Richard III: An Arab Tragedy

 Richard III is probably the best known of Shakespeare's British history plays, and its narrative of power grabs and shifting alliances certainly resonated with twentieth-century audiences, thus meriting many excellent updates to the major wars of the century.  I'm thinking, in particular, of  Richard Loncraine's 1995 film with Ian McKellan and Annette Bening.  As those wars fade into the past, it makes sense to find more contemporary updates.  

Sulayman Al Bassam's production provides a postmodern twist by translating Shakespeare's text into Arabic and setting it in an oil-rich kingdom.  This intersting and worthwhile interpretation remains faithful to the early-modern original while exploring familial, religious, and gender tensions underlying the quest for power in the Middle East. 

I had originally resisted seeing it---several recent adaptations of Shakespeare at BAM have been very disappointing--I'm glad we took time to go see this one.

Recommended.