Debebe Eshetu on Q

scazon — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:59:59 +0000

All those of you who are concerned about theatre, or the developing world, or theatre in the developing world, must listen to today’s Q from CBC Radio 1. The middle item is an interview with Debebe Eshetu, the most famous actor and director both on stage and in film from Ethiopia. (He was in Shaft in Africa, which has been his only real exposure in North America before now. I certainly had never heard of him. But he’s really big in Ethiopia.) In the interview, he talks about the state of theatre in Ethiopia with specific reference to the political climate there. Eshetu stood for election a few years ago as part of a party of reformers and after sweeping the election results was subsequently thrown in prison for 22 months for treason. He is now in North America working on producing some material he wrote in prison and publishing his memoirs.

In response to the question of whether he is afraid of returning to Ethiopia after his travels abroad:

‘No matter what, I will still go back, because I have promised the Ethiopian people—not only the artists, but the Ethiopian people who fought for my freedom—those who are here in Canada, in the United States, in Europe, in the Scandinavian countries—Ethiopians in the diaspora have really fought for us. They fed our family. They liberated us. They fought to the court(?). They were out on the streets with the cold weather in winter when it was thirty-five below zero. How can I forget that? And what will I say to—what will I say to my children when they say, “Why did you run away?” Will I tell them, “I was scared”? No, I can’t. I have to go back.’

Asked for his thoughts on the future of theatre in Ethiopia:

‘I think each individual artist must start fighting for his own freedom. We must be able to communicate with the public, not on [sic] a translated play, but on the actual fact that is happening in the country. We must teach the public what they should do to get their freedom, to be able to live in their country, to be able for the children to go abroad, get their education, and go back home instead of staying outside their country. They should start developing their country. So the artists have the major responsibility, because they have a straightforward communication. Because they have the respect of the people, the people listen to the artists. The artists are part of the human society.’

The podcast of the whole show can be downloaded here; the bit with Debebe Eshetu begins at 16′ 05″.

Thyestes 1096-1112

scazon — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:23:37 +0000

Tantalus had murdered his son Pelops and served him as a banquet to the gods. For this crime, he was sent to the underworld where he was sentenced to eternal hunger and thirst. Pelops, restored to life, bore Atreus and Thyestes. Because Thyestes had committed adultery with Atreus’ wife, Atreus was unsure of the legitimacy of his sons Agamemnon and Menelaus. To reconcile themselves, Atreus invites Thyestes and his sons to a banquet. Atreus murders Thyestes’ sons and serves them to the dim-witted Thyestes at the banquet, and after Atreus reveals the deed to Thyestes, the following dialogue ensues at the end of the play.

(Seneca, Thyestes 1096–1112, my own translation. The text is R. J. Tarrant’s 1985/1998 edition (APA).)

At.: Nunc meas laudo manus, nunc part vera est palma; perdideram scelus, nisi sic doleres. liberos nasci mihi nunc credo, castis nunc fidem reddi toris.	Atreus: Now I praise my hands, now the true palm is won. If you hadn’t been hurt, my crime would have been worthless. Now I believe that the sons are my issue, and now my bed has returned to being chaste and faithful.
Th.: Quid liberi meruere?	Thyestes: What was my sons’ guilt?
At.: Quod fuerant tui.	Atreus: That they were yours.
Th.: Natos parenti—	Thyestes: A father’s sons…
At.: Fateor, et, quod me iuvat, certos.	Atreus: True, and it makes me happy to say, certainly yours.
Th.: Piorum praesides testor deos.	Thyestes: I call as witnesses the gods who protect the pious!
At.: Quid coniugales?	Atreus: What of the gods who protect marriage?
Th.: Scelere quis pensat scelus?	Thyestes: Who repays crime with crime?
At.: Scio quod queraris; scelere praerepto doles, nec quod nefandas hauseris angit dapes, quod non pararis. Fuerat hic animus tibi instruere similes inscio fratri cibos et adiuvante liberos matre aggredi similique leto sternere. hoc unum obstitit: tuos putasti.	Atreus: I know why you’re complaining: it hurts you to be beaten to a crime. It’s not that you gobbled up an unholy banquet, but that you didn’t prepare it for me! You meant to feed your innocent brother a similar meal, to attack my children, with their mother’s help, and put them to a similar death. Only one thing stood in your way— you thought they were yours!
Th.: Vindices aderunt dei; his puniendum vota te tradunt mea.	Thyestes: The gods of vengeance shall come; my prayers give you over to them to be punished.
At.: Te puniendum liberis trado tuis.	Atreus: I give you over to your children to be punished.

Xyre » theatre

Debebe Eshetu on Q

Thyestes 1096-1112