Shakespeare’s sonnets get the Wits treatment
A group of second-year English students at Wits University is engaging with various forms of “global” and “local” Shakespeare through translation, adaptation and performance.
They’ve benefitted from an international teaching team and an ongoing collaboration with students at the University of Texas (Austin). They’ve also been fortunate to participate in a series of workshops with Tsikinya-Chaka Centre Resident Artist for 2022, Anelisa Phewa.
The class approached the sonnets as texts for performance – 154 interlinked miniature dramas, with their own characters and plots – that could be updated and reformulated. The students were encouraged to appropriate and adapt the sonnets into a language and form that was meaningful to them.
Watch the video below to see what they got up to . . . and watch this space for more from the Wits-Texas partnership!
Thanks to the NIHSS for making Anelisa Phewa’s TCC residency possible.
