The link between Shakespeare and The Africa Project
By Bill & Margaret Cunning

Last month we invited all retirees to visit PROBUS and "expand their world." This month's PROBUS speakers not only expanded our world, they opened our eyes, our hearts, our tear ducts and even gave our funny bone a knock. The few hours we spent with Kennedy C. MacKinnon, Artistic Director of Shakespeare Link, Canada, and her colleague, Karin Randoya, touched us all as we traveled with them vicariously to Quelimane, Mozambique.

These two young women, and part of their artistic team, put their love of Shakespeare, theatre and humanity to good use by creating: The Africa Project: Dance with Us not AIDS.

AIDS, the plague of our time, mirrored the plague that swept through Shakespeare's town of Stratford between 1564 and 1569; taking the lives of some of Shakespeare's family and many friends and neighbours. In fact, Anthony Holden, in his book about Shakespeare's father, writes: "John Shakespeare contributed three shillings to a fund to assist victims of the plague," so to come full circle and use Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream and combine it with "local methods of traditional storytelling, music and dance, to craft a commentary on the plight of the people of Mozambique and their struggle with AIDS" seems somehow appropriate.

The group, all with excellent artistic and theatrical qualifications, went to Mozambique in August 2005 to "work with a local theatreand dance troupe called Montes Namuli" and "create a show about HIV/AIDS, using texts found in Shakespeare." They decided to use A Midsummer Night's Dream, because the way the characters in this play "fall out of love with their partners and into love with others ... mirrors one of the main ways that the HIV virus is being spread." The project was a huge undertaking filled with moments of despair, amazement and exhilaration and has now consumed the lives of these artists.

Moments of despair came when members of Shakespeare Link members discovered that Montes Namuli was primarily a dance troupe with little acting experience. Language was also a problem as translators were not always available and with the high HIV infection rate it was impossible to tell which actors would turn up to fill the parts. At one time four different people would fill the role of Puck. Amazement set in when the visitors saw the group dance and act out a story.

They were amazing; full of passion and energy. The company had trained to "preserve and perform traditional rural dances." They toured Mozambique with these dances as the performances were a way to "educate citizens about democratic rights and responsibilities." Therefore, using the group to educate people about preventing the spread of HIV, and to "eradicate the stigma against those already infected," appeared inspirational and exhilarating to all those involved.

The two groups meshed and the love-in began. "It didn't matter that we didn't speak Portuguese," McKinnon explained, "we found ways through sign language, games and laughter to understand each other ... we four white Canadians ... were like sandwich board advertisements for the show." The crowds came in droves; the show was a great success, and when the director of the cultural centre rose and stated; "there are no words. There are no words", this meshing of two cultures could not be ended by a plane ride home and thus The Africa Project was born.

Plans for the project include "partnering the artists in Montes Namuli with Toronto artists so each can learn about the other and broaden their world pictures." The Canadians would like to bring 12 of the lead actors/dancers and four drummer/musicians to Canada this summer for six weeks. During that time they would hopefully tour and perform the show created by this partnership.

The Canadians would also like to return in 2007 to develop another show and help build a theatre centre for this group to continue to spread the HIV prevention message. This is the "dream" the group hopes will become a reality. Fund-raising is under way, and if anyone wishes to be like Shakespeare's father and "contribute three shillings" or more; contributions can be made out to Native Earth Co., African Project, and sent to Shakespeare Link, Canada, 2815-25 The Esplanade, Toronto, On. M5E 1W5. More information can be found by writing to kennedy@shakespearelinkcanada. ca.