CULTURE
Inside Shakespeare Broadway play by Elchin
New York, November 23, AZERTAC
Shakespeare comedy by Azerbaijani writer Elchin Efendiyev was staged at the Mint Theater in New York. The play was staged by the Complete Theatre Company under artistic director Annie Ward. Starring Joe Carr, Katie Consamus, James Christie, Chris Donovan, Corey Melton, Roberta Kirshbaum, Elizabeth Rose and Michael S Ruiz, the play is set in a psychiatric facility in the war-torn republic of Azerbaijan. Two of the patients are Joseph Stalin and Sarah Bernhardt. A new patient arrives, who claims to be from another planet, and transforms the entire mental hospital through the writings of Shakespeare.
The play reaffirms the rule of love and trust, despite the pressing everyday problems of mankind. Heroes represent the state of the current problems in society and the mighty power of love, which was opened by an alien from another planet.
In an interview with AZERTAC, Annie Ward expressed gratitude to Elchin Efendiyev on behalf of the Complete Theatre Company for the opportunity to stage his play in New York. “We tried to make creative changes to adapt the Azerbaijani play for the New York public and ‘Americanized’ its humor. The events in the play are developing very rapidly, there is a lot of music and sound effects. So everything is dynamic, the actors have been exhausted after each act in a good way, as if they had just run a marathon...,” Annie Ward explained. The director said that they renamed the play, replacing the original name Shakespeare on Shakespeare in Space. “As this year is full of new movie releases from huge action pieces like the new Star Wars to Gravity, which has recently appeared on the screens, we tried to introduce Elchin’s play into the mainstream of the new space-themed films,” she said.
Yusif Babanly
Special Correspondent