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http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051027/sfth020.html?.v=31
One of the Few Times Shakespeare Has Been Performed in ASL Anywhere in the World
The University of San Francisco presents Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in American Sign Language, one of the few times Shakespeare has been performed in ASL anywhere in the world.
"This may be your only chance to see Shakespeare presented in sign language," says Peter Novak, the play's director and a USF professor. "Not even the National Theatre of the Deaf or London's Royal Shakespeare Company perform Shakespeare in sign language."
Novak says that's because of the tremendous amount of time and research it takes to translate a play. It took Novak and a team of Deaf and hearing artists 16 months to translate Twelfth Night. And because sign language is presented in three dimensions, it is difficult to notate on paper. Novak had to record the sign language using a video camera, and students learned their parts by watching a DVD copy.
During the performance, the play will be "translated" in English by hearing interpreters/actors on the side of the stage so that the play is accessible to both the hearing audience and the deaf.
"Shakespeare wrote in a very physically poetic and visually enticing way," Novak says. "I guarantee that hearing audiences will understand Shakespeare more clearly than if they just hear the lines being spoken."
The production also raises some intriguing questions, such as:
-- How does Shakespeare's language look in sign language?
-- Is it possible to have verse and rhyme in a visual language like ASL?
-- Do Shakespeare's archaisms and puns translate?
Novak says audiences will be surprised to see that Shakespeare's puns are even more obvious in sign language than in English, and he says actors demonstrate Shakespeare's rhymes by using similar gestures to indicate similar sounds.
Twelfth Night will be presented Nov. 3-5 & 9-12 at 8 p.m. at USF's Presentation Theatre, 2350 Turk Street. The cost is $12 for the general public and $5 for students. The production is sponsored by USF's Performing Arts and Social Justice Department.
One of the Few Times Shakespeare Has Been Performed in ASL Anywhere in the World
The University of San Francisco presents Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in American Sign Language, one of the few times Shakespeare has been performed in ASL anywhere in the world.
"This may be your only chance to see Shakespeare presented in sign language," says Peter Novak, the play's director and a USF professor. "Not even the National Theatre of the Deaf or London's Royal Shakespeare Company perform Shakespeare in sign language."
Novak says that's because of the tremendous amount of time and research it takes to translate a play. It took Novak and a team of Deaf and hearing artists 16 months to translate Twelfth Night. And because sign language is presented in three dimensions, it is difficult to notate on paper. Novak had to record the sign language using a video camera, and students learned their parts by watching a DVD copy.
During the performance, the play will be "translated" in English by hearing interpreters/actors on the side of the stage so that the play is accessible to both the hearing audience and the deaf.
"Shakespeare wrote in a very physically poetic and visually enticing way," Novak says. "I guarantee that hearing audiences will understand Shakespeare more clearly than if they just hear the lines being spoken."
The production also raises some intriguing questions, such as:
-- How does Shakespeare's language look in sign language?
-- Is it possible to have verse and rhyme in a visual language like ASL?
-- Do Shakespeare's archaisms and puns translate?
Novak says audiences will be surprised to see that Shakespeare's puns are even more obvious in sign language than in English, and he says actors demonstrate Shakespeare's rhymes by using similar gestures to indicate similar sounds.
Twelfth Night will be presented Nov. 3-5 & 9-12 at 8 p.m. at USF's Presentation Theatre, 2350 Turk Street. The cost is $12 for the general public and $5 for students. The production is sponsored by USF's Performing Arts and Social Justice Department.