This article presents an English translation of an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, explaining the... more This article presents an English translation of an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, explaining the background to the play and its writer, the Congolese novelist and playwright, Sony Labou Tansi. Best known in the West for his novels, he wrote and directed several plays which were performed in France and the Republic of Congo. This play is an updated and racially aware version set in South Africa which focuses on the endless violence perpetuated by families in a world with no functioning political state.
The article discusses an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, (La Résurrecti... more The article discusses an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, (La Résurrection Rouge et Blanche de Romeo et Juliette-'The Red and White Revival of Romeo and Juliet') by the Congolese writer Sony Labou Tansi. It examines the consequences of a focus on the political frame of the narrative. Sony's version is an indictment of a monstrous and hyper-violent political system in which the only choice left is the manner of one's death. Sony uses the play as a means to interrogate a society that focuses on the political fetishization of violent dictatorships and nihilistic choices. With a radical shift in focus, Sony's work also requires the audience / reader to consider the necessity of theatre and, by extension, the power under which it operates. Sony's language in this adaptation gives the story of Romeo and Juliet, a post-colonial framework as well as an urgent political message. The analysis concludes that the adaptation presents the conventio...
Cet article analyse deux adaptations postcoloniales de Shakespeare par des dramaturges de la Repu... more Cet article analyse deux adaptations postcoloniales de Shakespeare par des dramaturges de la Republique du Congo. L'adaptation de Hamlet se concentre sur Gertrude comme produit d’un mariage force et sur le role des esprits dans la societe Kongo. L'adaptation de Romeo et de Juliette est, quant a elle, une revision radicale de la tragedie pour souligner le caractere politique et violent de la societe africaine apres l'independance.
This article presents an English translation of an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, explaining the... more This article presents an English translation of an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, explaining the background to the play and its writer, the Congolese novelist and playwright, Sony Labou Tansi. Best known in the West for his novels, he wrote and directed several plays which were performed in France and the Republic of Congo. This play is an updated and racially aware version set in South Africa which focuses on the endless violence perpetuated by families in a world with no functioning political state.
The article discusses an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, (La Résurrecti... more The article discusses an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, (La Résurrection Rouge et Blanche de Romeo et Juliette-'The Red and White Revival of Romeo and Juliet') by the Congolese writer Sony Labou Tansi. It examines the consequences of a focus on the political frame of the narrative. Sony's version is an indictment of a monstrous and hyper-violent political system in which the only choice left is the manner of one's death. Sony uses the play as a means to interrogate a society that focuses on the political fetishization of violent dictatorships and nihilistic choices. With a radical shift in focus, Sony's work also requires the audience / reader to consider the necessity of theatre and, by extension, the power under which it operates. Sony's language in this adaptation gives the story of Romeo and Juliet, a post-colonial framework as well as an urgent political message. The analysis concludes that the adaptation presents the conventio...
Cet article analyse deux adaptations postcoloniales de Shakespeare par des dramaturges de la Repu... more Cet article analyse deux adaptations postcoloniales de Shakespeare par des dramaturges de la Republique du Congo. L'adaptation de Hamlet se concentre sur Gertrude comme produit d’un mariage force et sur le role des esprits dans la societe Kongo. L'adaptation de Romeo et de Juliette est, quant a elle, une revision radicale de la tragedie pour souligner le caractere politique et violent de la societe africaine apres l'independance.
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