美国国家公共电台 NPR Shakespeare Companies Suffer Backlash After 'Julius Caesar' Controversy

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

The controversy¹ over a production of "Julius Caesar" depicting³ Caesar as Donald Trump⁴ is spreading. In the play, Caesar is assassinated⁵. The production in question was by New York's Public Theater, part of its Shakespeare in the Park program. And the protests have now spread to theater companies in other cities around the country apparently⁶ just because they have Shakespeare in their name. In Texas, staff at Shakespeare Dallas have received death threats. From member station KERA, Hady Mawajdeh has the story.

HADY MAWAJDEH, BYLINE⁷: Here's a clip from Fox News last week.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A play appearing to depict² the murder of the president has made its official debut⁸. The New York Public Theater has lost some of its sponsors over "Julius Caesar."

MAWAJDEH: That got some folks in the Texas area riled up. Raphael Parry is the artistic⁹ director of Shakespeare Dallas.

RAPHAEL PARRY: We started receiving emails - like, a drove of them started flowing into our mailbox. And at first they were, you know, I hate you; I hate what you're doing in your production. So we were a bit confused because we hadn't even had a public performance yet.

MAWAJDEH: Parry's company was set to perform "The Merry Wives Of Windsor" the next day. That's a Shakespeare comedy. Anyways, shortly after the first few emails, more people began contacting Parry and his staff. And the emails got nasty. Here's an excerpt¹⁰ of one read by an actor.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (Reading) You truly are a bunch of freaks and bottom suckers. We should send all you freaks to ISIS. They would eliminate your stint¹¹ on this earth with real knives.

MAWAJDEH: Some of the emails are more graphic¹² than that, and honestly, some of them are just silly. But this still stunned¹³ the staff at Shakespeare Dallas. Here's the company's program and media manager, Jessica Helton.

JESSICA HELTON: It was just totally violent and disturbing and shocking because they didn't even have the right company.

MAWAJDEH: Shakespeare Dallas isn't the only company dealing¹⁴ with the fallout from the New York Public Theater's production. Parry's been contacted by companies across the country. Here's his best guess why, at least for Texas.

PARRY: If you type in Shakespeare in the Park in Google, we pop up. Geographically¹⁵, in probably a three- or four-state area, Shakespeare Dallas pops up as Shakespeare in the Park.

MAWAJDEH: It hasn't had a negative effect on attendance. In fact, the company says it might have had a positive effect. Last night's preview of "Quixote," which is a modern interpretation¹⁶ of Cervantes' "Don Quixote" - not Shakespeare - had more than 300 attendees.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "QUIXOTE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (Singing, as Don Quixote) I am the sole custodian¹⁷ of a vanished time.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As Sancho Panza) But where are you going?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As Don Quixote) To find myself a - Sancho Panza. Will you come?

MAWAJDEH: Jared Cobb was in the audience with this family. He says you have to be conscious of the dangers when threats are made. But he felt safe enough to come out and support local theater. Besides, Texas is an open-carry state, and his father told me that he had his gun nearby.

JARED COBB: The probability that somebody's going to come into an open park full of Texans and try something - anything - is very unlikely. And if they would do something like that, it'd be very ill-advised (laughter).

MAWAJDEH: Most of the people I spoke¹⁸ with said they hadn't even heard about the hullabaloo. But Robert Cantu seemed to sum up their thoughts.

ROBERT CANTU: It's a non-controversy in that it is so ludicrous that they would confuse it. Anyway, I guess you can't fix stupid.

MAWAJDEH: You probably can't. But you can try to make sure that your messages get sent to the right people. From NPR News, I'm Hady Mawajdeh.

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

3 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

9 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

10 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

11 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。

12 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

13 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

14 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

15 geographically   

adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
• All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分

16 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

17 custodian   

n.保管人，监护人；公共建筑看守

参考例句：

• Benitez believes his custodian is among the top five in world football.贝尼特斯坚信他的门将是当今足坛最出色的五人之一。
• When his father died his uncle became his legal custodian.他父亲死后，他叔叔成了他的法定监护人。

18 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。