Theatrical language

This past weekend was an eventful one in the world of Alaska Native languages. On Friday and Saturday I attended the first ever Alaska Native Studies conference (more about that in another post). Then on Sunday I had the opportunity to see the matinee performance of Lear Khęhkwaii, a Gwich'in production of King Lear. Now, I must admit that I've always been a sucker for Shakespeare. Not that I'm particularly knowledgeable about the plays (my memory of the Lear plot is quite vague: basically a bunch of betrayals). And not that I'm any sort of theater buff. But somehow the language of Shakespeare draws me in, so that I am less concerned with the overall plot and more attuned to the immediate emotion of moment. That's what fun about Shakespeare.

So, Shakespeare in Gwich'in. What would that be like? In short, even more intense than Shakespeare in English. Not two minutes into the production I was nearly in tears. Not because I was so moved by the plot, but because I was hearing Gwich'in language, beautifully articulated and performed. I couldn't understand more than a handful of words (apologies to my Gwich'in teachers of past years), but I felt the language even more deeply and forcefully. Here in downtown Fairbanks, on traditional Athabascan territory, a 400-year old English play was being given life through the words of a Native language. At the same time, the words of King Lear, Lear Khęhkwaii, were giving new life to Gwich'in. The script weaves the two languages together seamlessly, giving real meaning to the concept of bilingualism and leaving me to wonder what a truly bilingual Alaska would be like. Allan Hayton (who just recently defended his master's thesis in Applied Linguistics at University of Alaska Fairbanks) delivers Lear's lines so convincingly in Gwich'in that it feels as if Shakespeare himself wrote in Gwich'in.

Language revitalization takes many forms; there is no single right path. But however we get there we must include the arts somewhere along the way. Theater, with its unique focus on language and dialogue, has an important role to play. Lear Khęhkwaii is at the same time a brilliant work of theater and a groundbreaking contribution to language revitalization in Alaska.


Following a month-long tour of the state the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theater production of Lear Khęhkwaii returns to Fairbanks for a final run May 10-12.

http://www.fstalaska.org/2013/02/lear-khehkwaii-press-release/