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Friends, mandem, lend me your ears ... actors stage Julius Caesar in street slang
Miranda Bryant23 Nov 2009
A group of young actors have re-invented Julius Caesar as a cautionary tale of violence in urban London - with Shakespeare's script partly rewritten in street language.
The play, entitled Wasted, has received the Royal Shakespeare Company's seal of approval.
It is being staged by Intermission, a Knightsbridge-based group that works with teenagers who have committed crimes or are at risk of getting into trouble.
Some have been gang members and others have been taken into care. The actors, aged 14-20, say the themes and action of the drama reflect their lives.
Director Darren Raymond said the storyline of Julius Caesar presented the "ultimate knife crime".
Mr Raymond, 27, who grew up among gangs in Hackney, said street talk was an important aspect of the play, as language formed a large part of young people's identities.
"Shakespeare's language is very different from today," he said. "I don't think young people are being disrespectful by creating new words."
Ruth Nyanti, who plays the Cobbler (renamed Jamie Cobbler), said she had lived in care since she was six.
"I know a lot of people who have died through knife crime," said Ruth, 16, from Croydon.
"The things in our play actually happen in schools in real life. If I wasn't in Intermission I'd be doing those things too. It has helped me so much and now I work hard at school because I want to go into acting."
The theatre company, formed two years ago, is based in St Saviour's Church, Walton Place.
It holds coaching sessions with professionals such as Cicely Berry, voice director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Sylvia Syms, who played the Queen Mother alongside Helen Mirren in the Oscar-winning film The Queen.
The cast is made up of 10 young people and four professionals, with Julius Caesar played by Bamshad Abedi-Amin, 24.
Wasted is on every Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 12 December. Tickets cost £10 and £5 for concessions. For information go to intermission.org.uk
Reader views (10)
Just like in the book 'To Be or Not To Be, Innit - A Yoof-Speak Guide to Shakespeare' I am delighted to see that the trend towards making Shakespeare more accessible to the youth of today is continuing in this wonderful take on the Bard.
- Martin, Dorset, England, 26/11/2009 09:51
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I have seen this production TWICE and it is absolutley fantastic. Take no notice of ignoramaces such as previous comments. This play is an absolute must see. The young people who perform in it, are simply superb, and have taken Shakespeares work and made it their own. It is totally brilliant. So Shakespeare would not turn in his grave, he'd be proud of young people today learning and understanding his works.
The professional actors who are in it are superb too! and this is such a positive step for young people to portray their talents and express whats happening in todays world where there is so much gun and knife crime.
so, GO SEE IT!! its brilliant!
BIG UP, NUFF RESPECK TO ALL OF DEM!
Love Mrs B xx
- Linda Bradley, Middlesex UK, 25/11/2009 11:34
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I would encourage all the naysayers to make the effort and to go and see this play - it is simply one of the greatest pieces of theater I have ever witnessed, brilliantly written, incredibly moving and has been an incredibly redemptive process for the children involved. The play is very faithful to the original and includes a great deal of the original text.
Many of London's theatrical elite have seen this play and have nothing but the highest praise for it.
To 'Porky Pies', you really should see the play, you will find that it has not been 'dumbed down' in the slightest - but is in the tradition of truly excellent works of art inspired by Shakespeare, such as West Side Story and Kurosawa's Throne Of Blood.
- Owen, Home Counties, 23/11/2009 22:12
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@Porky Pies: did you never get taught how to spell Shakespeare's name? Perhaps you need some edumacation, not these kids.
- Kmbct, LDN, 23/11/2009 21:29
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This is a great idea. Graham, Porky Pies and Rogan are just showing how conservative the Standard readers really are!
- Kate, London, 23/11/2009 19:31
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I am certain that Shakespeare would have loved this.
- Bloke, Lambeth, 23/11/2009 19:20
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So much for the English language then. This is self-indulgent nonsense, nothing more.
- Rogan, Irving, 23/11/2009 18:24
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Porky Pies..you are telling lies! Do you honestly believe that Shakespeare's characters all spoke the 'King's English' and not some colloquial language? Get real blud!
- Lilsta, London, England, 23/11/2009 18:21
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Was there something wrong in educating these children and having them perform shakespear in its original form or must we dumb down these kids even more? Comendable they are in this program, but a sad day for education when they are usng "Ebonics".
- Porky Pies, Land of Make Believe, London, 23/11/2009 15:07
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OMG, if yer Will Shakespeare were alive today, he´d turn in his grave.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands, 23/11/2009 12:32
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