Shakespeare: Globe to Globe
Cymbeline
CYMBELINE
Performed by the South Sudan Theatre Company in Juba Arabic
(With scene description in English)
THE COMPANY
The theatre group was founded by a group of dramatists and cultural leaders in the wake of South Sudan’s independence in July 2011, with a view to celebrating and challenging the country’s cultural heritage. Their adaptation of Cymbeline is the first Shakespeare work to be translated into Juba Arabic.
THE PLAY
Cymbeline, King of Britain during Roman times, has a daughter, Innogen, and two sons who were stolen in infancy. The queen, his second wife, has a son, Cloten, whom Cymbeline wishes Innogen to marry, but she has secretly married a commoner, Posthumus Leonatus. Cymbeline banishes Posthumus to Rome, where he meets Iachimo, who wagers with him that he can seduce Innogen.
Arriving in Britain, Iachimo realises that she is incorruptible, but, hiding in her bedroom, obtains evidence which convinces Posthumus that he has won the wager. Posthumus orders his servant Pisanio to kill Innogen, but instead Pisanio advises her to disguise herself. She meets her brothers, who were stolen twenty years previously.
Cloten pursues Innogen in Posthumus’ clothes, determined to kill her. Instead, he is killed by one of her brothers, and his lays beside Innogen. She joins the Roman army when she awakes.
PRINCIPAL CAST AND CREDITS
Cymbeline: Arkangelo Maku Fatrino
The Queen/Jupiter: Esther liberato Bagirasas
Innogen: Margret Kowarto
Postumus: Francis Paulino Lugali
Co-directors: Joseph Abuk, Derik Uya Alfred
Project co-ordinator: Nicola Franco Lado
Designers: Stanslaus Faida, Joseph Deng, Moeis Joseph
You can watch other plays from the Globe to Globe season here.
Globe to Globe is part of the World Shakespeare Festival for the London 2012 Festival.