A new play at the University of Hawaiʻi envisions an 1890s gathering of Hawaiian intellectuals who explore the intersection between Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and Hawaiʻi’s political landscape during the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
The Conversation spoke to writer-director Iāsona Kaper ahead of the premiere of his ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi play "Kaisara." Kaper will soon be the fifth graduate of a UH master’s program in Hawaiian theatre.
In 1896, four scenes from "Julius Caesar" were translated into ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi by James N. K. Keola and published in the Hawaiian language newspaper Ka Nupepa Kuokoa.
"So I've taken that. I've imagined a story where James Keola and people he would have known at the time back in the 1890s here in Honolulu, such as Emma Nāwahī, Joseph Nāwahī, Abigail Campbell, John Bush, they're all making an appearance, they're getting together to read this translation," Kaper said.
"But there's then a twist that the translation gets continued, that some of the other characters have translated more scenes from the play. And that's the translation that I've done to extend the action and keep the story of 'Julius Caesar' going."
He said Keola's translated section ends with Brutus agreeing that Caesar must die, but it stops short of Caesar's assassination and the civil war.
"I looked into the context. Ka Nupepa Kuokoa was very much pro-new regime after the overthrow. By 1896, it's the Republic of Hawaiʻi, and James Keola is part of a political organization that's aimed at bringing Native Hawaiians into politics with this new government, with the republic," Kaper said.
"It became clear to me that this is a deliberate use of Shakespeare to say, 'Yeah, kings and queens are bad. They got Brutus, even Brutus agrees that you got to kill Caesar, you can't have somebody in power in that type of way,'" Kaper told The Conversation.
Kaper encouraged Shakespeare lovers and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi speakers alike to come and contemplate how these political issues echo throughout time.
"Kaisara" has showtimes at the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre on Sept. 20, 21, 22 and 24. Click here for ticketing information.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Sept. 19, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. This story was adapted for the web by Sophia McCullough.
