UNC Charlotte study abroad students will present live and recorded scenes from a 2014 London production of Shakespeare’s “Pericles” and Cervantes’ “The Sultan’s Queen” on Tuesday, April 21, in the Cone University Center, McKnight Hall.
The performance, which is free and open to the public, will be from 7 to 9 p.m. and will include a question-and-answer session with a student/faculty panel.
While studying in England last summer, the students created an innovative theatrical production that combined works of Shakespeare and Cervantes while exploring topics such as diversity, theatrical performance, language, history and the craft of theatrical writing.
They collaborated with students from Kingston University (London), British theater professionals and a UNC Charlotte scholar to combine versions of Cervantes’ “The Sultan’s Queen” (La gran sultana) and Shakespeare’s “Pericles, Prince of Tyre.” They recorded both the performance and highlights of the rehearsal process and will intersperse the recording with live scenes during the April 21 program.
“The intensive focus helps the texts come alive for students,” said project lead Maryrica Ortiz Lottman, who served as the dramaturge, addressing the culture and language of the time period. An associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages and Culture Studies, Lottman researches early modern Hispanic literature and culture, as well as today’s productions of plays from the period.
“You can’t really understand a play unless you see it in performance, do it in performance,” she said. “It opens up all these questions for me as a scholar and for the students.”
Students also considered contemporary topics in the context of their connection to earlier times.
“People think that diversity, hybridization and intercultural issues are new,” Lottman said. “This is what Cervantes was talking about. We can represent those topics and discuss them in a really open and impactful way.”
The UNC Charlotte College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Office of International Programs and Department of Languages and Culture Studies, along with the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund, are cosponsoring this event.