Umsebenzi ka bra Shakes is a process-driven and collaborative exploration of the use and relevance of William Shakespeare’s classic texts for South African performers, storytellers, students and audiences alike. It was performed at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in August 2019 as part of The Centre’s For Once programme.

Presented by POPArt Productions in collaboration with The Centre, The Shakespeare Society of South Africa, Johannesburg Awakening Minds, Market Theatre Lab and Kwasha Drama Company, Umsebenzi ka bra Shakes explores Shakespeare through the context of language and culture, highlighting and interrogating notions of violence, love, masculinity and representation amongst other things. With language being one of the primary points of entry for the play, English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and more are employed and experimented with to both translate and reimagine some of the bard’s most beloved texts.

Well-known lines are run through various dialects – a kind of theatrical broken telephone – ultimately generating new meaning, or novel ways of reading and making sense of the original prose. A blackboard behind the cast also reveals some of their early engagements with Shakespeare, and serves as a dictionary of contemporary Shakespearean slang. ‘Brethren’ turns to ‘Bra’ and ‘Shap Fede’ becomes the new ‘All’s well’. Similarly, ‘nca’ serves as the more economic way of saying ‘It’s utterly beautiful’.

Othello, The Tempest, and Hamlet are a few of the classics that get the ‘Bra Shakes’ treatment, with key scenes or entire acts being remixed and reimagined through this performing ensemble. Romeo and Juliet die over and over again, while Desdemona and Emelia become a chorus of women talking, laughing, and lamenting in a marriage of Shakespearean prose and South African slang.

Umsebenzi ka bra Shakes is not simply a translation or a South African adaptation of the classic Shakespearean play, but rather a devised take on seeking contemporary meaning and value in Shakespeare’s words and stories. It is a 40-minute experiment that traverses the full range of the Shakespearean classic, replete with soliloquies in the short-form, and dialogues carried out through song and dance. And all of this without losing any of the comedy, tragedy, conflict, or climax of the form it seeks to make sense of.

– David Mann

CREDITS:

PERFORMERS | Sibahle Mangena, Molatelo Maffa, Thulisile Nduvane, Aalliyah Matintela, Rachael Neary, Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi, Vusi Nkwenkwezi, Michael Mazibuko, Lwazi Mayeki & Bongani Dlamini
FACILITATOR | Hayleigh Evans
COLLABORATORS | POPArt Productions, The Shakespeare Society of South Africa, Johannesburg Awakening Minds, Market Theatre Lab & Kwasha Drama Company