A Couple of Interesting Latin Versions of Shakespeare & Comedy
As I was going through the slurry of fine arts news that Google sends my way each day, I came across an interesting connecting thread between two very different types of theatre: Spanish.
The Bard for Our Time
As the Spanish speaking segment of the U.S. (as well as the rest of the world) continues to grow, it’s no surprise that the great playwrights such as William Shakespeare would be translated into that language. Indeed, it has been for ages; other languages, as well (I saw Othello in Japanese once, and got chills).
But here’s a twist on it: Romeo y Julieta is a staged reading of the famous play created by Karen Zacarias, directed by Henry Godinez, has live music by Luna Blues Machine and features Elizabeth Peña (four-time American Latino Media Arts Award winner) . The most incredible part? It’s bilingual. Not all in English, not all in Spanish, but a mixture of the two, and I wish I could see the way the story unfolds with more than just politics separating the two houses. It will be playing July 25 & 26 at Little Village Lawndale High School in Chicago.
Schadenfreude at Theater on the Lake
Yes, I know, that’s German, not Spanish. But the sketch comedy troupe of the same name was brought to my attention via the blog of Ben Bass & Beyond. He gives an interesting view of the troupe’s distinguished history, and congratulates them on headlining Theater on the Lake this week in Chicago. He tops it all off with a video segment of a short called Crazy Pants, “which they translated into Spanish for some reason (apparently boredom with the tiresome exercise of getting big laughs in English).” Watch Loco Pantalones and see how, in any language, good comedy is still good:
Loco Pantalones from Schadenfreude Media, LLC on Vimeo.
3 Comments
Looking forward to watching Schadenfreude when I get a chance at home…
Quick question – For the blog-off pledge, is there a specific form I should be using? I didn’t see any way to attribute my donation to the blog-off on the regular pledge form. Or maybe I’m just tired…
If you used the link posted on the site, it will automatically be noted as being from the B5Media Blog-off. Thanks bunches for your writing and your donation…It will help degenerates like myself be less of a burden on our children in old age.
Crap, I didn’t, I just posted my pledge in the comments. I’ll go look for the link and see if I can retroactively pledge. If not, I’ll just make a regular donation for the pledge amount.