Jun 9—12 at 7:30pm
BAM Harvey Theater
Running time: 110min, no intermission
In Arabic with English titles
Artist Talk with Sulayman Al-Bassam
Jun 11, post-show (Free for ticket holders)
Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Kuwaiti director Sulayman Al-Bassam transforms Shakespeare’s Machiavellian masterpiece into a cautionary modern tale. In an oil-rich kingdom, a dictator’s bloody rise to power becomes an allegory of our own times in Richard III: An Arab Tragedy, Kuwaiti director Sulayman Al-Bassam’s groundbreaking remake of Shakespeare’s Machiavellian masterpiece. Grainy TV confessions, sophisticated propaganda, and a wealth of Arab music and ritual lend themes of leadership, religion, and foreign intervention an uncanny relevance, turning this classic play into a cautionary contemporary tale.
