This is a story of betrayal, revenge and an ever-questioned matter of “justice”.
This work is inspired by pain and lucidity, with no findings as result. Betrayal of human promises, killing of nature with man-made poisons of many kinds. Here we feel we all are standing at a critical time, and this theatre exhibition, with dramatic storytelling, references what this might be for us as it was for Hamlet. This is a tragedy of persisting significance.
AMLETH will also be livestreamed on Sep 2, Friday, 7:30pm AEST. Livestream playback will be available for 48 hours.
Directed & performed by Elnaz Sheshgelani
Production & Lighting by Simon Bowland
Music by Piotr Nowotnik
Costume Design by Danica Karaičić
Image by Rick Evertz and Elnaz Sheshgelani
As part of this performance season there will be an accompanying visual art exhibition held in the La Mama Reherasal Hub.
The Amleth Gallery
Persian Dramatic Storytelling @ La Mama 2022
– Elnaz Sheshgelani
Naghali is thousands of years old and is the most ancient surviving form of Persian dramatic storytelling. It has been placed on UNESCO’s “List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding”.
Amleth is part of my ongoing project to reconstruct the body forms of early Naghali, helping to preserve the Art of Naghali by bringing it to a wider audience.
Each gesture/movement in this reconstructed Naghali vocabulary is presented figuratively by what I call an “adamaktion”. I have created an adamaktion vocabulary for Amleth, a Naghali-based interpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Tha Gallery Room presents my adamaktion drawings – a palette of dramatic actions that, in the tradition of Naghali.
I use adamaktion as a pedagogical tool to assist others appreciate the Art of Naghali. Practice of adamaktion enabling the performer to develop an unconscious connection between inner feelings and their corporeal expression in the style of Naghali. It codifies the body forms of Naghali, enabling to learn how to move in a stylistically appropriate manner.
Tha gallery also presents the process of the other members involved in the Amleth production:
Animation – Simon Bowland
Music – Piotr Nowotnik
Costume – Danica Karaičić
Access Information:
Visual rating 50%: Events are partly subtitled or include dialogue, background music and/or sounds, so d/Deaf and hard of hearing audiences can have some engagement with the event.
Aural Rating 50%: Has both sound and visual components, but sight isn’t essential to be able to engage with the event.