Susan Sontag on her candlelit Waiting for Godot in the then-besieged Sarajevo.
September 20, 2005
Paul Arendt
To be or not to be is still the question, but in a new Bosnian staging of Hamlet things have changed for Shakespeare's prince. His uncle Claudius is a sultan, his god is Allah, the churches are mosques and Elsinore is part of the Ottoman empire.
Director Haris Pasovic has transformed Hamlet into a Muslim hero struggling to survive in an ancient Islamic superpower. "Something is rotten in the state of Turkey," Pasovic says."I learned a lot about Ottoman court, and it was very Shakespearian in essence. Stories like the one in Hamlet did happen several times in the 500 years of Ottoman history."
Pasovic wants his production, which is showing at the Bosnian National Theatre in Sarajevo, to speak to both Muslim communities and the wider world. "Every time has its own Hamlet," he says. "It's palpable today that, as Shakespeare said, the time is out of joint. We live in a fractured world."
The Pasovic Hamlet is one of the largest co-productions the Balkans have seen for 20 years - artists from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia are involved. Pasovic says the multicultural casting was not political; he wanted to work with artists he appreciated.
Zagreb, Belgrade and the British Council have all contributed funding. Pasovic plans to approach the Barbican about staging his show in London, too. A renowned theatre director in Bosnia, Pasovic is well known for avant garde and experimental productions. In 1993, he worked with Susan Sontag on her candlelit Waiting for Godot in the then-besieged Sarajevo.
