The Maids

In Mongolia audiences laughed as the maids tried to poison their mistress. The descendants of Genghis Khan understand the glamour of infamy.

In the photograph above the maids wait for their over-friendly mistress to drink a poisoned cup of tea. “It’s such a pleasure making people happy,” Madame croons.  The cruel humor of the play appealed to Mongolians, who understood the quest for proud infamy. Women played all three roles.

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King Lear

A Sufi interpretation of Shakespeare’s text staged in Uzbekistan in the Uzbek language.

Uzbekistan is in Central Asia, north of Afghanistan. The Uzbeks are the descendants of Chinggis Khan who converted to Islam in the 1300’s. In the deserts of this country, the Mongolian shaman was absorbed into the role of the dervish, and the shaman’s ecstatic flight transformed to a whirling dance: the way of the Sufi.

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