Shakespeare and the Malaysian Society

So far in the 26 years of my life, I have had the opportunity to attend only two out of the several Shakespeare’s plays staged in Malaysia. They were Twelfth Night in 1999, and Merchant of Venice in 2001. It is the latter which I remember till today, especially when Shylock was putting away his weighing scales and the rest when the court rule he forfeit all he had. By then the audience also knew he had lost his only child, his daughter as she had eloped with her lover. So, the right form of reaction from the audience would have been silence as a sign of empathy and sympathy for the humiliation Shylock had to go through, despite the fact he had been unreasonably cruel. However, no man deserves the loss Shylock had to endure. Regardless of the interpretation, the right form would have been silence from the audience, but what do our Malaysian audiences do?! They laugh! Unbelievable! I don’t know how in the world they can have found that heart wrenching scene funny. It was so embarrassing, especially when the actor playing Shylock had to look up sternly from what he was doing to cue the audience to silence, the appropriate reaction towards the scene. It was then I realize how ignorant our Malaysian society is when it comes to Shakespeare’s plays.

The only explanation I can find is that our society has not been exposed to Shakespeare as widely as they should be. This is due to the fact that not only is he perceived to be difficult and all those involved in designing our education system are just not doing enough to make him easy to understand, but also the reduced exposure will ensure the non-existence of neo-colonialism in our society. However, what those-who-know-best do not realize is that, if they are sending our students overseas and even in their own global interaction where trade and commerce are concerned, they are definite to encounter some form of Shakespeare’s work, be it in conversations or in the least significant gesture or phrase.

If we Malaysians are to have the mindset that Shakespeare is a bore because he is difficult to understand, then how are we to expect foreigners, especially the English, to take our children seriously when teaching them Shakespeare, let alone having the faith in our local students staging the plays to our local audience? The main excuses given for this are that our Malaysian audience will not understand it because they are not ready for a Shakespeare play, and our local students will not be able to project the play as it is because they lack the understanding of it less they are taught the play beforehand. I have heard this first hand and it irritates me immensely because I believe our students are capable of it and I have faith if tried really hard, our Malaysian audience will be able to willingly receive Shakespeare’s plays.

How can anyone, let alone a foreigner, comment that our Malaysian society is not ready where Shakespeare and his plays are concerned? How can one predict that to stage a Shakespeare play in all its authenticity will lose its effect on a society like ours? To have his plays accepted as they are, we have to take the risk. A society is never ready for anything unfamiliar until they encounter with it face to face. It is my belief to change the perception of Shakespeare amongst Malaysian audience, and the ability of our students and our society in understanding Shakespeare is to stage it. In staging it, the type of audience has to be considered. To stage a play as challenging as Shakespeare’s I do agree it has to be staged in all its authenticity but it has to be introduced little by little and in a language easier to understand, not only verbal language but also body language. It is a challenge for both the audience and the actors but this challenge comes in stages, for I believe to stage a whole Shakespeare play in all its authenticity would scare the audience and it would make them believe the pre-conceptions on how difficult Shakespeare’s plays are. However, if the play is condensed using the important scenes which are the fuel of the play and the language is altered without losing its original meaning, or either one, then the play would be enjoyable and conceivable. In that way, Shakespeare has breached another gap between generations and societies.

For example, Julius Caesar was supposed to be staged in our college. The plan was to do it all in 30 minutes. Firstly, there was the problem of the magnitude of the play. Secondly, in doing so, there will be lots of important scenes which are crucial to the progress of the play left out. As a result, our Malaysian audience will not be able to grasp and savour the magnificence of the play, neither will they be able to actually grasp what the play is all about since they are not familiar with all of Shakespeare’s plays, especially since most would only be acquainted with the name Shakespeare. Lastly, there were the players who were the students themselves. These students were fortunately more than acquainted with just the name Shakespeare, for they were actually studying Julius Caesar. Therefore, they knew the play inside out. However, not all good scholars are good actors. One needs to actually scout for good actors. Do not get me wrong, amongst those good scholars involved with the play, were also good actors. Anyhow, due to these few glitches and the passion those involved had for Julius Caesar, it was understandable it had to be called off the last minute. However, the reasons given were that the audience would not be ready for it even if the actors were and when suggested altering the language to make it comprehensible for the audience benefit, it was rebuked for if Julius Caesar cannot be presented in its original language then it would be pointless staging it even in its condensed version. It boiled me to hear this because so what if the audiences do not grasp what is being said because it is the actors’ duty to help and guide the audience in understanding the play. If you want Malaysian audience to love and cherish Shakespeare, so help them even if it means modernizing the language, even if it means condensing the play. Why blame them for something which is not their fault? If that is the case, then when can one be sure the Malaysian society is ever going to be ready for Shakespeare?

In my opinion, if one wants to change a perception, the time to act is now. Society will never ever be ready unless they are forced to. In this case, start off in small steps in a small society like the college I am teaching in. At the moment, Hamlet is in the planning stages to be performed hopefully by 28th August. Initially, it was planned for the seniors to perform, especially for two very passionate Hamlet fans of which one of them actually spent an amount of time condensing the play, so that they had something they could cherish in remembrance and leave their mark at college with. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, it is now down to the juniors to perform this play they are as much as unfamiliar with as a regular Malaysian audience. Nonetheless, this may be a good start for not only we have a condensed script, but also actors who will be able to identify with the audience unfamiliarity with the play. This will theoretically help in their body language and speech when performing their parts, for if they can relate to the audience and at the same time grasp the condensed play, then they will be able to present Hamlet admirably. They will be performing to a small college community, ranging from locals to expatriates. Therefore, it is more intimidating for part of the audience is familiar with Hamlet therefore there are expectations to live up to especially when these expatriates may have low expectations since staging a Shakespeare play has never been done before in our college and we also have a Malaysian audience. Hopefully, the students will enjoy practicing and performing it because when they do so then the passion will flow in, and with that newfound passion they will be able to perform as well as they should for this play. We may start off with a small community but this community have connections like family and colleagues. With these connections, the education of Shakespeare will hopefully begin. There are definitely risks involved but how can a reformation of mindset be in motion without taking any risks.

Rethinking Shakespeare is what our society should be doing. Or rethinking about any unfamiliar playwrights for that matter. The best way to deal with this is to research the plays one is attending so that one is not completely in ignorance. Shakespeare, as stated in Times, breaches all layers of society, generations and politics in all areas. What is the harm of taking any amount of time to understand a playwright who indubitably speaks to all of us in one way or another? Anyone disagreeing with this is definitely in the dark about Shakespeare and has never ever touched a page of even his sonnets.