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Feminist Shakespeare stage adaptations

Feminist literary critics, such as Dympna Callaghan consider the significance of examining Shakespeare's works is intricately related to reconsidering the identity of women in cultural history as "Feminism is about creating the future differently by looking at history differently." Many of Shakespeare's plays include themes of femininity contrasted with masculinity and patriarchal society, rape, abuse, and marginalization of women. However, feminist stage adaptations of Shakespeare's plays have become popular especially around the time of global feminist movement of the twentieth century.

Hamlet

Poland

Monika Pęcikiewicz's Hamlet

Monika Pęcikiewicz is one of only a handful of feminist Polish theater directors. Her adaptation of Hamlet is very popular in Poland and is the third by a female director. In the play, Gertrude is dressed in opulent fashion, and Claudius is similarly outfitted to give an appearance of wealth. Hamlet himself wears dark colors, but still matches the high-fashion of his mother and Claudius. Pęcikiewicz centers her production around Ophelia's character, which is described by Aleksandra Sakowska to give her a role as a "'whistle-blower' and Pęcikiewicz's mouthpiece for a rampant feminist manifesto."

Anna Ilczuk

Ophelia is sent by her father, Polonius as well as King Claudius, to strip before the prince, interrupting Hamlets' famous To be or not to be soliloquy. The actress, Anna Ilczuk, enters the scene in her bra and skirt and begins to further undress herself. Then, in a meta-theatrical moment, she breaks character and runs off stage declaring, "I just can't do it today." She returns after a few minutes of the other characters referring to her by name and Hamlet running off-stage after her, covered with his jacket. The scene continues, however, with Ophelia speaking the soliloquy. Ophelia's later madness, is described by Saffron Walkling as "disheveled prettiness, [as she] re-enters singing and handing out sprigs of rosemary and other herbs." As she stands before Gertrude and Claudius, she pretends to kill herself with a dagger before revealing fake blood contained in pouches beneath her dress. Her actual death in Pęcikiewicz's adaptation remains semi-faithful to that of the original text: drowning. However, in this adaptation, her death is explicitly shown as she sits on the edge of a bathtub as Horatio pushing her in and drowning her.

Pęcikiewicz also gives attention to Gertrude, especially as a sexual character. One of her costumes includes "conical breasts and [a] red phallic beehive" and she struts around in high heels, exerting her power over the other characters. However, following Ophelia's death, Gertrude's character appears to be more of a victim of society, with Walkling noting "her sexual appetite had turned out to be no more than the product of her own grooming by...society." This shift in attitude toward Gertrude was alluded to during the play-within-a-play plot where "the Player Queen [was] simulated being at the sexual service of both husband and lover at the same time. The other Players transformed this celebration of sexual agency into an image of her being gang raped from in front and behind." Pęcikiewicz then turned the closet scene when Hamlet confronts his mother into a violent attempt to rape her. Walkling describes the culmination of Ophelia's death along with Hamlet's attack as her "metaphorically collaps[ing]." In the final act, her appearance is reminiscent of an abused woman: her hair is no longer in the beehive and her flashy attire is replaced by a muted brown coat.

Turkey

Ayla Algan

Muhsin Ertuğrul's Hamlet

Many of the themes in Hamlet are especially relevant in Kurdish culture such as the "tradition of marrying a sister-in-law" as well as a "type of kinship-oriented revenge called 'kan davası'." Thus, Hamlet was staged in Turkey man times in the early twentieth century, and estimated to have been performed in Istanbul 164 times in 1960. Muhsin Ertuğrul produced a stage adaptation between 1962 and 1965 which starred Ayla Algan as a female Hamlet. Inci Bilgin notes Ertuğrul's adaptation seemed to draw inspiration from earlier female Hamlet performances such as that from the Ottoman period by Siyanüş, as well as Svend Gade and Hein Schall's 1921 silent film version of Hamlet which starred Asta Nielson in the role of female Hamlet.

Macbeth

Argentina

Griselda Gambaro's La Señora Macbeth

The play Macbeth explores topics such as abuse of and corruption by power and the dynamic between victims and abusers. Griselda Gambaro focused on these elements of the play as well and drew from her country's history during the Argentine Dirty War in the 1970s and 1980s. She also examined the marginalized role of women in her work. Gambaro keeps many structural elements, such as motifs, from the original text, but changes the framing and focus of the play. Apart from a short scene with Banquo's ghost, the male characters do not appear on stage in her adaptation. Instead, Gambaro centers the play around the so-called "much-maligned female characters", Lady Macbeth and the witches. Lady Macbeth is depicted as a victim of a patriarchal, masculinist society rather than a power-hungry wife encouraging her husband's violence. Sharon Magnarelli reads her character as "not only blinded by her love for Macbeth, but also a deluded puppet at the mercy of his manipulations and whims."

In Gambaro's adaptation, Lady Macbeth's character has been "thoroughly 'immasculated [sic]' - 'taught to think as men, to identify with a male point of view, and to accept as normal and legitimate a male system of values'." Over the course of the play, she undergoes a transition from dutiful wife to challenging her husband's violent nature and thirst for power. However, rather than confronting Macbeth, she is overcome with shame and regret for her perceived "failure to comply with the 'properly' feminine role of helpmate." This internal struggle leads Lady Macbeth to seek a potion from the witches which will "[allow] her to forget Macbeth's brutality, callousness, and lust for power so that she can love him with total devotion once more." This potion ultimately causes her death.

South Korea

Han Tae-Sook's Lady Macbeth

Macbeth has been frequently staged in South Korea since its “political themes of violence and illegitimate usurpation of state power” which was resonant in Korea following the military dictatorship that were in power for nearly 2 decades. Director Han Tae-Sook “implicitly challenge[d] the political orientation of…productions in order to explore the psyche of Lady Macbeth inter-culturally from a Korean woman’s perspective.” Her adaptation shows Lady Macbeth and her desire for power, while “weakening the character density of the male roles” which is accomplished by deleting some scenes and reassigning the dialogue in certain instances. Han also relates Lady Macbeth’s sense of guilt to the “traditional orientation of Korean society towards ‘shame and face’ culture” and opens her subconscious as a place to explore the duality of Christian guilt and Korean Han, which is an ideology associated with pessimistic sentiments such as "frustrated desire, resentment, regret, and a sense of loss and sorrow." The ethos of Han is described by Jung-Soon Shim to be "collective[ly] unconscious, resulting from the historical memories of oppression and suffering" from cultural encounters with other global powers. The connection between Christian and Korean philosophy comes to a head in a scene toward the end of the play when the Royal Doctor, joined by a female performer, wrap a snake around Lady Macbeth's neck and tighten it as she stands deep in a body of water. The snake is representative of sin, which the water is drawn from the Korean belief in destiny.

Han's play uses the many shamanistic and spiritual elements from Korean culture and ties them to the role of the witches. She also relates the Korean understanding of destiny to Lady Macbeth's motivations and story arc. Lady Macbeth seems to be driven by her childless nature, lacking any children, but especially a male heir. This has been read as "dismantl[ing] any moral barriers that may have restrained [her] in her limitless pursuit of desire," and is echoed in her criticism of Macbeth's reluctance to seize power when she comments, "We have no child, so what do we have to lose?"

The adaptation is set partially in a hypnotic dream-state where Lady Macbeth is being led through psychotherapy by the Royal Doctor During this trance, the three witches from the play are portrayed by men dressed in black on a dark stage, which contrasts Lady Macbeth's white dress. There is also traditional Korean music played during the performance which heightens the emotions and drama portrayed on stage.

Othello

Canada

Djanet Sears' Harlem Duet

Setting of Djanet Sears' Harmlet Duet, on corner of Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem

Djanet Sears' adaptation of Othello, Harlem Duet, completely omits white characters, instead replacing them with people of color. This contrasts one of the major themes of the play: Othello representing 'otherness'. Sears instead places him in a black community in contemporary Harlem where he fits in with those around him. Sears also creates the character Billie, a black woman and Othello's first wife. Her character was described by Hanan Al-Jezawi and Shireen Alkurdi to "control the whole action of the play" which was read as "an attempt [by Sears] to subvert the whole hierarchy in the original play." By re-centering the play around a black community, the play defies the conventional Eurocentric narrative and focuses more on themes of black culture and masculinity. Billie is the narrator of the story which is set in three distinct time periods: 1860, 1928, and 1990. Magic in the play is represented through Billie's poisoning Othello's handkerchief, which later causes his curse and subsequent tragedy affecting Desdemona (renamed as Mona), Iago, and Cassio as well.

The only white character in the play is Mona, who is not present on stage at all during the play, except for the brief appearance of her arm. Othello seem to "identify himself in white culture through his relationship with Mona," but his downfall is slightly altered to "result [from] his extreme eagerness to engage into the white culture and ignore his own culture and history" rather than the traditional jealousy plot.

Japan

Satoshi Miyagi's Mugen-Noh Othello

Traditional Noh mask

Satoshi Miyagi's adaptation of Othello was performed in Noh style, which is a traditional Japanese style originating from the 14th century. Historically, Noh only permitted male actors, and in present day, there are only about 250 female Noh professionals in Japan. Miyagi's production cast female actors which subverts the narrative of the original text as well as the still highly-codified Noh form. Roweena Yip argues that this decision to cast women, creates a "negotiation between gender and power in relation to both the cultural capital of the Shakespearean text, and the 'homosocial and patriarchal' structure of the Noh theater." Furthermore, the production creates a space to consider the relationship between intercultural communication and gender.

The play is introduced by a Waki character, a character who serves as an arbiter between the audience and the shite, or main character. The Waki summarizes how Cyprus has changed since the events of Othello and encounters the shite: Desdemona's ghost. Her ghost narrates from the present while flashbacks featuring male actors show the prior events. This "'formal presence of [her] ghost as a character" is a common convention of Mugen Noh, and demonstrates "the extent to which time itself is gendered through the performance." Her characteristic handkerchief is black rather than white in Miyagi's production which Ted Motohashi suggests could be representative of the state of now Turkish-ruled Cyprus where "the Venetian value of whiteness [has been] transformed into [a] heathen blackness." Desdemona is portrayed by the actress Mikari who is described as "profoundly embodied and female," as she, unlike typical shite actors, doesn't wear a mask. Instead, her makeup draws attention to her features such as her deep red lipstick and painted white face. The end of the play includes a complex and length dance which Yip considers to be a "physicalised [sic] act of repeating and working through her trauma on stage." Desdemona wears a brown glove on one hand during her dance to represent Othello, who ultimately strangled her.

Singapore

Ong Keng Sen's Desdemona

Kudiyattam (or Koodiyattam) performer

Ong Keng Sen's adaptation of Othello re-centered the play to "posit Desdemona against the male hero and masculine West." Additionally, Sen inverted the gender and racial conflict between the couple by placing Othello in the role of colonizer over Desdemona and her people. Othello's role was performed by two actors, a man to portray his youth and a woman who played his "ambiguously gendered" older self. The male Othello was a kudiyattam performer while the woman was trained in kathakali. Desdemona was not physically on-stage, but Ong used visual segments to depict her character such as her emails and a sequence at the Immigration Office when she had to renew her visa. Yong Lan felt this juxtaposition between ancient Asian performance such as kudiyattam and modern technology "performed the failure of abridgment between the old and new Asias."

Ong's depiction of the relationship between Desdemona and Othello was altered to show indifference, or even hatred. When Othello murders his wife, he shows little emotion, commenting "I have killed my wife—but she was only a slave who was to bear my children." Desdemona's revenge took form through poisoning, a weapon typically associated with women, but it was transmitted by an actor wielding a phallic sword. As a backdrop to this scene, Korean words were projected on the screen as if written in lipstick with concepts associated with patriarchal society, such as 'pure'. Lan considers this killing to be "a ritual act of feminine seduction and possession," which "reified the male fear of feminization and emasculation."

South Africa

Janet Suzman's Othello

Janet Suzman's adaptation focused heavily on the racial aspects of the play, especially racism and discrimination in the context of South Africa's history of apartheid. Suzman requested special permission from the African National Congress to produce the play to defy the cultural boycott organized to protest apartheid. She found Shakespeare to be "the perfect antiapartheid weapon" since his legacy is symbolic of lasting Eurocentric influences on literature. Suzman's production was promoted as 'protest theater' for its use of Shakespeare's play as a metaphor for apartheid and the greater experience with race in South Africa.

Suzman's adaptation used Iago to personify the practice of apartheid since his character is "evil both in his destructive capacity and his brutality." Also, the interracial nature of the relationship between Desdemona and Othello was highlighted. Not only did the kiss between a black man and white woman surprise viewers, it also added the current sexual politics to the adaptation, further increasing the metaphor for South Africa under apartheid.

To represent Desdemona's femininity and sexuality, Suzman used flowers. Natasha Distiller considers the implications of using flowers to represent her female agency to "locate her value and her power in traditional misogynistic figurations of female worth" since it explicitly alluded to the patriarchal system which "values women as precious objects whose worth resides in their transient youth and beauty."

United Kingdom

Rokia Traoré

Toni Morrison's Desdemona

Toni Morrison felt the traditional Othello was overly male-dominated, leading her to create her own project to center on Desdemona's character. The adaptation used traditional Malian set design and dress. Furthermore, Rokia Traoré worked as a collaborator during the development of the script, adding musical elements in Bambara, a Malian vernacular.

The play was set in the afterlife and omitted Iago's character, replacing his narration with Desdemona's. In her explanation of the meaning behind her name, she recognizes her parents' understanding of the patriarchal system she was born into, but she reclaims agency by rejecting the connotation of womanhood as the "assumption of passivity." She insists that "[her] life was shaped by [her] own choices," and the play is focused on the notion of her decisions and her worldview. This is exemplified through her interactions with both Emilia and Barbary. Desdemona occupied a social status above both women, and her conversations with them showed her ignorance of this fact during life. She eagerly greets Barbary with fond memories of their time together, but her former nurse and maid rebukes. As Barbary explains, "[They] shared nothing...[she didn't] even know my name." By the end of the play, Desdemona reaches a new understanding of the women she knew during her life, as well as herself through these interactions.

United States

Paula Vogel's Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief

Paula Vogel's stage adaptation of Othello had an entirely female cast: Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. Each woman is reimagined and the play is set in a back room where they narrate the story from their perspectives. Unlike in the original text, Desdemona is not the honest and devoted wife, but rather is a sexual character who actively has affairs. In Vogel's work Desdemona has a relationship with Bianca, who is a sex worker, while Emilia actively dislikes her husband. The adaptation ignores the racial aspect of the play, focusing more on "female sexuality and class", which is achieved by only having the female characters present on stage. David Savran argues the characters "are not quite the innocent victims of masculine desires they appear to be but active makers--and unmakers--of each others' destinies."

Other notable productions

Jude Christian's Othellomacbeth

Jude Christian combined Othello and Macbeth into a singular play described by lead actor, Sandy Grierson as a "feminist revenge tragedy". Cuts were made to both scripts, especially those of the male characters that "ultimately contextualize domestic violence and murder". By doing this, Christian gives more stage presence to the female characters. In an interview, Christian cites her inspiration to combine the plays from both the parallel plot elements such as man overwhelmed by desire and driven to violence, and the implication of teaching plays with dominant themes of masculinity and violence. Grierson also noted the likeness between Cassio's relationship with Othello and Macbeth's relationship with Banquo.

Othello was edited to focus more on Desdemona and Emilia, both of whom are killed by their husbands. Macbeth was altered to re-contextualize the three witches to parallel trials of witchcraft where "women [were] murdered by their communities, with the imaginary crime of 'communing with the devil' acting as a synonym for 'financial independence' or 'failing to conform to heterosexual patriarchal relationships." The transition between the plays follows the murders of the women in Othello and brings them back to life as the three witches in Macbeth.

Liang Chi-min's Kiss Me Nana

Liang Chi-min adapted The Taming of the Shrew twice in Taiwan during the 1990s. Liang produced The New Taming of the Shrew in 1994, and Kiss Me Nana in 1997 (which was revived in 1998 and 1999). Kiss Me Nana was considered to attract younger audiences in particular due to its Western influences. such as rock-and-roll music. In the adaptation, Katherina is represented by Hao Lina who is described as "shrewish to the ethnic Chinese perspective: thick eyebrows, big eyes, and no make-up."

Similarly to Petruchio's attempt to assert control over Katherina by referring to her as "Kate", Pan Dalong refers to Lina as "Nana". This effort by the male charactter to "diminish the woman's power by giving [her] a new identity" continues throughout the play. Later, when Dalong and Lina are married, he refers to her as "Mrs. Pan" which suggests his ownership over her. The power dynamic between Dalong and Lina is flipped at times, such as the scene where Dalong starves Lina as a means of exerting control, Lina withholds sex as her own control over Dalong. The play ends with Lina declining Dalong's request for a kiss, thus challenging his authority in public, "expressing how she feels and [refusing] to be submissive just to please men."

Phyllida Lloyd's Julius Caesar

Donmare Warehouse, London

In 2012, Phyllida Lloyd staged an all-female production of Julius Caesar at the Donmar Warehouse in London, her first in a trilogy of entirely female Shakespeare adaptations with the other two being Henry IV (a "hybrid...assembled from Henry IV (i) and (ii)"), and The Tempest). Harriet Walter, who portrayed Brutus, described Lloyd's motivation behind the project as "anger at the exclusion of women from history and from the narrative of our culture." In an interview, Lloyd explained that she chose Julius Caesar because of its overt masculinity with its plot about "how society forces men not to cry" and "to avoid being 'womanish'." Her adaptation was set in a women's prison with the characters dressed in jumpsuits which she felt made gender less obvious as they were "rendered androgynous." Walter also described the effect of an all-female cast as 'alienating' since many themes in the play are about men in politics. Furthermore, actress Cush Jumbo, who portrayed Mark Antony, described the experience of playing a male role compared to a female role as freeing, saying "When playing female roles, you have to be the soundboard of your own work. You have to balanace things out carefully so as not to offend; you feel you can't go too far one way or the other," but for Julius Caesar she found that "suddenly the limits you can go to are doubled."

Tyler Seguin's Measure for Measure

Tyler Seguin's adaptation of Measure for Measure was set in Weimar-era Germany and framed as a performance by an all-female cabaret. Seguin justified this choice based on the "rich cabaret culture that would skewer the politics and social mores of the day through music, poetry and theatre" as well as "a liberal sexual revolution" as an additional layer of context for the play. Measure for Measure has often been described as a 'problem play' based on its gender and sexual politics as well as the abuse of women by men. Seguin also defended his role as a male director of a female play, stating, "since Measure for Measure is so focused on gender and sexuality, it would make sense to have a male voice in the room in order to ensure that the male perspective wouldn't be ignored or dismissed."