By Dana Dzubas
All the world was a stage on March 27.
Actors and theatre-goers in 90 countries, celebrated World Theatre Day that day. And Ottawa’s National Arts Centre wasn’t about to be a wallflower at a party this big.
World Theatre Day is meant to bring the world together by celebrating artists and audiences.
“For once, we actually set money aside and focus on theatre itself, the need for it, the beauty of it,” says Kate Hurman, head of the artistic association for English theatre at the NAC.
“Not every country has access to different media like we have here,” says Hurman. “In some countries, writing a play is a political act that can get you killed.”
The NAC contacted the Broken English Theatre Company and asked for six actors to perform monologues written by playwrights from their native countries in their mother tongues.
Bernadette Hendrix, the group’s artistic director, was excited at the opportunity to have the company participate in the event, so that the actors would get some major exposure.
“This is a wonderful way to introduce these professional actors to the public, to showcase their work and to celebrate it in an international manner,” she says.
That’s especially important for the actors in this company because they are new to Canada and have language difficulties that keep them from working in mainstream theatre.
Yahya Fadlalla Elawad moved to Canada from Sudan last October and is thrilled to have found the company.
“I was lucky to find this opportunity to meet actors from other countries and join them,” says Elawad.
The company is looking for even more members as part of its fifth-anniversary celebration. The party will be held on the fourth stage at the NAC on April 27, with new member registration starting at 7p.m.
“It was good for me to join Broken English,” repeated Elawad enthusiastically.
Elawad is a well-known playwright in his homeland as well as an actor and director. He has written several short stories and five plays and has directed 11 plays in Sudan.
Now he’s added one more accomplishment to his diverse resumé. He performed two monologues including one of his own short stories for a diverse Canadian audience.
“This is a new experience. It’s the first time acting for an audience that didn’t know my language,” says Elawad.
Audiences also saw monologues performed by actors from Mexico, the Netherlands, the former Yugoslavia, Iran and Ethiopia.
Hurman doesn’t think the fact that the monologues could not be understood by most members of the audience was ever an issue. She compares it to going to the opera without understanding Italian: people go to the theatre for the experience itself, not to understand the words.
“This is an opportunity to let this language that you may not be familiar with wash over you,” says Hurman.
However, synopses of the monologues in English or French were distributed at the performance.
Although admission to World Theatre Day was free, the event did boost the company’s chequebook a bit.
The NAC payed an honorarium for the appearances by the six actors and the audience was invited to donate to the company.
But like Hurman said, for once, this wasn’t about money.
World Theatre Day was about reminding people of the history of inter-human communication that started way back when with theatrical expression. It also helps everyone to understand each other on a global level, without necessarily communicating in words understood by all.
“This is the ideal example of a one world view. This is what’s good about globalization, we are one people,” says Hurman.