Under the roof of Shakespeare Lives, to globally celebrate the life and works of William Shakespeare, marking his 400th anniversary in 2016, a vast cultural initiative was taken by British Council. This unique stage production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet featuring young artists with disabilities will take place in Dhaka early next year.
The British Council in Bangladesh in collaboration with UK’s Graeae Theatre Company and Dhaka Theatre has organised the production which is set to be staged on March, 2016 at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. Later on, the production will travel to five big cities in the country.
Details of the production came out at a press conference held yesterday at the British Council’s office in Fuller Road while Barbara Wickham, director of British Council and Matt Pusey, deputy director of British Council were present.
Titled A Different Romeo and Juliet, the production is led by Jenny Sealey, artistic director of Graeae Theatre Company in collaboration with Dhaka Theatre’s Nasiruddin Yousuff. The artists are drawn from different groups of people in Bangladesh with disabilities, with participants from Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP-Bangladesh), Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), Bangladesh Reform Initiatives for Development, Governance and Empowerment (BRIDGE) and Gram Theatre.
Speaking about the project, Jenny Sealey said, “I feel so very privileged to be part of this epic journey of discovering the talent of hearing impairment individuals and disabled people in Bangladesh. The project is extremely important because it challenges people’s perception of what they can do and places them in the universal love story Romeo and Juliet. We will create a world where everyone has the right to love and be loved.”
“Shakespeare’s work transcends the boundaries of time and culture. I am honoured to be a part of this grand project based on his work, which aims to reach a large audience with a thought-provoking message. The eternal story of Romeo and Juliet being performed by artists with disability yet highly talented young people on the biggest cultural stages in the country shows that ‘limitation’ is only a word, which can be surpassed with plan and practice. Thanks to British Council for thinking differently,” said Nasiruddin Yousuff in his speech.
The British Council started this project in 2013 with a focus on empowering people with disabilities through giving them acting workshops as a tool to help them explore their identity, facilitate social exclusion, and gain an infused and enriched sense of self-worth.
