Fifty years ago, if a teenager started quoting Shakespeare, his peers might assume that he was well-educated and on his way to a bright future. These days, his friends (and parents) are more likely to say something along the lines of, "Huh?" Luckily this is not a deterrent for Deborah Jean-Baptiste-Samuel. The founder of the Oratory Foundation is about to direct the staging of their third Shakespeare play, the tragedy of King Lear, from February 19 to 22 at the Naparima Bowl. "With Shakespeare the challenge is two-fold; working with a script that came with a timeless history and trying to make this language alive in the hearts and minds of young people of the Caribbean, where we have our own variety of English," Jean-Baptiste-Samuel explained.
Her young oratorians have taken to Shakespeare like eagles do to flying. It seems a matter of survival; each part requires them to recite anywhere from 800 to 900 lines, and many juggle two parts for the same play. Their mentor always chooses a play that her students are also studying in school. King Lear is on the Form Six Literature syllabus this year. As Jean-Baptiste-Samuel said, it's an exercise in linguistics and discipline, as well as theatre, and she gives her students top marks in each. "Now the children are reading the language fluently like it's their mother tongue," she said proudly.
Established by Jean-Baptiste-Samuel, the Oratory Foundation has been training young people from ages seven to tertiary level in poetry and oratory, choral speaking and oral performance of poetry for 14 years. Oratory 14, Glorious Cricket, was staged at the Bowl late last year and DVDs of the performance are now available at RIK Bookstores. At one point, the students were rehearsing both King Lear and Glorious Cricket at the same time. It has been taxing, both on the students and on her, Jean-Baptiste-Samuel admitted. After all, her job as a civil attorney at the Office of the Attorney-General is stressful in itself. Couple that with the journey to Port-of-Spain from San Fernando and back again five days a week, and most of us wouldn't want to lift a finger on the weekends, much less motivate young people to learn Shakespeare. But she sees it as good stress.
Taking the Water Taxi a few days a week relieves her of having to face traffic: and gives her more time to create. "I find myself always creating something in my mind. This is very energising work. You're forced to stretch every creative muscle and the students have flexed and energised themselves. Somehow this production has been more stretching than the others; it's been like we were in a dramatic lab, experimenting and testing ourselves. And it really has been a fascinating journey."
Tickets for King Lear are
available at RIK Bookstores.
