Crime, punishment, Shakespeare and redemption

Cellfish by Bob Mokaraka, Miriama Mc Dowell and Jason Te Kare
Auckland Arts Festival
Director Jason Te Kare
Loft, Q Theatre
Until March 14

Inspired by the Shakespeare in prisons projects, Cellfish takes us inside the prison world, the heads of the tutors and the inmates they work with to explore ideas about crime, guilt, recidivism and redemption.

The two actors, Mark Ruka and Miriama Mc Dowel,l play a range of characters, with McDowell taking on the primary role of Lucy the Shakespeare tutor.

The script by McDowell, Mokaraka and director Te Kare flows brilliantly, combining ordinary speech, te reo, clipped street/prison patois and Shakespeare.

Much of the focus of the play is on violence, in the home, in the wider community and in mythology. It is about the social problem of violence and how its effects on perpetrators and victims, as one of the female character says “Why do men hurt women?”

While there is much emphasis on the way in which learning the language of Shakespeare and learning about the characters can help in restoring dignity and mana to individuals, the play also shows how the language of Shakespeare can be used to negotiate ways of trying to understand the meanings and intentions of the bard’s language.

At the core of these interchanges though is the need to communicate. As soon as emotions and memories are articulated and spoken about, there can be the process of change, acceptance of responsibilities and renewal.

Ruka and Mokaraka are inspired performers as they switch between roles, swapping language, and changing emotional intensity. At times, they dance but much of the time their conversational sparring is like a dance, deftly using language and ideas.

John Daly-Peoples
Sun, 12 Mar 2017

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Crime, punishment, Shakespeare and redemption