written by Elliot D Huxtable
As you might have read from our (many) social media posts and stories (thank you Charlotte), we were recently invited to take part in the biennial Armenian Shakespeare Conference in Yerevan. Although we pondered how far down the list of invitees they got before they hit us (maybe the RSC, Globe and NT all said no), we were very pleased to be invited, if a little apprehensive. We aren’t academics, and neither Charlotte nor myself have ever taken part in a conference before, let alone been to Armenia.
However, we needn’t have worried. The Armenian Shakespeare Conference took brilliant care of us, and the country of Armenia is beautiful, friendly and importantly, cheap. After two excessively long flights, changing at 2am in Cyprus (and getting intimately acquainted with their tiny airport), we arrived over the rolling hills of Armenia early on Thursday morning. Getting off the plane, a queue of people were milling about to take their photo in front of Mt. Ararat, the Biblical landing place of Noah’s Ark, only 29 km away. Although a frequent, and proud, symbol of Armenian culture, Mt. Ararat technically belongs to Turkey, and our host told us that, sadly, Turkey is demanding the Armenians remove depictions of the mountain from any logo, symbol or picture that contains it.
After checking into our hotel (and a short nap), we arrived at the opening day of the Conference at the American University of Armenia. Unfortunately we had missed the first few talks, but arrived just in time to hear the keynote speaker, Professor Harry Keishian from the US, who had a very professionally presented discussion on the divine right of kings and how tyrants don't recognise the responsibility of their power. This was followed by Dr. Anush Aslibekyan, a theatre critic with a piece about productions of Hamlet in Yerevan that reflected the politics of the times. Finally, Dr. Ara Yernjakyan, the Founder and Director of Yerevan Chamber Theatre spoke about Horatio, and his theatrical origins as a character.
As many of us were tired and jet-lagged, the sightseeing of the afternoon was curtailed and instead we took (another) nap at the hotel. However, in the evening we headed to the Yerevan Chamber Theatre to see their long-running production of Romeo & Juliet. I was nervous, as R&J is not one of my favourites (heresy, I know) but this was one of the most imaginative and brilliant stagings I’ve seen in a long, long time.
This production reframed the drama from Friar Lawrence’s point of view - he spoke the Prologue, and was a near-constant presence on stage. They also re-ordered the play, with the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio happening almost as if in flashback, which was the same with the final scenes. The finale began with the arrival of the Prince after their deaths “The people in the street cry Romeo, Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run, With open outcry toward our monument.”, and then, when normally one would hear Friar Lawrence describe the play that we’ve all just sat through, they then showed us the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, which was an emotive method of concluding their story. Lawrence ended the play by hanging himself, which was also effective.
A post-show Q&A with Lusine Yernjakyan (the director) as well as the cast of the production (including the excellent Senik Barseghyan whose Lawrence grounded the entire production) gave us an insight into the creative process as well as the trials of staging the same play (albeit periodically) since 2017!
Finally, a piece of theatrical brilliance that I will one day steal - four actors stretched a piece of green cloth across the stage, ensuring it was taut. With two small sponge balls, and two pool cues, they created a very effective game of snooker during an early scene (Romeo’s dalliances with the fair Rosalind).
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