Download order of the Illyrian court. Orsino chooses to define himself as an

106
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Thomas Hall (Fabian). Gerard Bester (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) and Gary D 'Alessandro (Sir Toby
Belch) in Joseph Ribiero's production of Twelfth Night /or the Wits School of Dramatic Art.
order of the Illyrian court. Orsino chooses to define himself as an Actaeon figure, but his
rage at the suspected treachery of Cesario/ Viola shockingly indicates that he is only too
willing to set the "fell and cruel hounds" of passion on those who offend him. Yet,
Twelfth Night does assert that destructive self-obsession can be banished. The generous,
self-aware love of a Viola unlocks the prison of Orsino's narcissism. The unions that
conclude the play offer the only available protection from the unceasing rain of human
suffering, even if both the deservedly excluded (Malvolio), and the sadly isolated (Feste
and Antonio) are denied such protection.
That severest of critics, John Simon, once denounced Anouilh for creating his plays out
of"rose and black madder" (Acid Test, 1963, I05). Simon's gibe can, very easily, be seen
as praise of the highest order, and his phrase provides, I think, a perfect description of the
blend of sophisticated wit, broad comedy, and sorrowful insight that is Twelfth Night.
Ribeiro's production chose to emphasise the rose - audiences rightly shook with
merriment at the merest appearance of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew - but the black of
Shakespeare's exploration of the tragic possibilities of love was by no means forgotten. In Peter Gill's 1974 production of Twelfth Night at Stratford-on-Avon, the set was
dominated by a wall-painting of Narcissus enraptured by his fatal reflection. Without
choosing one dominant image, Ribeiro wittily and perceptively allowed self-love and
indulgence to be consistently expressed in the details of his production. The opening
tableau was both visually alluring, and sharply appropriate. Paul Roumanoff and Lyn
Miles's set featured a large sun umbrella adorned with cupids, a chaise longue and a row of
white pillars against which a richly dressing-gowned Orsino drooped, propped by a
dramatically outstretched arm. Sorrowful, aristocratic love posed among the comforts
denied to other less privileged sufferers.
In Olivia's household, haute-couture mourning preyailed: panniered black gowns and
black lace commodes gave way to zebra-striped overskirts looped to reveal white gowns
THEATRE AND TELEVISION REVIEWS
107
embroidered with those ubiquitous cupids. Mistresses and attendants looked equally
seductive in both the severe and the modified styles of mourning. From the outset, there
was no doubt that these trappings of woe were designed to attract, not banish, desire.
Indeed, the costumes in this production deserved special praise not only for their
attractiveness, but also for the wit with which they were used to highlight the ambivalent
mood of the play. If my eyes were not in error, Mr Ribeiro chose to combine elements of
the Restoration and the mid-eighteenth century in his costumes. The men's full-skirted
coats and ribboned bag-wigs, and the ladies' patches and panniers suggested the Age of
Reason. On the other hand, the commodes and cut-back gowns, and the curling perukes
of Orsino and Malvolio were obviously nods in the direction of the fashions of the court of
the last Stuarts. Such a blend of styles suggested a union of the refined and lustful, the
elegant and the flamboyant- a cleverly appropriate combination for Twelfth Night.
Joseph Ribeiro's acute eye for the most felicitous movement and staging ensured that
the play's more elevated tragicomedy and its boisterous farce were both given their
due. As Orsino reclined, languidly intrigued, Viola, leaning forward on the chaise,
delivered the agonising "My father had a daughter loved a man" (2.4.104-115) speech
directly to the audience with a wide-eyed intensity which left one in no doubt of the
difference between Orsino's affected anguish and the real article. Malvolio's feelings, in
contrast, were rightly presented as risible. From ramrod stiff domestic tyranny, he
degenerated into ungainly lechery, making lustful grabs at the appalled Olivia: foolish
prissiness became equally foolish salaciousness at the least convincing hint of hope.
The presentation of Malvolio's reading of the letter used broad comedy with
particularly sharp effect. As Malvolio postured, misinterpreted and dreamed, the
conspirators were ostentatiously busy behind him. They made angry dashes towards
him, shifted concealing scenery, sniggered and doubled up with mockery, and scurried
back into hiding. Such movements could not fail to amuse the dourest of audiences, but,
at the same time, they served to emphasise the saddening point that the "dark room" of
narcissism blinds one to even the most blatant gulling.
Some of the most effective touches in the production were certainly not original, but
their success justified the repetition. I remember that Terry Hands's production of
Twelfth Night (Aldwych: 1979) gained one of its heartiest laughs from Olivia's delivery of
"Most wonderful" (5.1.206)"when confronted by Viola/Cesario and Sebastian. Kate
Nicholls purred the phrase with a relish that suggested doubled pleasures could be
expected from this extraordinary duplication. Mr Ribeiro's Olivia used this delivery
with equal success.
Malvolio's suffering in confinement was memorably conveyed by the twisting and
stretching of his hands through a trapdoor. The contrast between the continued
pomposity of his statements- "I think nobly ofthe soul, and no way approve his opinion"
(4.2.40)- and the frightened writhing of his body poignantly indicated the persecuted
man beneath the overbearing facade.
When assessing students' performances, one is often tempted to indulge in head-patting
praise to cover up for deficiencies. In the case of Ribeiro's production, such condescension was unnecessary. What was good was good by any standards; what was bad was
inexperienced or over-enthusiastic, and could, therefore, change.
Lindsey Orbach's Viola skilfully avoided the two pits into which so many actresses
playing the role topple: presenting Viola as a tomboy romp •.o.r plaintiyely portrari~g her
as Ophelia in drag. Ms Orbach had more than enough spmt and Wit - tart Wit m her
exchanges with the besotted Olivia- but the passionate longing in her voice and gaze also
rendered her love for Orsino movingly real. I thought it a .mistake to play"<? time, t.hou
must untangle this, not I" (2.2.35-36) with a shrug and a gnn, but that was misconceived
direction, and did not seriously detract from a remark~bly assured, co~plex pe-:£ormance. Robert Lucas's Orsino was effective as the patrician poseur, but Signally faded to
suggest the intelligence and charm beneath the affected langu.or. Afte! all, the D~ke does
have the insight and taste to become captivated by Cesano, and VIOla/ Cesario never
Book Reviews
ANTJ-IONY DAVIES
Filming Shakespeare sPlays.
Cambridge University Press, 1988. 219
pp.
Reviewed by COLIN GARDNER
Tony Davies's book on the challenges, the implications and the problems of making films
out of Shakespeare's plays, and on a number of the most striking films that have been
made, is richly absorbing. Like most good books, it addresses several sets of readers. It
is very interesting and instructive for people who think of Shakespeare in literary and / or
theatrical terms but have given little thought to the possibilities and demands of film as a
genre. It has a great deal to say to those who are interested in film but have lost touch
with the special complexities of literature and theatre. But at the same time it manages,
in a lively but scholarly way, to engage with many of those (and there are a considerable
number of them) who have written on the specific topic of Shakespeare and film. It is,
then, a book both for the beginner and for the professional.
There is of course one large difficulty in writing a book about films of Shakespeare's
plays: among those who are not experts, some (especially in South Africa) will have seen
few or even none of the films that are discussed, and many of those who have seen all or
most of them will not have seen them recently. Davies tackles this problem in two
ways. The first way is an obvious one: he provides a number of stills from the films he
discusses. (His book might perhaps have been a little more fully illustrated: Roger
Manvell's Shakespeare and the Film (London, 1971) boasts 48 pages of photographs.) But
the more important way in which he confronts the issue is by describing with remarkable
vividness and precision many features and sequences of the films in question. Indeed his
graphic descriptions are completely interwoven with intelligent and imaginative analyses,
with the result that what he offers is both illuminating for a reader who hasn't seen the film
recently or who hasn't seen it at all, and at the same time valuable and thought-provoking
for the expert who has seen it fifteen times.
In the Introduction, Davies considers the significance of film in the light of the recent
intensification of critical and scholarly interest in the theatrical performance of
plays. He asks the crucial questions. Could Shakespeare film reasonably be little more
than the photographing of a stage production (with perhaps, sometimes, a greater degree
of historical and / or geographical realism in the decor than the theatre could hope to
achieve)? Or does it represent an entirely or largely different medium? And if the latter
is so (and Davies leaves us in little doubt that it is), has the film-maker the right to recreate,
to remake, a Shakespeare play in a new mode, a new format? Again, not surprisingly,
Davies's answer is yes. In fact he suggests that, at a time when few adults read
Shakespeare or encounter him in the theatre, the maker of a Shakespeare film has an
enormous cultural and social responsibility.
The first chapter of the book focuses on the differences be~ween theatre and film. . It
would be impossible to summarise here the elaborate and delicately nuanced theoretical
points that are made. The essence of the argument is that in the theatre the actors - who
Shakespeare in Southern Africa Vol. 2, 1988, 109-112
•.
108
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
falters in her commitment to him. Twelfth Night would be too dark altogether if it
permitted one to feel that Viola was a Renaissance Jane Fairfax trapped in marriage to a
Petrarchan version of that insensitive dandy, Frank Churchill. Again, direction must
take a degree of the blame for Mr Lucas's one-dimensional performance. Joseph
Ribeiro obviously saw Orsino as a faintly absurd fop, and went no further. How much
more interesting was Terry Hands's conception of the character. His production offered
a brawny, booted huntsman of an Orsino, chafing beneath the fashionable Petrarchan
image he felt obliged to adopt.
The schoolmaster within me compels me to administer a couple of raps on the knuckles
to Zane Meas who played Antonio not as a sea captain racked by homoerotic desire, but as
a Penzance pirate with a problem. A full-scale caning is deserved by Gary D'Alessandro
whose porcine, pop-eyed Sir Toby made one feel that gingerbread scenery should have
been provided. Such vices were, however, all but obliterated by Craig Freimond's
Malvolio, as despicable and pitiful as the role demands, Sarah Hawke's spunky Maria,
truly - to quote Meredith again - a "rogue in porcelain", and Megan Wilson's Olivia,
who managed the transformation from acted grief to genuine passion with touching
conviction. The quaver in her voice and the sudden tensing of her fingers on her fan
when she spoke of Cesario were particularly affecting.
About the two clowns - the sombre and the farcical - one cannot be too fulsome. As
Sir Andrew, Gerard Bester used some stock tricks - the mincing walk, the fluttering
hands, the sudden squeals of timidity - but he brought to the role his own brand of
solemn silliness that consistently convulsed the audience. One does hope that Mr Bester
refrains from using his dilated stare of total incomprehension on the streets, for it might
render passers-by helpless with mirth.
Lanky and hawk-proftled, with unruly hair and beribboned attire, Brian Heydenrych's
Feste was quite magnificent. He had the right touch of fey sorrow, but also offered a fool
almost arrogantly confident in his professional skills. This Feste slipped with effortless
grace into his song-and-dance routines, and his Sir Topas was a convincing dramatic
creation. Heydenrych's emphasis on Feste's bite and skill caused his moments of
isolation and pathos to be all the more piercing. His rendition of"The rain it raineth
every day", which started in a casual, throwaway fashion and developed into a sustained
lament, could not have been bettered.
I have seen a variety of Twelfth Nights, including a charming 'thirties version by pupils
of K.ing David's High School in Linksfield, but Mr Ribeiro's production certainly ranks as
one of the most consistently satisfying interpretations to have come my way. As the
bewigged musicians lilted into life at the wave of a ducal hand, one thought "This is
lllyria ", and relaxed to revel in its joys and sorrows.
110
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
move within a confined space and are living beings against dead scenery - are obviously
dominant, whereas in a film a certain degree of equality is established between the actors
and the world in which they perform, partly because film can make such flexible and
varied dramatic use of that "world", and partly because, after all, both actors and their
world are moving images upon a screen. Thus in the theatre there is a primary focus on
dialogue, while in film in its purest form dialogue is distinctly less necessary or even,
arguably, not necessary at all. A film firmly based on a Shakespeare play could not easily
be "pure" in that sense, however; and Davies points out that such films, when successful,
inevitably involve complex relations between what might be thought of as theatrical and
filmic or cinematic elements. One of the ways in which he illustrates this point is by
demonstrating in some detail the inadequacy of Stuart Burge's Othello (1965) which
purports simply to shift a performance of the play from the stage to the cinema screen;
Davies shows that the work is not only on the whole unsuccessful as a film but clearly
inferior to the theatrical production which it aims to record and perpetuate.
In the light of these general considerations, which I have sketched all too rapidly, the
main body of the book presents beautifully perceptive and refined descriptions and
analyses of eight classic Shakespeare films: the three films directed by Laurence Olivier
(Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard Ill (1955)), the three directed by Orson
Welles (Macbeth (1948), Othello (1952) and Chimes at Midnight (1966), which is based
mainly on Parts I and 2 of Henry IV), Peter Brook's King Lear (1971), and Akira
Kurosawa's Throne of Blood(l957), which is a version of Macbeth. Davies says a little
about K urosawa 's recent film Ran ( 1985), which is based to some degree on King Lear; he
discusses briefly (maybe a little too briefly) the ideas and the two Shakespeare films of the
great Grigori Kozintsev, and he makes mention of a number of other films.
Olivier of course came to the business of film-making from the great tradition of
twentieth-century Shakespearean acting in the theatre. His films can hardly be said to
bring about any diminution in the impact of dialogue. Indeed they live in the minds of
many of those who have seen them partly because of Olivier's memorable speaking of
Shakespeare's words. (This aspect of their achievement Davies underplays, no doubt
because of his concern for filmic priorities.) But the outstanding fact about Olivier's
films is that they really are films. Olivier has clearly been fascinated and excited by the
possibilities of the medium, and in each of the films he explores these possibilities in
different ways. Henry V can be seen partly as an examination of one of the ways of
conceiving the relationship between theatre and film. We move from an evocation of a
performance at the Elizabethan Globe Theatre into a medieval world and into something
which is more openly filmic. Then at the end we return to the Globe, to the theatre, but in
a way that only film could accomplish. Olivier's Hamlet has been criticised in various
ways, particularly perhaps for its Freudian interpretation of the main role. But Davies,
interested as always in the filmic, shows convincingly that it is a pioneering work. He
analyses various instances of cinematic imaginativeness- for example, the following:
A more important and distinct filmic statement is the falling of Hamlet's
own head-shadow over Yorick's skull in the graveyard scene. As Hamlet
approaches the grave-side, his shadow moves into the frame from the lower
left sector, and advances over the earth until the shadow of his head
coincides exactly with the round shape of the skull lying where it has been
thrown by the grave-digger. The shot is held long enough to make a clear
and unequivocal statement. Hamlet remains off-screen, only his shadow
giving the visual signal of his arrival, until after his first line, ·whose grave is
this?' The reciprocal idea is less emphatically suggested when Hamlet
holds the skull against his own cheek and the shadow from the skuU darkens
the side of his face, giving it a hollowed-out appearance on the line, •Make
her laugh at that!' It is as though for a moment Hamlet's presence fleshes
out the dead bone, and as though, too, there is a reciprocal movement in
BOOK REVIEWS
Ill
which the skull gives physical form to Hamlet's own preoccupation with the
tantalizing alternative to life and its obligation. The skull's symbolic
stature is, of course, discernible in any competent stage production. But
the cinema, with the selective resources of the frame and with the
photographic potential of composition through camera angle and lighting
angle, can make an especially memorable statement which governs the
response in a way which is clearly filmic rather than theatrical. (p.47)
He"Shows, too, the skill with which Olivier handles space, the symbolic suggestions that
are brought into play by the use of verticals, horizontals, and diagonals (there is a most
interesting section on stairways), and above all the meaningful care with which he moves
the camera and alters its focus. The camera in fact becomes a narrator, a narrator who is
sympathetic to the protagonist. Richard IIf, located as it is in realistic space rather than
in the expressionist Elsinore of Hamlet, may seem in some respects closer to a stage
production than either of Olivier's earlier films; but Davies shows that, in its subtly
subversive camera-work .and its sensitive manipulation of visual materials, it is still
essentially a cinematic achievement.
Welles, like Olivier, had played central Shakespearean roles on the stage, but he had
also made, in Citizen Kane ( 1941 ), one of the world's great movies; and Davies shows that
Welles's Shakespeare films are in some respects more intensely filmic than Olivier's.
Macbeth is a flawed piece, made rapidly and on a low budget; but in its visual suggestions
of an opposition between form and formlessness, its bold dislocations, its symbolic
patternings and its emphasis on conscience and the unconscious rather than on character,
it can be said to add a new dimension to the process of translating Shakespeare into the
new medium. Othello is a more sophisticated achievement: in it we see Welles
attempting to articulate, often in spatial terms, the very energies which seem to underline
Shakespeare's play. Many ofthe sequences are short; the stress is upon the intensity of
individual impressions rather than upon narrative structure. Davies points out that, in
conceiving the film, Welles has been influenced both by the critic Wilson Knight and by
the Conrad of Heart of Darkness. What has been described as the film's centre-piece
shows Othello and Iago walking along the battlements of the castle in Cyprus (the scene
was shot in Mogador). The castle represents the human determination to keep at bay
nature's wildness, which is embodied in the waves which beat against the rocks; but as the
two men walk, lago begins to break down Othello's self-confidence. "At this very point,
as man walks, elevated and at ease, patrolling the established border, the enemy strikes
from within the fortress, and the sea whose white waves roar in the distance becomes the
.internal dark sea of self-doubt" (p.ll5). It is a superb instance of the transposition of
Shakespeare's poetic drama into the language of film; and Davies records and defines it
eloquently. Chimes at Midnight seems in some respects to revert to more theatrical
tactics: it uses longer takes, and in its sympathetic treatment of Falstaff it develops
character in a way that Othello did not. But its use of space and of visual symbolism is
entirely filmic. Falstaff's traditionally personal values, for example, are constantly
associated with wood, while the new world of political calculation is seen as inhabiting a
building of stone. In its sheer variety of carefully conceived visual and emotional effects
this is perhaps the most subtle of Welles's films.
Olivier and Weiles directed their films and also took the main parts. Brook and
Kurosawa are simply directors. But the films of theirs that Davies analyses are striki~~ly
different. Brook's King Lear uses filmic means to deny many of t.he opportumti~s
offered by the film medium. It is a drama offaces, of close-ups, made With a largely static
camera; one is presented with little sense of the compl~x ~inks between pe~ple and
nature. The film has proved controversial. Those who hke It see Brook as d~l~berat~ly
employing a reductionist technique in order to evoke a cruel, deper~onahsmg existence.. Kurosawa, on the other hand, has in Throne of Blood transposed t~e Macbeth
story into remarkably visual and spatial terms. His film can be seen as stemmmg from an
112
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
inspired elaboration of the image of Birnam wood coming to Dunsinane. The central
tension in the film is between human ambition, symbolised by the castle, and nature's
inexorability, symbolised by the forest; but the interplay between these symbols is
extremely complex. Kurosawa's film also represents,
one would expect, a certain
cultural transposition: in the indoor scenes much use is made of the Noh conventions, and
Washizu, the Macbeth figure, is pictured as predestined rather than as having a
choice. It is a challenging fact that two of the greatest makers of Shakespeare films
- K urosa wa and Kozintsev - were able to keep dialogue in its place because, working as
they were in a different language, they did not have to cope with the bewitching but often
complicated power of Shakespeare's actual words.
Towards the end of his book Davies is able to draw fascinating and thought-provoking
comparisons and contrasts between the films that he has discussed. The book concludes
with an interesting chapter on the special responsibilities and difficulties of the film
actor. While a few general principles emerge clearly, perhaps the remarkable feature of
the chapter is the wide range of views expressed by the actors and directors themselves. One is forced to recognise, once again, that though film is a very distinctive and
valuable medium in its own right, it is one which - especially when it tackles such a
phenomenon as the Shakespeare canon - can work in an immense variety of ways.
Filming Shakespeare~ Plays is in no sense a specifically South African work; it is
published in Britain and aimed at the international market, and my guess is that those who
read it will acclaim it. But has the book any special message for us in South Africa? I
think it has. In affluent schools and cinemas, but more especially in those areas where (at
the moment) the educational system is poor and books are rare, these films could make a
wholly creative impact.
as
GRAHAM HOLDERNESS, NICK POTIER
and JOHN TURNER Shakespeare : The Play of
History Macmillan, 1987. x, 240 pp.
Reviewed by PHYLLIS LEWSEN
This arcane and subtle study examines Shakespeare's flexibility in recording history, as
narrative or context, and his essentially "modern" response to "the historical process".
The "play of history" means both the determining social realities of power struggle and
economic and political change, with the resultant class conflicts, and secondly, a pun on
"play" to include transformations, metamorphoses, sportive, grotesque and even
supernatural elements - such as the "three weird sisters" in Macbeth.
The three likeminded critics have selected eight plays, with a defining introduction by
Turner and a conclusion by Potter. The plays are divided and classified into three
parts. Holderness examines the chronicle plays, Richard II, Henry IV (Parts I and 2)
and Henry Vas "Theatres of History: 'The Histories' and History". Turner moves
"From Chronicle History to Romance" in King Lear and Macbeth, "The Tragic
Romances of Feudalism", and sums them up as "Tragedies of Incomplete Cathanis"
because the tragic endings and reversals do not solve the continuing problems of power
and conflict. Lastly, under the title "This is Venice: 'Between Romance and the Real'",
Potter writes that The Merchant of Venice and Othello are both "Venetian plays"because
the "new alliance between state and capital .. . in Elizabethan and Jacobean England" as
shown in its most advanced form in Venice is the matrix of both plays.
The three acute and erudite critics, with their many new insights and perspectives, leave
Shakespeare in Southern Afrkll Vol. 2, 19118, 112-114
BOOK REVIEWS
I 13
one ~tartling hiatus. They_analyse the plays as texts; but do not recreate their perennial
contmuance, always changmg, as dramas acted on the stage, produced in successively
ap~ropria~~ ways, b!illiant~y and diversely acted, and reverberating among audiences with
their own modern expenence and values. Secondly, the writers use the concepts and
style of the most tip-to-date nco-Marxist historical and literary theory. The result is a
monotonous vocabulary, often inexact and stereotyped -for example, the perpetual use
of"discourse"and "demystify" -together with highly abstract and at times impenetrable
commentary. This is in~e~persed with lucid, origi.nal analyses which enlarge one's
understandmg and appreciation. But the convoluted mtrusions detract from a work that
repays close attention and study.
Among the insights are Potter's handling of the "mystic" elements in King Lear and
Macbeth. For example, the "Weird Sisters" are pornographic in their imagery; Lady
Macbeth, as has often been stressed, is strongly sexual; but unlike her strange counterparts
she activates the catastrophic crime, the murder of Duncan, on which the play
centres. The weird sisters, by contrast, cryptically express what lurks in Macbeth's
subconscious mind. Potter, in addition, reinforces the theme of an ordered universe.
This is part of "idealist" critic E.M.W. Tillyard's famous concept of the Elizabethan
"World View"from which Shakespeare derived his values. Holderness totally rejects the
entire theory, arguing that Renaissance history was more complex, turbulent and swiftly
changing than Tillyard's simplistic ideas allowed. But Potter sees the assassination of
Duncan not as a mere political crime, but the destruction of a universal moral order (as
Tillyard sees the deposition and murder of Richard II)- "violating all the bonds between
man, nature and God". Such contextual sensitivity is rare in Radical critics.
On the other hand, what is one to make of this kind of statement, typical of all three
critics?:
.. . the artistic shape of a Shakespeare play bears a range of specific
historical significations inseparable from the particular qualities of its style
and language. Finally the plays depend on a recognitio'n of the political
meaning of cultural conflicts and competitions: differences oflanguage and
cultural code don't merely add to the rich variety and complexity of
Shakespeare's myriad-minded art - they interact on the poetic and
theatrical ground of a play's discourse to enact the antagonisms and
rapprochements of historical contradictions.
One notes the acceptance of complexity and variety. But is it not Shakespeare who gives
dramatic and poetic density to these "discourses"? Not the language and "cultural
code"? And is Shakespeare no more than the "inferred author" of the plays, which are "a
volatile, flexible, changing construction, engendered, and constantly reborn and rewritten"? Can the plays, because of their language and style, be autonomous and
self-renewing? Is not Shakespeare's creativity as dramatist, poet and historical interpreter - however little is known of him as an individual - the reason for his variety and
modernity?
By contrast, historical inferences are often clearly stated. For example Holderness
sums up Henry Vas "an incurable adherent of feudal and chivalric value_s" who ~ses the
war in France to win the loyalty of disgruntled nobles. But the rhetonc of Agmcourt
- "the band of brothers"- does not extend to the soldiers whose talk Henry hears as he
wanders in disguise through the camp on the night befor~ Agincourt: their .anger at their
needless death - if this is their fate - in a cause for which they care nothmg.
In the last section "This is Venice" Turner's clear historical grasp of the analogies
'
'
.
. .
between Elizabethan and early Jacobean England, and the great Renaissance tradmgcity,
Venice, shows Shylock not as usurer but indispensable mediator in "the emergence of the
modern, post-feudal commercial world". Through his role and fat~, "law _an~ money are
revealed as being part of a system which is inherently arbitrary m Its deepest
BOOK REVIEWS
115
(the " much-admired lecture on 'the structural problem in Henry /V"J and tragedy (the
Arden Hamlet and the Edinburgh inaugural on "The Catastrophe in Shakespearean
Tragedyj. The Introduction gives an account of Jenkins's career and appreciation of his
achievement, and there is a complete list of his publications. (It is interesting to see what
Harold Jenkins published while he was at Wits between 1936 and 1945.)
In addition to the explicit tribute of the Introduction, Fann 'd and Winnow 'd Opinions
acknowledges Jenkins's work in other ways, as in the references to the Arden edition in
three essays on Hamlet by George Walton Williams, Richard Proudfoot (Jenkins's
suceessor as general editor) and Alistair Fowler (his successor at Edinburgh). These are
among the most impressive pieces in the collection. The book cannot altogether shed the
must ofthe academic clique (the last two items in the list of Jenkins's published books and
articles are contributions tofestschriften for Kenneth Muir and Marvin Spevack, who are
among the contributors to this volume) or the exploitable publishing occasion (some of
the essays struck me as off-hand or dull or factitious, not always because of the difficulty of
unsystematic context endemic to this genre). Harold Brooks's piece on Troi/us and
Cressida (" .... its dramatic unity and genre") is an elegant instance of chatting about
Shakespeare. There does not seem to me to be any authentic idea in the essays of Brian
Gibbons (on As You Like It), Thomas Pendleton (on Measurefor Measure), Arthur
Humphreys (on the histories). Kenneth Palmer's essay on Iago's language categorises
itself out of thought. Marvin Spevack's "On the copy for Antcny and Cleopatra" should
have been saved for the variorum he is preparing. S.K. Heninger's essay on "enargeiac
speech in Shakespeare" goes over some old ground with an old rake. John W. Mahon's
essay on meals in Shakespeare would get a passing grade in graduate school and Kenneth
Muir's essay on Shakespeare and Massinger re-arranges the pieces of an old puzzle. I
find it difficult to explain my dissatisfaction with these essays. Perhaps it is partly that
they convey no sense of what is really important and partly that they have no recourse to
any order of ideas alternative to literature itself; no adequate sense of history, society or
ethics against which to measure the plays they discuss.
There remain seven essays that strike me as work of genuine interest. First, two essays
on the comedies, by the only two woman contributors: Ruth Nevo's, and Sandra Clark on
" .. . women and wit in The Merry Wives of Windsor and some other plays". Next, two
essays in the general field of the histories: E.A.J. Honigmann's on "Sir John Oldcastle;
Shakespeare's martyr" and Anthony Hammond on" . .. the Prologue and the Plural Text
in Henry V and elsewhere". And the three essays on Hamlet. These seven essays pull
the collection as a whole out of the ordinary and give us some sense offorward movement
in Shakespeare studies. They haven't been lying around waiting to spaniel their way into
a festschrift.
In the matter offestschriften, one reader's rag-bag may be another's Christmas cake: it
may be too much to ask of Fann 'd and Winnow 'd Opinions that it celebrate both its
recipient and its discipline.
114
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
sources". Antonio knows that he must pay his debt at the price of his death, for even the
Duke cannot "deny the course of law. . . . Since that the trade and profit of the
cityj Consisteth of all nations". But Shylock's vengeance reflects also the scorn and
opprobrium he has suffered as a Jew. As against Venice stands the older aristocratic
world of Belmont with its aura of music, effortless generosity and strange rituals (the
casket ceremony). Portia changes sex to fight the legal, commercial codes of Venice. Her
marvellous speech on mercy is irrelevant. But she discovers ~he legal trick that saves
Antonio and condemns Shylock. It is Venice not Belmont that prevails.
On Othello, Turner is less convincing than on Shylock. What he fails to see is that the
Moor, the great Venetian patriot, the legendary general - guardian and prop of the state
- is also the outsider. He is black; and racist insult, overt in Brabantio 's sinister warning
against Desdemona - "Look to her, Moor, have a quick eye to see: I She has deceived her
father, may do thee" - shows how sexual jealousy can so swiftly corrode the insecure
identity beneath the "once so good" persona. lago, a bitter racist and rival, understands
when and how to drop his poison. Othello is indeed roused to madness. But the lines
and dramatic shaping do not support Turner in explaining Othello as romantically loving
an "alabaster" Desdemona. Her physical passion is as strong as his. But when, dressed
in her white nightgown in her white bridal sheets she lies in despair, on the stage her
"whiter skin than alabaster" is visibly apparent, and for the moment convincingly halts
Othello. He resolves to smother her, not shed her blood. To him she is "the whore of
Venice", her beauty a sexual trap. This is conviction not rationalisation: it is far more
complex than "restless savagery of rage". Nor does Turner clarify or support his analysis
when he adds the typical abstraction: "The 'worlds' perceived by any discourse become
clear in the act of contrastive imagination, the act of perception and discourse itself. The
worlds about which different discourses talk, from which they claim to derive, to which
they address themselves, take shape as acts of those discourses, are precipitates of those
discourses". To cognoscenti of this advanced radical criticism this may be meaningful
but not to this reviewer. On the other hand, one sees genuine insight in the
straightforward comment: "There is, in the end, a bleakness about Shakespeare's two
great Venetian plays .. . "; and in the view of art in Shakespeare as "the means by which
imaginative spaces are opened up", enabling us "to look about us, backwards to the past,
around us in the present, forwards to the future, with a vision that we cannot so well
develop from the point of our involvement with real life".
JOHNW. MAHON and THOMASA. PENDLETON(eds.)"Fannedand Winnowed Opinions":
Shakespearean Essays Presented to Harold Jenkins. Methuen, 1987. 320 pp.
Reviewed by A.E. voss
This "tribute of regard and affection" consists substantially of sixteen essays on
Shakespearean themes by scholars from Britain, the United States, Europe and Israel,
who have been students, colleagues or friends of Harold Jenkins. (Ruth Nevo, whose
essay on All's Well is one of the more distinguished contributions, was Jenkins's student at
the University of the Witwatersrand in the '40s.) A number of them have edited volumes
of the Arden Shakespeare in which Jenkins was both general editor and himself
responsible for Hamlet, the scholarly fleet's flagship. The volume covers all aspects of
the canon, which is fitting in a festschrift to a man who produced outstanding criticism and
scholarship on comedy (important essays on As You Like It and Twelfth Night), history
Shok~spearr in Sout~m
A.friea Vol. 2, 1988, 114-11 S
BOOK REVIEWS
117
and Adam, the old servant in As You Like It, shocked and bewildered by the
cunning, self-interested deceivers with whom he is compelled to associate. (p.42).
Thematically, the play is seen to centre on the conflict between the unnaturally vicious
excesses ofTamora, her sons and her lover Aaron the Moor, on the one hand, and on the
other, a disintegrating Roman order whose defender is brought to the same level as his
enemies in the revenge he wreaks upon them.
Unnaturalness is, throflghout the play, the distinguishing feature of the empress and her
sons. It is she who encourages them to assault Lavinia while she is satisfying her
appetite on the Moor. In his revenge on her, Titus induces her, unwittingly, to commit
the most unnatural act of all, to eat a pie made from the flesh of her own
children. (p.44)
One migh~ expect the prefaces to the well-known plays to be less able to sustain, within
the understandable confines of their requirement, a regenerative resonance. Yet, in
meeting this challenge - no doubt a more difficult one than that of arousing interest in a
relatively little-known play - Wilders whets even a seasoned appetite through his ability
to associate the poetry of the lines with the performance potential implicit in them:
Macbeth starts and seems to fear things which sound fair, as though he
recogniz~ in the witches'words some fearful impulse which he has already,
half-consciously, sensed himself .. . his reaction suggests that they have
awakened in him an idea which fills him with dread and, in an unguarded
moment, the idea declares itself:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man
That function is smothered in surmise
And nothing is but what is not. (p.217)
In his foreword to the prefaces Wilders admits, with candour, that while he hoped "they
might be of some use to students of Shakespeare", the readers he had primarily in mind
were "television viewers, an audience as varied as the one for which Shakespeare originally
wrote, and far more numerous" (p.v). Perhaps not enough is known about the new
television audience to be able to assert, with confidence, the value of these prefaces for that
broad spectrum of potential response. But this volume stands as. an exciting and
rewarding invitation to share an understanding of some _!>f the formative influences that
operated in the composition of the plays, and of the philosophic issues that lie beneath the
level of overt dramatic action.
I 16
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
JOHN WILDERS
New Prefaces
To. Shakes~art
Basil Blackwell, 1988.
284 pp.
Reviewed by TONY DAVIES
Amid the turbulent currents which have surged through literary criticism in recent years it
is refreshing to read a set of prefaces to Shakespeare's plays written from within a belief
"that literary criticism ought to be intelligible to practically anyone"(p.viii). The most
attractive quality in Wilders's approach to the plays is his clear sense of responsibility to
his reader. The questions which would seem to lie behind the prefaces - as indeed they
must have lain behind the whole BBC television project for which they were written - are
questions about the audience. Is the Shakespearean audience of the 1980s essentially
different from earlier audiences? Is it an audience more concerned with text than with
stage presentation? Is it an audience likely to be positively engaged by televised drama so
profoundly rooted in highly complex dialogue? There are no easy answers to these
questions, but any set of prefaces which is to reach this potential audience must set out to
make the plays more generally accessible than they would be on their own, must reveal
something of the rewards to be won from a deeper consideration of the plays, and it must
do these things with clarity. Despite the difficulties imposed by the need for compression, Wilders has met these requirements with notable success.
The invigorating freshness of Wilders's writing is immediately evident from the varied
approaches he adopts in introducing the plays. He opens his preface to The Comedy of
Errors, for instance, with some intelligent and informed assumptions about Shakespeare's
early acquaintance, through his schooling, with Latin dramatists and then proceeds to
show how Shakespeare forged his play from two Plautus comedies but intensified its
theatrical effectiveness by involving already established characters in situations for which
Plautus had supplied new ones. In introducing Julius Caesar he places it briefly in the
context of the English history plays which are believed to have preceded it, relating its
concern with "politics and civil war" to theirs and then distinguishing it by its
"recognizably Roman colouring" (p.l37). Macbeth he introduces as an exploration
"more fully and deeply than in any of his other plays [into] the nature and effects of evil"
(p.214). And he opens his preface to Romeo and Juliet by isolating a single line from the
dialogue and finding in that line a key to learning "something about Shakespeare's skill in
dramatic construction and something about the tragedy itself" (p.88).
One of the problems confronting Wilders was the differing extent to which the separate
plays are familiar to their prospective audience. He manages, nevertheless, to write
about a play as rarely read and as seldom staged as Titus Andronicus with as sure and
careful a communicative thrust as he does about the well-known comedies and
tragedies. Relating this violent play to the other Roman plays, Julius Caesar, Antony
and Cleopatra and Coriolanus, Wilders goes on to explain why it is considered so clearly
apart:
The Rome in which Titw Andronicw is set is the imperial Rome of several
centuries later, notorious for its corruption and the depravity of its
emperors, and assailed by its enemies, the Goths, the northern tribes who
eventually destroyed it. (p.40)
The central character, Wilders describes as
that not uncommon Shakespearean character, the survivor from an earlier
and more honourable age, like Kent in King Lear, the Bastard in King John
Shakespeare in SoutMm Africa Vol. 2. 1988, 116-117
119
BOOK REVIEWS
. The ~ther two plays quite justifiably merit shorter chapters. In All's Well the emphasis
IS on vutue and honour, and there is an interesting analysis of the idea of value as
expressed, for ~xample, in ter~s of r~te and marketplace (in the words of Bertram). The
most worthwhile aspect of th1s section, however, is to be found in the discussion of the
open-endedness of the play and its startling modernity if one considers novels such as The
French Lieutenant's Woman. lt is a fruitful exercise, to my mind, to account for the
renewed appeal of plays such as this in terms of their awareness of their own narratological
nature, ~nd Thon;tas 's com.parison of this. play to a Breughel P.ainting also offers intriguing
perspectives. H1s analys1s of the relat1on between folk tale and realism and Shakespeare's successful location of a folk tale within a realistic setting helps to resolve some of
the troubling issues of the play. To this end he quotes Nicholas Brooke to the effect that
the play is an achievement in terms of "not a simple naturalism, but a consistently
naturalistic presentation of traditional romance magic" (p.l68).
He does much the same in the chapter on Mea!>ure for Measure by looking at the play as
a deployment of a fable within the framework of social and psychological conflicts,
commenting once again on the open-ended ness of the play, with "the audience leaving the
theatre pondering the most likely outcome" (p.l92). It is one of the strong points of the
book that there is constant reference to possibilities of staging which might aid the
interpretation of these troublesome plays, and the author is always careful to point out
that, for example, "this perfectly acceptable device does involve the director's or actor's
decision" (p.l92). He ventures a little hesitantly into the possibilities of a psychoanalytical reading of the play by quoting Harriet Hawkins's arguments about the play
containing a "veritable Pandora's box of suppressed sexuality which knows no limits ... ",
but Thomas feels that Shakespeare blocks off this line of investigation (p.l94). The most
profitable line of inquiry that Thomas opens up, though, is that the dramatist appears to
have used the structure of romantic comedy to dramatise difficult psychological,
theological and social issues, and even to raise questions about the dramatic mode itself,
creating a happy ending about which the audience has doubts (p.l94). This chapter
focuses on issues such as the relationship between people and institutions and the vexing
question as to whether sexual behaviour can be brought within the compass of the law,
and is called appropriately "Order and Authority".
The positive aspects of the book are implicit in the discussion above, and can be
recapitulated as a careful consideration of the reasons for calling these three plays problem
plays, and excluding others from the category, a painstaking consideration of the use
Shakespeare made of his source material, and interesting analyses of the plays in terms of
the criteria set for the category "problem play", together with some useful pointers for a
contemporary reading of the plays.
There are some deficiencies also, and these are of the irritating variety. For one, the
book, though very expensive in South African terms for the relatively modest format, h.as
been very poorly edited. Quite apart from stylistic weaknesses, there ar~ some q~1te
unforgivable errors, and it is not always quite clear whether they are s1mply typmg
errors. A few samples should suffice.
Some errors appear in quotations, and upon checking ~hese were found t~ bel?~g the
author himself, such as "who's" (intended as possess1ve on p.8) and app1t1te (on
p.51). He quotes Caxton unreliably: on p.42 Antenor is said to spacke moche, and on
p.ll8 to spache moche. There are obvious typing errors, such as "obviously depises"
(p.56), "mitigration" (p.72), "similies" (p.126), "all consumming" (p.l28), "to supress"
(p 179) There are other errors that tempt one to think less kindly of him, such as
"p.roph~sy" repeatedly used as a noun, "for having mis~ead" and the irritating,stylistic
propensity of using the partitive genitive (repeatedly) as m "the death of Hel~na (p.1~3)
where the other form would be preferable. Was "Diomed possess" (p.55) JUSt a ty~mg
error, and what about "reputation or fame are preca~ous"(p.ll.8).~nd "neither Achilles
nor Bertram feel" (p.196)? At times it becomes lud1crous, as m 1t has to be. defea!ed
through the immorality of fame or procreation" (p.134). There are other d1stressmg
!?
118
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTAERN AFRICA
VIVIAN THOMAS
1987.
The Moral Universe of Shakespeare's Problem Pillys. Croom Helm,
236 pp.
Reviewed by
ANNETTE L. COMBRINK
The author states in the opening chapter that the study, which was prompted by "long,
intense and often passionate discussions with my extramural students" (Preface), will be
limited to specific plays and feels that it should "be possible to formulate a satisfactory
definition of the term 'problem play' and to state precisely why, if the term is to be of value,
the designation is applicable to only three of Shakespeare's plays" (p.l). He makes a
careful analysis of the arguments for and against the incJusion in this category of various
plays (including Hamlet) and closes with a closely reasoned list of qualities which bind
together his final choice of"problem plays", viz. Troilusand Cressida (1602), All's Well ·
that Ends Well(1603) and Measure for Measure ( 1604). These qualities are that "we are
left pondering the questions", "each play possesses a crucial debate scene", "all the plays
interrogate the relationship between human behaviour and institutions", there are
consistent "contrasts between appearance and reality", "the plays provoke a considerable
degree of detachment", the plays contain "not clowns or fools but denigrators", a major
theme in all the plays is "honour", the plays are all ..peculiarly concerned with sex",
"disillusionment is cJose to the centre of these plays" and finally there is yet ..a passionate
desire to believe in total integrity". The final unifying characteristic, which to his mind
makes these plays particularly attractive and accessible to the modem consciousness, is
the toughness of the language.
The second chapter deals in great and illuminating - if repetitive - detail with
Shakespeare's use of his sources. The author's concJusion about this aspect of the
problem plays seems to be encapsulated in the rather sweeping statement that ..as in so
many ways, the modern world is only just catching up with Shakespeare in adopting a
sceptical approach to official history" (p.40), a conclusion that he seems to reach on the
basis of statements such as the discussion of Achilles's character: .. It is not surprising that
Shakespeare searched deeper for the soul of the Grecian hero and found a cowardly gang
leader rather than a magnificent warrior" (p.34).
·
The book seems to a very large extent to have been an exercise in the retrieval of Troilus
and Cressida, and the author makes some rather large claims for this play, ranging from
"Troilus and Cress ida is such a breathtakingly original play", to ..it has at last begun to
achieve the status it merits as one of Shakespeare's finest plays", ..Shakespeare's most
fascinating play is also his most disillusioning" and finally .. Troilus and Cressida is not
only the richest in imagery of the problem plays, it is the most brilliantly versatile of all
Shakespeare's plays". He attributes this to the fact that the play has a particular appeal
for audiences and readers in the last quarter of the twentieth century, referring to
particular performances which have contributed to the increasing popularity of the
play. What is important for the whole line of argumentation in the book, however, is his
statement in the concluding chapter that "nothing in the Shakespearean canon appears so
astonishingly modern and so full of resonances for contemporary society" (p.212). He
does make a persuasive case for the appeal of the play in the eighties by linking the
"fractured universe" that he perceives at the centre of the play to present-day
realities. The careful analysis of the causes underlying the conduct and continuation of
the Trojan war is very cogently done and centres tellingly on the use of imagery of business
and food. He offers a glancing look at a potentially interesting line of feminist criticism
in pointing out that Helen is ..no more than a pawn ... (she is seen] . .. as a symbol and a
commodity, something owned, which causes the war" (p.l07).
Shokespe11re in Southern Africtl Vol. 2, 1988, 118-120
120
SHAKESP EARE IN SOUTHER N AFRICA
infelicities of style, such as" Angelo is being cautioned of the need for a balanced outlook "
(p.l98), and "The inadequacy of his calculation and misplaced idealism are brought in to
sharp focus in his dying words" (p.214), and the occasional truly fatuous remark such as
"Here is Shakespeare at his most delicate and subtle, adopting a style which is uniquely
fitted to this play.. (p.l56). There is also a quality of the anecdotal which does not quite
ring true in a book of this kind.
Thus, while some valuable insights are offered and the style is generally lucid and
accessible (to under-graduate students as well), the book as a whole tends to be somewhat
repetitive. An over-all tightening of the argument would be welcome, and the editing
should be looked at very critically indeed.
Invention of Othello: A Study in &rly Modern English
Macmillan Press, 1988. 286 pp.
MARTIN ELLIOT Shakespeare's
Reviewed by JANET UNTERSLAK
Although the play is often described as one of Shakespeare's simplest, Othello has created
as much passionate discussion - and disagreement - as any other of Shakespeare's
works. In this country, interest in Othello was rekindled by the recent Market Theatre
production which stressed the play's particular application in a South African context.
All criticism, no matter how fascinated with Iago's machinations, or intrigued by
· Desdemona's character, must return to Othello himself, because an audience's understanding of his personality, motives and reactions influences its assesment of every other
character, and of all the action of the play.
Martin Elliot's new work focuses almost entirely on the character of Othello. Having
comprehensively reviewed a vast spectrum of twentieth century criticism, to which he
limits himself, he concludes that the critics express merely "powerful opinion.. as a result
of "lack of engagement" with the text itself. Elliot reviews the major critics' contributions to the debate: while finding Wilson Knight's essay to be "superb.., he argues that
Wilson Knight "seems to be celebrating Othello's style rather than exploring it". Elliot
finds "a similar impressionism" in F.R. Leavis's work and in A.C. Bradley's lectures.
Turning to later criticism, Elliot applauds the "increasingly informed and scholarly
exploration of Othello.. - and he provides a succinct summary of a number of works
covering examinations of the text, the cultural and social background, Shakespeare's
sources, and the play in performance - yet still asserts that the central controversy has not
been adequately answered. Elliot traces the beginning of this controversy to E. E. Stoll's
attack on the charact er of Othello as psychologically implausible, which initiated a
sustained flow of criticism supporting or refuting this view. Elliot briefly reviews the
critics on both sides, acknowledging his debt to Derek Traversi's essay.
Finally, Elliot asserts that no full-length critical work purporting to prove the
consistency of the creation of the character of Othello has yet examined the text in
sufficient detail to do so. He has taken upon himself the task of such an analysis: "My
concern in this book is to define and examine Shakespeare's inscription of Othello's
undoubted nobility by certain traits that help to explain, motivate and prefigure the
murder of Desdemona. I shall be attempting to demonstrate ... that the murderous
Othello of Acts III-V does develop from the noble Othello of Acts I and II- but I shall be
doing so by a means of extensive lexical and syntactical analysis that has not been
attempted hitherto".
Shakes~re in
Southern A/riCG Vol. 2, 1988, 120-122
BOOK REVIEWS
121
He refers.exclusivel~ to both the First F ?lio ( 1623) and Thomas Walkley's First Quarto
(1622). Hts method. IS to research meamngs, first in the OED, then in lexicographical
works such as Sc~m1dt (Shakespeare-Lexicon) and Onions (A Shakespeare Glossary),
and to cons~lt a ~tde arr~y ~f other scholars of Shakespeare's language including William
Emps?m, Gt?rgiO Melchton, and Molly Mahood, as well as the emendations and glosses
ofvanous editors of the texts of Othello. Elliot's lexical analyses take into account not
only accepted Shakespearean usage but also any other meanings current in Shakespeare's
day. He does sometimes indulge in stressing what he admits are flimsy lexical echoes
although he optimistically adds, "in aggregate they do seem to indicate something of the
consistency in Shakespeare's characterisation". His argument is elsewhere so solid that
he does not need to cause the reader to balk over small issues such as these. Faced with
variations in the Folio and Quarto texts, Elliot subjects both to the same rigorous analysis,
providing insight into the fascinating task of editorial decisions.
·
As the framework of his chapters, Elliot has selected four quotations from the play
which he feels provide a basis for a detailed examination of the character of Othello. Using
these quotations, Elliot studies Othello's register and diction, his oratorical devices and
use of imagery, his syntax and ideas. From this study, Elliot makes a number of
interesting observations, which prove his major argument that Othello as character is
consistent throughout the play, and reconciles the two views of Othello, as noble and
murderous. This reconciliation rests on two main foundations: the use of language and
syntax, and the development of personality.
Throughout the play, Othello employs a rhetoric distinguished from that of other
characters. This rhetoric includes the use of a balanced syntax involving synonyms and a
remarkable amount of tautology; in its most basic form it emerges as the repetition of
single words; this tendency can be observed even when the more flowing rhythms and
elevated diction have disappeared under the pressure of emotional stress, such as in the
"Othello's Occupation's gone" speech, and later, in the "epilepsy scene". In each case,
Elliot isolates morphemic, semantic or lexical repetition, and offers convincing interpretations for Othello's use of such structures. Elliot cites and discusses many examples,
arguing that not only does Othello use tautology "as something of a substitute for
enquiring thought" and to avoid confronting his own unease and anxiety, but also to
convince himself of the righteousness of his own views. And Elliot's lengthy discussion is
extremely persuasive.
Developing Madeleine Doran's concept ofthe "asseverative conditional", Elliot studies
Othello's tendency to make suppositions, and then act and behave as if the impossible
conditions he mentioned have become true. In addition, Elliot observes also Othello's
use of controlled rhetoric in situations of confrontation or emotional stress where
paradoxically one would expect disjointed syntax. From the many instances he cites, it
is evident that Othello, even when his language is excessive and immoderate, employs a
structured syntax and a regular rhythm as a ineans of avoiding uncertainty. A related
aspect is Othello's use of "pictorial"language, which can populate Othello's mind with
fantastic creatures, but which does not help him to relate to the world of ordinary
men. Even the examination of pronouns is stimulating: for example, Othello's use of
"me/ my" and "you" as contrasted with Desdemona's "wefour" encourages the reader's
fascinated investigation.
The "self-preoccupation" that Leavis noted, Elliot develops through a painstaking
examination of many of Othello's utterances. Elliot examines Othello's declaration to be
"free, and bounteous to [Desdemona's] mind"(l.3), which can be seen "as a momentous
standard against which Othello's verbal and physical actions can be judged", and clearly
shows that Othello fails in generosity to Desdemona. This tendency is traced from
Othello's insensitive response to the Council's sending him to Cyprus, through the scenes
of confrontation, to the final dismissal in murder.
Related to this discussion is Elliot's interesting examination of the lexical range of"free"
in Othello's statement "But that I love the gentle Desdemona,/ I would not my unhoused
free condition/ Put into Circumscription .. . ". Elliot's broad discussion includes a study
•
BOOK REVIEWS
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Romeo and Juliet.
Twelfth Night.
Oxford University Press, 1981; rpt. 1986.
Oxford University Press, 1982; rpt. 1986.
Oxford University Press, 1986.
XX,
XXXIV,
XXIX. 90
123
pp.
127 pp.
115 pp.
Reviewed by S.G. KOSSICK.
All five of these texts (and presumably the other three in lhe series, Julius Caesar, The
Merchant of Venice and Henry IV, Part I) are prefaced by a more or less identical"Letter
to all students of this text" from the editor. It is a pity that since the first edition in 1977
Roma Gill has not considered scrapping this rather patronising letter with its irritating
italics ("I don't kno~ where you are"; "the play can be understood and enjoyed"; "I want
you to share my enjoymentj. Talking down to school children is never a good idea,
particularly when one is trying to encourage them to explore something as complex as a
play by Shakespeare. The prefatory letter ends with the admission that "I may well have
missed something" which, in view of the modest scope of these editions, hardly seems in
question.
Despite the uninviting start, these Oxford School Shakespeare's do have points in their
favour, including a brief introductory note designed to highlight a key element in each
play. For instance, in Macbeth the historical setting is discussed, in A Midsummer
Night's Dream the delicately interwoven plots, and in Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare's
treatment is informatively contrasted with Arthur Brooke's The Tragica/1 History of
Romeus and Juliet. There are also useful character descriptions, a scene-by-scene
summary of the action and, after the text, possible approaches in the form of mock
examination questions, a note on Shakespeare and an approximate chronology of the
works.
The texts themselves are well set out with parallel notes on a double-column
page. This makes for easy reading, especially as the note numbers correspond with line
numbers. The system has its limitations, however, as it usually allows only one note per
line, resulting in mere glosses or brief paraphrases. As footnotes do not occur at all
throughout the series, this means that no really interpretative reading is offered and no
attention is paid to patterns of imagery or development of theme.
While the editions may afford adequate help for the average British schoolchild, I doubt
whether they are sufficiently full for South Africa where the teacher is often in as much
need of guidance as the pupil. The Macbeth text, for example, specifically reprinted for
this market, makes no mention in the notes to the opening scene of the disruption of
natural order which is to be so important a factor in the action. The footnotes in the
Bankside edition, on the other hand, explain this point in detail and direct the student's
attention to the way in which the witches' refrain - "Fair is foul, and foul is fair"
- "reverses moral reality". The Oxford text leaves the reader to deduce this for himself,
offering only semantic and factual explanations.
Similarly, in the opening scene of Twelfth Night, one might expect a schools'edition to
give some clue to the self-regarding tone of the Duke's speech, or what the New Cambridge
editor calls his "rhetorically mannered style". But in fact none of the Oxford School
Shakespeare editions gives this sort of suggestion which could be invaluable, especially in
notes to the plays' opening scenes. For later scenes, too, an indicati~n of ~he type ?f
diction used and its significance seems to me essential. The complexity of tmagery m
Romeo's final speech, for instance, surely demands elucidation in any .schools' editi~n, but
here again only the briefest "translations" are suppli~d. .so, too, wtth th~ co!Dedtes~ n.o
effort is made to explain the humour or to come to gnps wtth s.hakespeare s ~1t. Thts 1s
not to suggest that the series is without merit, but rather that 1ts usefulness m the South
African context is somewhat circumscribed.
122
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
of the potential conflict in a marriage which brings Othello inside Venetian civilisation.
Elliot touches very briefly on the racial issues; he is much more interested in the ..barbarian
autonomy of a man whose dislike of the gentle condition can be worked on for evil
purpose". This discussion leads to an enumeration and analysis of images of confinement constantly expressed by Othello. Elliot indicates how these ideas can be seen in
relation to Othello's sense of his Fate and Destiny, showing that this ..ability to assign
responsibility outside himself" ~ another consistent characteristic of the protagonist.
Subtly differing from Traversi's idea of Othello's ..revealing tendency to selfdramatization", Elliot describes Othello's habit of ..self-publication, a trait that informs
the utterance throughout and takes the place, at critical moments, of argument,
information, communication". Again, Elliot isolates this trait early in the play, and
indicates its recurrence in all of Othello's major statements. Although Elliot defends
Othello from the charges of boasting or histrionics, he does point out that Othello's habit
of presenting himself leaves him vulnerable to the exploitation and manipulation of lago-,
and prevents him from interacting adequately with those around him. In addition, he
sides with those critics who argue that Othello becomes jealous very quickly. Indeed,
Othello's concern with his own image and reputation leads inevitably to a self-centred
response to situations, and, Elliot cogently argues, to the murder.
Elliot establishes contrasts between the soliloquies of Hamlet and Macbeth, and those
of Othello, and it should be noted in passing that, in cross-references such as these, Elliot
draws on characters as divergent as Antony and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, but not all are
felicitous - a comment such as "Admirable Desdemona ... What a Portia this heroine
is!" demands further explanation.
Although Elliot works within the parameters of language, his discussions range widely
over other relevant issues. Included are discussions of image patterns and motifs, and of
major themes; entertaining digressions, and detailed examinations of scenes not involving
Othello, such as the .. Willow Scene". Closer to his central concern, Elliot indicates how
an examination of language leads not only to a better understanding of the psychological
plausibility of the characters, but also to an awareness of how Shakespeare skilfully
combines the needs of theatre and the plot with the personalities of the characters. There
are interesting asides about tone, acting, dramatic juxtapositions. Nor does Elliot ignore
prosody and rhyme, such as a brief but intriguing discussion of couplets in Act I scene 3.
Martin Elliot's scholarly examination of lexicon and syntax, the ..literary means by
which Othello was invented", is both illuminating and entertaining. This book is
indispensable for all students of OtheHo and for anyorie interested in Shakespeare's
language. Elliot asks how his study can help the actor and director, and concludes- not
apparently himself convinced - that perhaps its value lies in giving the actor ..an
augmenting knowledge of Shakespeare's rich subtleties". This is not to say that Martin
Elliot's work will not be appreciated by the general reader: his style is generally lucid and
simple; his observations are stimulating, and well-structured. The few irritating printing
errors (a slight quibble) in no way detract from the quality and enjoyment of this
worthwhile addition to Shakespearean criticism.
ROMA GILL (ed.)
Macbeth.
94 pp.
Oxford Sch(lo/ Shakespeare:
Oxford University Press, 1977; rpt. first South African edition 1987. XXVII,
As You Uke It.
Oxford University Press, 1977; rpt. 1978. XXVII, 110 pp.
Shakespeare in Southern Africa Vol. 2, 1988, 121-123
SHAKESPEARE TRANSLATIONS
Breytenbach, Breyten, tr. (Afrikaans)
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus. Vertaal deur Breyten Breytenbach.
Kaapstad: Buren, 1970.
Hillier (UNISA)
Andre Philippus Brink was born at Vrede in the Orange Free State in 1935,
educated at Potchefstroom University and the Sorbonne and is Professor of
Afrikaans at Rhodes University. His published work includes Lobola vir
diei..ewe (1962), Die Ambassadeur (1963), Looking on Darkness (1975), An
Instant in the Wind (1976), A Dry, White Season (1979), A Chain of Voices
(1982) and States of Emergency (1988).
Brink, Andre P., tr. (Afrikaans)
Romeo and Juliet
Die tragedie van Romeo en Juliet. In Afrikaans vertaal
deur Andre P. Brink. Kaapstad: Human& Rousseau, 1975.
Hillier
----:. tr. (Afrikaans)
Richard Ill
Richard III. In Afrikaans vertaal deur Andre P. Brink.
Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau, 1969.
Hillier UNISA
Coertze, L.I., tr. (Afrikaans)
Macbeth
Macbeth. Vertaal deur L.I. Coertze; tekeninge Nerine
Desmond. Cape Town: Stewart, [1948].
Hillier
- - - . tr. (Afrikaans)
Hamlet
Hamlet, prins van Denemarke. Vertaal deur L.I. Coertze;
met tekeninge van Maud Sumner. Kaapstad: Stewart,
1945.
Hillier, UNISA
De Klerk, D.P., tr. (Afrikaans)
Hamlet
Hamlet, prins van Denemarke. In Afrikaans vertaal deur
D.P. de Klerk. Kaapstad: Tafelberg, 1959.
Hillier, UNISA
Du Toit, D'Arcy, tr. (Afrikaans)
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo en Juliet. Vertaal deur D'Arcy du Toit. [S.l.: s.n.
197?]. Unp. mimeograph.
JPL
Willem J. du Plooy Erlank was born in 1901 in a concentration camp in the
Western Transvaal and died in 1979. His pen-name "Eitemal" was a
re-arrangement ofhis school nickname, "Lammetjie ·~ His published work
includes Phaeton, en ander gedigte (1931), the play "En Labbe de liefde niet ... "
(1935), Jaffie, 'n eselromannetjie (195?), and Skaduwees teen die muur
(1958).
125
A Bibliography of Translations of Shakespeare's Plays into Southern
African Languages
Prepared by the REFERENCE STAFF OF THE DURBAN MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
The following libraries participated in the survey and we are most grateful to them for
their willingness and interest.
BPL
CTCL
ELML
HILLIER
JPL
NSL
RU
SA LIB
TPA
UCT
UFH
UN
UN ISA
UOFS
us
uw
Bloemfontein Public Library
Cape Town City Library
East London Municipal Library
Hillier Shakespeare Collection - Durban Municipal
Library
Johannesburg Public Library
Natal Society Library
Rhodes University
South African Library
Transvaal Provincial Administration Library & Museum
Service
University of Cape Town
University of Fort Hare
U Diversity of Natal
University of South Africa
University of the Orange Free State
U Diversity of Stellenbosch
University of the Witwatersrand
(Listed alphabetically according to translator)
Samuel Jonas Baloyi (bom 1914) wrote the short story Murhandziwani (1949) and inaugurated
original Tsonga drama with Xaka (1958), an historical play dealing with the conquests of
Tshaka. He translated Booker T. Washington's autobiogrtiphy Up from Slavery (1953) and
re-wrote the Rev. Cuendet's account of the Swiss Mission in South Africa under the title Rhuma
mina (1965).
Baloyi, Samuel Jonas, tr. (Tsonga)
Hillier (UNISA)
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar. Muhundzuluxi hi Xitsonga i Samuel Jonas
Baloyi. Johannesburg: Swiss Mission in South Africa.
[197-?]
Breyten Breytenbacb (bom 1939) is a major AfrikaDns poet whose writings
include Sinking Ship Blues (1977), And Death as White as Words (1978), In
Africa Even the Flies are Happy: Selected Poems 1964-1977 (1978),
Mouroir: Mirromotes of a Novel (1984) and The True Confessions of an
Albino Terrorist (/985),·the latter two works growing out ofhis experiences
as a political prisoner in South Africa.
Shakespeare in Southern Africa Vol. 2, 1988, 124-130
126
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Erlank, Willem J. du Plooy, tr. (Mrikaans)
Hamlet
Hamlet. Vertaling deur Eitemal. Kaapstad: Tafelberg,
1973.
Hillier, UNISA
- - -.. tr. (Mrikaans)
Macbeth Macbeth.
Rousseau, 1965.
UNISA
Vertaal deur Eitemal.
Human &
Hillier, UNISA
- - - . tr. (Mrikaans)
A. Midsummer Night~ Dream
Midsomemagdroom: Shakespeare se "Midsummer night's
dream". Vertaal deur Eitemal. Kaapstad: Human &
Rousseau, 1974.
Hillier, UNISA
- - - . tr. (Afrikaans)
The Winter~ Tale
Die wintersprokie. Vertaling deur W.J. du P. Erlank.
Kaapstad: Tafelberg, 1975.
Uys Kri1e (1910-1986) was born in Swe/lendam and educated at Stellenbosch University. An important Afrikaans poet, prose writer and dramatist, he was an excellent translator of French and Spanish poetry and also
, attempted successfully a variety of genres in English. His work includes"
Ballade van die groot begeer, en ander gedigte ... (1960), Gedigte, 1927-1940
(1971). Die loodswaaiers: 'n komedieklug (1977) and Die sluipskutter en
ander eenbedrywe (1985).
Krige, Uys, tr. (Mrikaans)
King Lear
Koning Lear. Vertaal deur Uys Krige.
HAUM, 1971.
- - - . tr. (Mrikaans)
Twelfth Night
Twaalfde nag. Vertaal deur Uys Krige.
HAUM, 1967.
Hillier, UNISA
Kaapstad:
Hillier, UNISA
Kaapstad:
Kroeze, J.H., tr. (Mrikaans)
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Julia: Shakespeare se Romeo and Juliet. In
Afrikaans deur J.H. Kroeze. Johannesburg: Boekhandel
de Jong, 1975.
Hillier, UNISA
Mahloane, Isaac E., tr. (Southern Sotho)
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo le J u1iet. Simplified. Mazenod: Catholic Centre,
[196?].
JPL, UOFS
Daniel Francois Malherbe (188/-/969) was hom at Daljosafat in the Paarl
District. A noted Afrikaans poet. dramatist, novelist and man of letters.
his volumes ofpoetry inClude Klokgrassies (1914), In Rivier en Veld (1922),
Somerdae (1928) and Brood op die Weg (1939); among his plllys are
Koringboers (1921), Die mense van Groenkloof (1925), Op die trekpad
(1931) and H ulle het 'n boom afgekap ( 1953); and among his novels Vergeet
Nie (1913)andDie Profeet (1947)
SHAKESPEARE TRANSLATIONS
Malherbe, D.F., (Afrikaans)
Hillier, UNISA
The Merchant of Venice
Die Koopman van Venesie. Vertaal deur D.F. Malherbe.
Johannesburg: APB., 1949.
King Edward Masinga was born in lnanda in 1904. After a career as a
school teacher (1928-1941) he became Zulu programme organuer and the
first black announcer at the SABC. His performed works include Chief
Abeve, Chief Below (published, 1945) and "The Man of God': "The
life of Christ Jesus" and "The Life of St. Paul"for the SABC. He is
proprietor of the Gibeligagasi Restaurant in Umlazi.
Masinga, K.E., tr. (Zulu)
JPL
Hamlet
UHamlet, inKosana yase Denmark. [S.l.: s.n.], 1954.
- - -.. tr. (Zulu)
JPL
Julius Caesar
UJulius Caesar. [S.l. :s.n.], 1955.
- -.. tr. (Zulu)
JPL
King Lear
Indaba elungiselelwe uKusaKazwa ngo moya, ibalwe ngu
K.E. Masinga, eiyitatululu ezindabeni zika Shakespeare,
ezibalwe ngo Charles no Mary Lamb. [S.l.: s.n.], 1952.
- - -.. tr. (Zulu)
JPL
Macbeth
UMacbeth. Umdlalo woKusaKazwa ngomoya ... ubalwe
... wakhiswa . .. ngu K.E. Masinga. [S.l . : s.n.], 1954.
- -.. tr. (Zulu)
JPL
The Merchant of Venice
Umthengisi wase Venice.
Durban: K.E. Masinga, 1952.
- - -.. tr. (Zulu)
JPL
Romeo and Juliet
URomeo no Juliet. [S.l. : s.n.], 1953.
- -. tr. (Zulu)
JPL
The Tempest
The Tempest: Isivunguvungu. Umdlalo wokusaKazwa
ngomoya . . . ubalwe . . . wakhishwa . . . ngu K.E.
Masinga. [S.l. : s.n.], 195-?
Mdledle, B.B., tr. (Xhosa)
Julius Caesar
UJulius Caesar. Johannesburg: APB,[1957?]. (Another
edition with a preface date 1956, same publisher. JPL,
NSL, UW. 1959 edition, SALIB).
CTCL, JPL, UCT
127
SHAKESPEARE TRANSLATIONS
Phatudi, N.C., tr. (Northern Sotho)
Henry IV Part I
Kgosi Henri IV. Ka Sepedi ke N.C. Phatudi.
Better Books, 1973.
129
Hillier, UNISA
Pretoria:
--~.
Hillier
- - - . tr. (Northern Sotho)
The Merchant of Venice
Mogwebi wa Venisi. Cape Town: Maskew Miller, 1985.
BPL, SALIB, TPA
tr. (Northern Sotho)
Julius Caesar
Julease Sisare. Mofetoledi ke N.C. Phatudi. 2nd ed.
Johannesburg: Educum, 1982. (UNISA has Johanrtesburg: Better Books, 1971 ).
Sol. T. Plaatje (1876-1932), a pioneer South African journalist, helped
found the A.N.C in 1912 and played an important role in its continued
existence. He published the important political work, Native Life in South
Africa (1916), the first novel in English by a black South African (Mhudi,
published 1930)and,posthumously, the only diary ofthe siege of Mafeking
by a black participant (1973,· reissued 1984 as The Siege of Mafeking).
Plaatje, Solomon Tshekiso, tr. (Tswana)
The .Comedy of Errors
Diphoso-phosho. Morija: Morija Printing, 1930. (1944
ed. SALIB) (Enl. rev. ed.- Lobatsi: Bechuanaland Book
Centre, 1962 JPL).
JPL, UCT, UNISA
- - -.. tr. (Tswana)
Julius Caesar
Dintshontsho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara. Di fetoletswe mo
puong ya SEtswana ke Solomon Tshekiso Plaatje; di
siamositswe e bile di rulagantswe ke G.P. Lestrade. (1937
ed. Wits.) Johann'esburg: Univ. of the Witwatersrand,
1945. 4th ed. 1954 (1945 & 1954 Hillier, 1973 UNISA).
Hillier, UNISA
Pohl, Anna S., tr. (Afrikaans)
(See also entries under Neethling-Pohl]
Antony and Cleopatra
Antonius en Cleopatra. Johannesburg: Dalro, 1969.
JPL, UNISA, UW
- - - . tr. (Afrikaans)
Coriolanus
Die tragedie van Coriolanus. Vertaal deur AnnaS. Pohl
en nagesien deur Cor Bekker. Johannesburg: Dalro, 1970.
Hillier, UNISA
- - -.• tr. (Mrikaans)
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar. Pretoria: Van Schaik, 1966. (1964 ed.
(S.l. : s.n.] JPL).
BPL, ELML, Hillier,
NSL, UCT, UN,
UOFS
- - - . tr. (Afrikaans)
The Merchant of Venice
Die Koopman van Veniesee. Johannesburg: Dalro, 1969.
1981 ed. TPA.
JPL, NSL, UCT,
UOFS, UW
uw
.c
128
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Hill~er,
- - -.. tr. (Xhosa)
UCf, UNISA
Macbeth
UMacbeth. Uguqulalwe esiXhoseni ngu B.D. Mdledle.
Johannesburg: APB, (1960). 1959 (UCf).
- - - . tr. (Xhosa)
Twelfth Night
Ubusuku beshum' elinambini mhlawumbi oko uKholwa
KuKu ... Lovedale: Lovedale Press, 1960.
JPL, NSL, RU,
SALIB, UCf, US
Namuhuja, Hans D., tr. (Ndonga)
BPL, JPL, SALIB,
UCf, UNISA
Julius Caesar
Iliusa Mukeesari.
Windhoek: Gamsberg, 1981.
Anna Neethlinc-Pohl was educated at Graaff-Reinet and at Stellenbosch
University. A noted actress and director she Juu been a leading influence in
Afrikaans theatre and Juu also directed film and television. Under the
pseudonym A.P. Niehaus she has written Skewe Potte (1946). Ken u Haar
(1950). Die Susters Dupont (1946) and My Liewe Magda (1950), among
other works. [See also entries under Pohlj
Neethling-Pohl, Anna, tr. (Afrikaans)
. Hillier
Othello
Othello. Vertaal deur Anna Neethling-Pohl; nagesien
deur C.J. Engelbrecht. Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau,
1976.
Nemudzivhadi, Mphaya, tr. (Venda)
Hillier, UNISA
Julius Caesar
Makhaula-mbilu a Julius Caesar. Mutalutshedzeli ndi
Mphaya Nemudzivhadi. Pretoria: Better Books, (197-1).
Kemuele Edward Ntsane was born 4 April, /920 at Kholojane Village in the Leribe District of
Lesotho. His publications include two volumes ofpoetry, 'Musa-pelo (1946) and 'Musa-pelo, 11
(1961); three novels, Masoabi, ngoan'a Mosotho'a kejeno (1947), Bana ba Roma (/954)and Bao
Batho (1968); and a novelette. Makumane (1961).
Ntsane, K.E., tr. (Southern Sotho)
The Merchant of Venice
Mohwebi wa Venisi. Johannesburg: APB, 1961.
NSL, RU, SALIB,
TPA, UCf, UFH,
UOFS, US, UW
Cedric Namedi Makepeace Phatudi was born at Molsgat in the Northern
Transvaal. 27 May /912 and he died in /986. A distinguished educationalist, he became Minister of Education and Culture in the Lebowa
Government in 1968. serving in that capacity until he became ChiefMinister
in 1972. His published works include a nowl. Tladi wa dikgati (1958); a
play. Kg6si Mmutle III (/966)and a translation ofRobinson Crusoe (1958).
A Shakespeare Bibliography
of Periodical Publications in South Africa in 1987.
P~epared
by Shirley A. Leibbrandt
Birringer, Johannes H. "Texts, Plays and Instabilities." SATJ 1.1 (1987) 4-16.
Explores the relationship between actor, text and audience and between performance and the history of dramatic texts. Refers to Antony and Cleopatra and
King Lear.
Brad brook, M.C. "The Cause of Wit in Other Men." Shakespeare in Southern Africa
I (1987) 10-18. Looks at the historic adaptations and textual manipulations of A
Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear.
Burdette, Livia. "The Hillier Shakespeare Collection: Origin, Scope and Prospects."
Shakespeare in Southern Africa I ( 1987) 62-64.
Chapman, Michael. "The Voice of Poetry: Poetry and the Imagination." Crux 21.1
( 1987) 19-26. Considers various conceptions of the poet and the necessary moral
substance and imaginative qualities of poetry. Reference to A Midsummer Night's
Dream (p.l9).
- - - . "The Voice of Poetry II: The Oral Poet." Crux21.3 (1987)51-60. Refers to
the balladic element in Shakespeare's tragedies with allusions to Macbeth.
- - - . "The Voice of Poetry Ill." Crux 21.4 ( 1987) 11-19. In discussing the style
and expression of love poetry, the writer alludes to 'Shall I compare thee to a
summer's day?' (p.l3).
Damant, D.G. "Some Reflections on Shakespeare's 'Anti-Clericalism'." Shakespeare
in Southern Africa I ( 1987) 39-45.
Edgecombe, Rodney. "A View of Shakespeare and Ballet." Shakespeare in Southern
Africa 1 ( 1987) 46-51. Discusses some Shakespearean ballets that represent the
primary trends in adaptation.
- - - . "Spiritual Bookkeepers." English Studies in Africa 30.1 (1987) 43-54.
Reference to Macbeth (pp.47, 48) and to Shakespeare's Sonnet /V(p.45).
Eve, Jeanette. Rev. of Shakespeare Stories, by Leon Garfield. Shakespeare Society of
Southern Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.1 ( 1987) 8.
...
Gardner, Mary. "Teaching Antony and Cleopatra". Shakespeare Society ofSouthern
Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.2 (1987) 11-13.
Gubb, Lin. "Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa." Crux 21.4 (1987) 42-43.
origin, aims and projects of this society are briefly set out.
Shakespeare in Africa Vol. 2, 1988, 131-134
The
130
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
- - - . tr. (Afrikaans)
The Winter~ Tale
Die Wintersprokie. Johannesburg: Dalro, 1970.
JPL, UCT
Lettie Disang Raditladi was born in July, /9/0, at Serowe in what is now Botswana and, when he
died, in June 197/, was a member of the Legislative Council of Botswana. He published three
plays, Motswasele II (1945), Dintshontsho tsa lorat6 (1956), Sekgoma I (1967) and a volume of
poetry, Sefalana sa menate (1961).
.,
Raditladi, L.D., tr. (Tswana)
Macbeth
Macbeth. Translated into Tswana by L.D. Raditladi.
Johannesburg, Bona P., [196-?]. (Reprint by Educum,
1986, UW).
Hillier, JPL
Michael Ontepctse Martinus Seboni was born July 9, 19/2 at Molepolele in what is now
Botswana. He was Professor of Empirical Education at Fort Hare and published a popular
childrens' novel, Rammona wa Kgaladgadi (1947), two nove&, Kgosi lsang Pilane (1958) and
Koketsa-Kitso ya lefatshe (1965),· a volume ofpraise poems, Maboko maloba le maabane (1949)
and a collection offolklore Diane le maele a Setswana (1964), among other works.
Seboni, M.O.M., tr. (Tswana)
King Henry IV Part I
Kgosi Henry wa bone. Johannesburg: APB, 1952.
JPL, SALIB, UCT,
UOFS, US
- - -.. tr. (Tswana)
The Merchant of Venice
Morekisi wa Vcnisi. Lovedale: Lovedale Press, 1961.
JPL, SALIB, UCT,
UOFS, US, UW
Shange, Sibusiso O.L., tr. (Zulu)
The Merchant of Venice
Urnhwebi Wasevenisi. Translated byO.L. Sibusiso Shange.
Pieterrnaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter, [19-?].
Hillier
Shilote, Felix M., tr. (Tsonga)
Macbeth
Macbeth. Vahundzuluxi i Felix M. Shilote na Charlotte
Nkondo. Braarnfontein: Sasavona Pub., 1982.
Hillier, UNISA
Van Elders, J., tr. (Afrikaans)
The Taming of the Shrew
Die ternrning van 'n rissie. Johannesburg: Dalro, 1969.
BPL, CTCL, JPL,
UCT, UNISA, UW
The Shakespeare Society would be most grateful ifscholars could notify the Editors when
further translations of Shakespeare come to light. Ofparticu/Qr interest would be the
'lost translations by Sol. T. Plaatje (see Stephen Gray, ••Plaatje ~Shakespeare·: English in
Africa 4.1 (1977) 4). If sufficient materia/to warrent it emerges, a supplement may be
published at a future date.
For help with the brief biographical sketches, the Editors would like to thank Tim
Couzins, Craig Mackenzie, Peter Mtuze and Chris Swanepoe/, and the following organisations: 1820 Foundation, Nasiona/e Afrikaanse Letterkundige Museum, National
English literary Museum, Times Media Limited.
BIBLIOORAPY
133
- - - . Rev. of Julius Caesar in the Shakespeare Made Easy Series, by Alan Durband.
Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.1 ( 1987)
7-8.
- - - . Rev. of Shakespeare: The 'Lost Years', by E.A.J. Honigmann. Shakespeare
and his Contemporaries: Essays in Comparison, ed. E.A.J. Honigmann. Shakespeare in Southern Africa I (1987) 77-79.
• t
•
"The Problem of Form and the Role of the Duke in Measure for Measure."
Theoria 69 ( 19.87) 41-52. ~look at the problematic form and self-analytical quality
of the play w1th comparative references to The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's
Dream and The Comedy of Errors.
Prosalendis, Sandra. Rev. of Shakespeare Made Easy, by Alan Durband. SATJ 1.1
( 1987) 125-129. Considers Durband 's series as being valuable for first-time readers.
Rhodes University, Department of Librarianship. "A Shakespeare Bibliography of
Periodical Publications in South Africa in 1985 and 1986." Shakespeare in
Southern Africa I ( 1987) 85-87.
Salomon, C. Rev. of The Tempest (Macmillan Master Guides). Shakespeare Society
of Southern Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.2 (1987) 14.
Semple, Hilary. "Othello" at Johannesburg's Market Theatre." Shakespeare in
Southern Africa I (1987) 67-69.
- - - . "Shakespeare and Race." Shakespeare in Southern Africa I (1987) 30-38.
- - - . "The Idea's the Thing." Shakespeare Society ofSouthern Africa: Occasional
Papers and Reviews 2.2 (1987) 3-6. A review of Pact's production of Hamlet and
The Taming of the Shrew, Wits' Drama School's Romeo and Juliet and the SABC's
The Merchant of Venice, during April and May in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa: Newsletter 2.1 ( 1987) 1-6.
Society's activities and projects.
Reports on the
Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa: Newsletter 2.2 (1987) 1-4.
Sheldon, Norman G. "A History of the Shakespeare Mulberry in Stellenbosch."
Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.2 ( 1987)
1-3. The legend of Shakespeare's famous Mulberry tree.
Stadler, A. W. Rev. of Political Shakespeare: New Essays in Cultural Materialism, eds.
Jon athan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield. Shakespeare in Southern Africa I ( 1987)
75-77.
Steadman, Ian. Rev. of That Shakespeherian Rag: Essays on a Critical Process, by
Terence Hawkes. Shakespeare in Southern Africa I (1987) 81-82.
.
Styan, J .L. "Understanding Shakespeare in Pedormance." Shakespeare in South~rn
Africa 1 ( 1987) 19-30. How the Shakespearean plays, as pedormmg arts, result m a
shared experience between the audience and the actors.
Vander Gucht, Rosalie. "Shakespeare's Verse and the Actor." Shakespeare Society of
Southern Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.1 ( 1987) 1-4. ·
132
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Hutchings, G.J.M. "Elizabethan Lyric: Poetry for singing - Poetry for speaking."
English Studies in Africa 30.2 (1987) 57-68. Refer:ence to the settings of songs for
The Tempest and Cymbeline. Also alludes to The Winter~ Tale and Shakespeare's
sonnets in general.
Kearney, J.A. "On Teaching Othello.'" Crux 21.1 (1987) 55-63. Emphasises .that
pupils should be exposed to the play as a whole and that critical interaction with the
play as performance should be encouraged through various audio-visual means.
Kossick, Shirley, "The Legend of Leir and Shakespeare's Tragic Vision.'" Unisa
English Studies 25.1 (1987) 7-12. How Shakespeare reworked the material of
Geoffrey of Monmouth's account of the legend of Leir.
Leota, Margaret. "Othello and the Tragic Heroine.'" Crux 21.2 (1987) 26-35. Explores the character and significance of Desdemona as a complex tragic heroine.
Lickindorf, Elisabeth. Rev. of Shakespeare~ Characters, A Complete Guide, by A.L.
Rowse. Shakespeare in Southern Africa I ( 1987) 79-80.
- - - . "The Verse Music of Suzman's Othello.'" Shakespeare in Southern Africa 1
(1987) 69-71. Review of a production at Johannesburg's Market Theatre.
Mahood, M.M. "Shakespeare in States Unknown.'" Shakespear~ in Southern Africa 1
(1987) 1-9. Examines the extent of Shakespeare's applicability to the present and
the universal relevance of plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, The
Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night~ Dream.
Millar, A.R. "A ghost story and some fore-runners of Lady Macbeth?'" Shakespeare
Society of Southern Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.2 (1987) 13-14.
- - - . "Footnotes on Shakespeare's Use of Language.'" Crux 21.4 (1987) 4355. Grammatical errors, inconsistencies and various idiosyncracies in Shakespeare's language and punctuation, with examples from his plays.
- - - . .. The Tempest and other plays - a possible link with Sophocles' Philoctetes.'"
Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.1 ( 1987)
6-7.
Mills, A.R. "The Case of Othello: Leavis vs Bradley.'" Crux 21.4 (1981) 56-67. A
critical evaluation and comparison of Leavis and Bradley's interpretations of
Othello.
Nethersole, Reingard. "Shakespeare Without End: Shakespeare and European Literature.'" Shakespeare in Southern Africa I (1981) 52-61. Shakespeare's influence
on European literature since the 18th century with special reference to King Lear,
Hamlet. Othello, Julius Caesar, Macbeth and A Midsummer ./(;ght~ Dream.
Pinter, Karoly. "Some Technical Notes on Suzman's Othello.'" Shakespeare in
Southern Africa 1 (1987) 71. A Johannesburg Market Theatre review.
Potter, Alex. "Approaches to the teaching of Julius Caesar.'" Shakespeare Society of
Southern Africa: Occasional Papers and Reviews 2.2 (1987) 6-11. Suggestions for
the teaching of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar at standard 8 level.
SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
MEMBERSHIP
Benefits of Members
Members are entitled to full participation in the activities of the Society as outlined in the
Constitution (see inside back cover). They receive annually a copy of the Society's
Journal, Shakespeare in Southern Africa and all other Society publications (currently two ·
numbers of the Newsletter and two numbers of the Occasional Papers and Reviews,
annually). They are entitled to attend and vote at the Triennial National Congress and
are welcome to join in the activities of the local branches. Branches and Area Contacts
are as follows:
JOHANNESBURG (AND TRANSVAAL): MRS D. FEITELBERG
4 Mowbray Road, Greenside, Johannesburg 2193
DURBAN (AND NATAL): MR N. ELLENBOGEN
11 b Springside Road, Hillcrest 3600
CAPE TOWN (AND WESTERN CAPE): DR M. VENTER
8 Rhodes Avenue, Kendridge, Durbanville 7550
PORT ELIZABETH (AND EASTERN CAPE): MR B. MANN
4 King George's Road, Port Elizabeth 6001
GRAHAMSTOWN (AND EASTERN CAPE): MR G. KENYON
8 Webbs Avenue, Grahamstown 6140
If there is no branch in your area and you would like to initiate one please contact the
National Executive at the address on the membership coupon.
Categories of Membership and Scale of Fees
A.
Southern Africa (including Zimbabwe)
Three Year Membership
Annual Membership (Adults)*
Annual Membership (Pensioners)
Annual Membership (full-time Students)
Annual Membership (Scholars)**
Annual Corporate Membership
(Educational Institutions, Businesses etc.)
Donor Membership (Individuals)
Donor Membership (Corporate Bodies) .
(Donor Membership is for three years and
R80.00
R30.00
R 15.00
R10.00
R 5.00
R I00.00
R 300.00
RIOOO.OO
can include more than the fee specified.)
*Annual members (adult) who do not wish to receive a copy of the Journal may pay
a reduced fee of R 10.00 p.a.
••Scholar members receive all Society publications other than the Journal.
B.
Overseas Membership
Annual Membership (Individual or Corporate) £22/ US$30.00
Donor Membership (Individual or Corporate) £750/US$1000.00
134
SHAKESPEARE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Van Zyl, J.A.F. Rev. of Slulk~speare's Wide and Universal Stage, eds. C.B. Cox and
D.J. Palmer. Shakespeare in Performance: All's Well That Ends Well, by J.L.
Styan. Shakespeare in Southern Africa I (1987) 82-84.
Wright, Laurence. Rev. of Slulkespeare Against Apartheid, by Martin Orkin.
speare in Southern Africa I (1987) 72-75.
Shake-
- - - . . "Shakespeare for Students in Southern Africa - A Report." Shakespeare in
Southern Africa I ( 1987) 65-66. Outlines the school text project initiated by the
Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa for the teaching of Shakespeare for second
language students.
136
MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTION FORMS
Please complete the coupon if you wish to become a member of the Shakespeare Society of
Southern Africa and send it to the address shown below. (Please print.)
I wish to become a(n) ..................................................... member ofthe Society
and have pleasure in enclosing my membership fee of R/£/S ................................. .
I would like to be afftliated to the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Branch ofthe Soaety.
NAME ...................................................................
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Please make cheques or money orders payable to:
The Administrative Secretary
Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa
Department of EnaJisb
Rhodes University
6140 Grabarnstown
RepubUc of South Africa
Tel: (0461) 22023 ext 400
Journal Subscription for Non-Members
Non-members may subscribe to Shakespeare in Southern Africa by completing this
coupon. The 1989 subscription rate is R20 for individuals and institutions in southern
Af~ca , including Zimbabwe, and £1S/US$20 overseas. (Please print.)
NAME ......................................................................... .......................... .
(Full name of individual, institution or corporation)
wishes to subscribe to Shlllct!J~are in Southern Africa and has pleasure in
enclosing the subscription fee of R/ £/US$ ................... .
ADDRESS to which the Journal is to be sent:
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Please make cheques or money orden payable to:
The Administradn Seeretary
(Journal SubKrlpdons)
Shakespeare Sodet} of Southern Africa
De~ntofEn~
Rhodes Uninnity
614G Grabamstown
RepubUc of South Africa
Tel: (1461) 22023 ext .40G
Contributors
ROB AMATO teaches English and Drama at the University of Cape Town and reviews
drama and film for the Weekly Mail. He published two media magazines in the 1970s,
Sketsh'and Speak, and is a founder member of The People's Space Theatre. •
GUY BUTLER, Emeritus Professor of English at Rhodes University, is President of the
Shakespeare. Society of Southern Africa. His publications on Shakespeare incude
.. William Fulbecke: A New Shakespeare Source?" Notes and Queries 231.3 (1986); "Who
are King Lear's Philosophers? An Answer, with some Help from Erasmus" English
Studies (Neth.) 67.6 (1986); and "The Orthodoxy of King Lear's Prayer" New Fire 9.4
( 1986). His long narrative poem, Pilgrimage to Dias .Cross, was published in 1987 and an
anthology of African narrative poems, Out of the African Ark (with David Butler),
appeared in 1988.
BRIAN CHEADLE is Professor of English Poetry and Poetics at the University of the
Witwatersrand. His most recent publication in the area of Shakespearean studies is
"'His legs best rid the ocean' as a 'form of life'", a reading of Cleopatra's eulogy in the light
of Wittgenstein 's later philosophy. The paper, a shorter version of which was delivered
during the "Drama and Philosophy" conference at the University of London in 1988, will
appear in Volume 12 of Themes in Drama (Cambridge University Press) during 1989.
ANNETTE L. COMB RINK is Professor and Head of the Department of English at the
Potchefstroom University. Among her recent publications are "Sociocultural and
Political Values in Modern South African Drama" in Neohelicon (Budapest) 14.2 (1988)
and contributions to the Proceedings of the FILLM and ICLA International Conferences. She is currently working on a book on South African English Drama Since 1960
as part of an HSRC research project and is editor of KOERS, deputy editor of Literator
and the current chairman of AUETSA.
TIM COUZENS is Professor and Senior Researcher at the African Studies Institute ofthe
University of the Witwatersrand, author of The New African: A Study of the Life and
Work of H. I.E Dhlomo ( 1985) and co-editor (with Nick Visser) ofthe Collected Works of
H.I.E. Dhlomo (1985).
TONY DAVIES was, until recently, Professor and Head of the Department of English,
University of Fort Hare. His book Filming Shakespeare~ Plays (1988), is reviewed in
the present volume.
COLIN GARDNER is Professor and Head of the Department of English at the
University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. He has published a number of articles on
Shakespeare. A reprint of the 1926 journal Voorslag, which he edited with Michael
Chapman, appeared in 1985.
EVE HORWITZ is Head of the Witwatersrand University Press. Her publications
include "SoY oung and So Untender? Ophelia and the Power of Obedience", Journal of
Literary Studies 4.1 ( 1988), and "The Truth of Your Own Seeming: Women and Language
in The W,inter~ Tale", Unisa English Studies 26.2 (1988).
PETER KNOX-SHAW, Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Cape Town, is
author of The Explorer in English Fiction (1987).
·
SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
CONSTITUTION
I.
NAME:
The name of the Society shall be the Shakespeare Society of Souther~ Africa, abbreviated as the SSOSA.
2.
AIMS:
The aims of the society shall be:
(a) To encourage and stimulate the appreciation of William Shakespeare's works in Southern Africa.
(b) To assist with the study of Shakespeare in schools, technikons, training colleges a:.d universities.
(c) To stimulate interest in Shakespeare among the general public by means of pa·oductions, readings, lectures.
courses, seminars and conferences.
(d) To establish an information centre covering research, publications, translo1·. 101, and performances of
Shakespeare's works.
(e) To publish and distribute appropriate literature on Shakespeare.
(0 To establish and maintain liaison with other organisations with similar aims.
(g) To provide travel assistance to Shakespeare scholars, producers and performers.
(h) To keep members informed about the activities of the Society.
3.
MEMBERSHIP:
(a) The Society may appoint a Patron-in-Chief.
(b) The Society may, from time to time, appoint as Patrons eminent people who subscribe to the aims of the
Society.
(c) The Society may grant honorary membership to such people as it sees fit.
(d) The Society shall be open to all people in Southern Africa who subscribe to its aims and who pay
membership fees as decided on from time to time by the National Congress. There shall be different rates
for adult and student membership.
(e) Membership shall also be open to corporate bodies such as academic, theatrical, literary or business
organisations, at a fee to be agreed on by the National Congress.
(0 The Society reserves the right to withhold membership from any individual or corporate body when it feels
such membership to be prejudicial to the Society's aims.
4.
,
NATIONAL CONGRESS:
(a) A National Congress of the Society shall be held at least once every three years at a place decided upon by
the previous National Congress.
(b) Members in good standing shall have the right of attending, speaking and voting at the National Congress.
(c) A corporate body in good standing may send a delegate to the National Congress.
(d) The National Congress shall be presided over by the President. It shall elect the incoming Executive
Committee and shall fix membership fees of the Society for the forthcoming three years.
(e) Twenty members in good standing shall constitute a quorum at the National Congress. In the absence of a
quorum within 30 minutes of the time fixed for the meeting of the National Congress, then it shall stand
adjourned to such time as the President shall decide. At such adjourned meet ina, the members present shall be
deemed to be a quorum.
(0 The National Congress in session shall be regarded as the supreme body of the Society on all matters of
policy.
S.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
(a) The Executive Committee shall comprise a President, Vice-president, secretary, Treasurer and not more
than four additional members elected by the National Congress; provided however, that the Executive
Committee shall have the right to co-opt members for their specialised knowledge, or to replace those members
•
who are no longer available to serve on it.
(b) The duties of the Executive Committee shall be to run the day-tCHiay business of the Society, including its
financial affairs. The Executive Committee's interpretation of the rules of the Society shall be binding on all
members.
(c) The treasurer shall keep proper books of accounts, and make payments necessary for the conduct of the
business oft he Society. He shall submit financial statements to the Executive Committee on an annual basis.
(d) The secretary shall keep proper Minute Books in which shall be reeorded the business conducted at
meetings oft~ Executive Committee and the National Congress.
(e) A minimum of four members of the Executive Committee shall constitute a quorum.
(0 The President and the Secretariat of the Society shall reside reasonably close together.
(g) The meetings of the Executive Committee shall take place at least once every six months.
6.
RULES:
(a) Every member shall receive a copy of the constitution and any amendments.
(b) Changes to the constitution of the Society shall only be made by at least a two-thirds majority of members
present at the National Congress.
7.
DISSOLUTION:
If for any reason the Society ceases to exist, its assets, if any; shall be distributed to an educational institution, at the
discretion of the Executive Committee.
8.
LIABILITY:
No member of the Society shall be liable for the acts, receipts, neglects, omissions or defaults of any member of the
Society, in the pursuit of the activities of the Society.
SHIRLEY KOSSIK is Professor in the Department of English at the University of South
Africa. She is the editor of UN/SA English Studies and is presently editing King Lear for
the DeJager-HAUM Student Shakespeare Series.
ANDRb LEMMER is Senior Lecturer in charge of Methodology of English (First and
Second Language) at the University of Port Elizabeth. Among his recent publications
are "Shakespeare in South Africa" Shakespeare and Schools 6 ( 1988) and" A Response To
Literature Case Study" in Towards Understanding (1988).
PHYLLIS LEWSEN is now Honorary Research Associate to the Department of History,
University of the Witwatersrand. She was formerly Associate Professor in the Department. Her work includes the standard biography John X. Merriman: Paradoxical
South African Statesman ( 1982) and her most recent book, published in 1988, is Voices of
Protest: From Segregation to Apartheid. 1938-1948.
SHIRLEY LEIBBRANDT, a graduate of the School of Librarianship, Rhodes University, is a free-lance Bibliographer.
JANET UNTERSLAK was formerly head of the Department of English at Kingsmead
College, Johannesburg, and taught for a number of years at Damelio College. She is
presently editing Julius Caesar for the Bankside Series.
.
DIGBY RICCI lectures at the Rand Afrikaans University. His publications include
Reef of Time: Johannesburg in Writing (1986) and he has recently edited Romeo and
Juliet for the Bankside Shakespeare Series.
JANET SUZMAN directed Othello at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, in 1987. Her
work for the Royal Shakespeare Company includes the roles of Rosaline and Portia
( 1965); Beatrice, Rosalind ( 1968-69); Cleopatra and Lavinia ( 1972-73) and Clytemnestra
and Helen of Troy in "The Greeks"(l980). Her film and television credits include The
Draughtsman~ Contract (1981) and The Singing Detective (1986).
P .J. H. TITLESTAD is Professor and Head of the Department of English at the
University of Pretoria. His prose anthology forfirst-year university students, Ways with
Words (with W.D. Maxwell-Mahon) appeared in 1989.
JOHN VAN ZYL, is Associate Professor in the School of Dramatic Art at the University
of the Witwatersrand and has a special interest in the use of media in education. He is the
author of Image Wise (1981).
A.E. VOSS is Professor and Head of the Department of English, University of Natal,
Durban. He has recently published "Othello: Race and Civilization" Crux 22.1 ( 1988) and
"Roy Campbell's 'The Zulu Girl': Context and Tradition of a South African Poem"
English in Africa 15.2 (1988).
STAN LEY WELLS is Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare
Institute at the University of Birmingham. He is General Editor (with Gary Taylor) of
The Oxford Shakespeare (1986).
LAURENCE WRIGHT, Senior Lecturer in English at Rhodes University is currently
Alan Mackintosh Fellow at the Institute for the Study of English in Africa. He has
published articles on Shakespeare and Victorian non-fictional writing. "When does the
tragi-comic disruption start?: The Winter~ Tale and Leontes"Affection'" is forthcoming
in English Studies (Neth.) 1989.
Collection Number: A979
Silas T MOLEMA and Solomon T PLAATJE Papers
PUBLISHER:
Publisher:- Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Location:- Johannesburg
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