Sources
Interview with Nastazja Somers
May 2020, London
ANTONIA GEORGIEVA: What is the premise of WyspiaÅ„ski’s The Death of Ophelia as an adaptation of Hamlet? How does it reference Hamlet/how does it position itself in relation to the original? What is the critical work that such an adaptation does?
NASTAZJA SOMMERS: The Death of Ophelia, written by one of Poland’s most prominent theatre artists, is a verse written account of Ophelia’s last minutes of her life. A monologue which sees Ophelia holding the male-centered world she inhabits to account. The stage directions at the top of the piece read: ‘Theatre presents; an overgrown meadow, a stream in the back, above the water willows, around the space, forest’. It points the audiences clearly towards seeing Ophelia in those last minutes of her life, before she is taken by the water. We never see that in Hamlet, we are simply informed of her death, there’s something to be said about agency and how Ophelia, like many female Shakespearean characters, is stripped of that agency and exists only in relation to the men (Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes). I think WyspiaÅ„ski’s attempt to show us the other side of the story is an interesting one and one that gives a creative opportunity to really study Ophelia as a fully developed character...Not just a young woman who has gone mad...
AG: What are some of the points of departure from the original? What do these departures achieve and why are they important today?
NS: There’s a strong suggestion in one of Ophelia’s lines that she is pregnant and carrying Hamlet’s child. I personally find this departure really interesting as it gives the ‘real’ dimension to HAMLET/OPHELIA relationship. Their relationship is often portrayed as innocent and not physical but you could easily argue that this is non-realistic in terms of the setting and understating of young love...Ophelia’s pregnancy makes her journey even more poignant in relationship to women’s rights and her own agency over her body.
AG: In an article on the Shakespeare Globe Blog you talk about the absence of the male gaze in The Death of Ophelia. I’d be interested in hearing more about that: how is that achieved and what is its significance to a modern audience or modern theatre practices?
NS: Yes, I think that was the most important aspect for me when I first started approaching the text. The fact that Ophelia is on her own, her words are often abstract, she reenacts things that happened in the court whilst addressing the flowers. In a way her madness doesn’t follow the usual stereotype of a mad woman in a white dress... What I found especially gripping was that the madness was not straightforward, and there was a space for interpreting the text as Ophelia’s mocking of the court. She talks about waiting for her prince, and there’s a genuine bitterness in her words...We, that is the creatives behind this, Edyta Budnik the actress and Nicola Chang the musician, were more interested in tapping into Ophelia’s remorse of allowing herself to be played, rather than portraying her as a weak and easily controlled character. She understands how things work perfectly well, so why portray her as someone who doesn’t? I was really keen on moving away from the way she is portrayed on a very literal level, so Edyta was wearing trousers, a white blouse, and a jacket; an outfit more suited to Hamlet, than Ophelia, right? Hamlet gets so much space and time in Shakespeare’s text, and for me it was always about seeing what happens when Ophelia gets that time too… I think in relation to modern audiences, we should always strive to move away from we already know, and this is why it was so important for us as a team to show our audiences a different Ophelia, one that takes her own decisions and understands the world she occupies very well... Again, moving away from female characters who are without agency, to ones that are breathing and speaking their own minds.
AG: What was your vision for the play?
NS: I think I always approach everything I do with collaboration being the most important aspect of the work, so whilst I did not have a set vision, there were things I really wanted to incorporate into the project. Whilst Basia and Tony Howard did a brilliant job in translating the original text into English, it was always crucial for me to have some of the original text kept in the performance, hence why I insisted on getting a Polish actress. There’s of course another facet of putting a Polish-speaking actress on the stage at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, a political statement of sorts, as the representation of Polish voices in British theater has been quite dire. I also wanted to incorporate live music into the piece, hence why I asked a long collaborator of mine, Nicola Chang to join us.
AG: What is unique about this play or this production? (compared to other texts inspired by or adapted from Hamlet)
NS: I think the bilingualism of the final production which not only connected the piece to its origins but also potentially highlighted the universality of the story, was one of the most important aspects of it, regarding the text in itself, this was a world premiere of the english translation so a very important moment for the Polish theatrical canon.
AG: How did you approach the script in your rehearsal process? Did you make any further changes or adaptations? Why or why not?
NS: As already mentioned, I was quite firm on keeping some of the original Polish text…It was incredible to speak to Polish audience members afterwards and realise how important it was for them to hear their own language on that stage. Also I think as my practice centres womxn it was important for us to find Ophelia’s rage and her frustration, to move away from the stereotype and find something new.
AG: Did you encounter any anachronisms in the text? Were they deliberate changes from the original? How did you translate those in production?
NS: I think it was inevitable that the original text was more playful and language-driven. I think there was one particular example that I had to discuss with the translators, that was really interesting. In the original text Ophelia says she lives in what could be translated as ‘unfreedom’ (literal translation), the translators went for the word ‘slavery’ here, which I thought was not the right word at all...In Polish there are actually two words one for slavery, and one for being unfree, they mean different things, so I was very firm in moving into a different direction. I think that is the only thing that comes to my mind?
AG: Is there a certain approach or method of adaptation that you’ve found yourself following across different productions when working on adaptations?
NS: Not really, obviously it’s a must to know the original source quite well, but there needs to be a space to make decisions that are bold, and maybe at times even pose a contradiction to the original, yet that’s where the good stuff happens.
AG: What are the main questions that you ask of canonical texts before you begin work on them?
NS: Why am I doing this now? The socio-political context needs to be relevant/made relevant. If it’s been said already why should I say it again? What is the women’s status in all of this? How do I uplift the characters that are not getting the recognition they deserve?
AG: What is your way into a text as a director? What’s your process like?
NS: It always varies, but my personal mantra is ‘let’s make with rigour and kindness’ My work is highly influenced by the theatre of the oppressed, and practitioners such as bell hooks, or Paulo Freire. Being from Poland, I am of course also influenced by trailblazers such as Grotowski. Collaboration is at the heart of my work and so I take each project as a creative journey of discovering together, rather than imposing ideas that are rooted only in my own understanding of the text/project. I spent a lot of time with designers and incorporate their voice into the project from the very beginning.