Theater troupe to perform Shakespeare in Klingon

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

crazyeddie

Guest
Did you even know there is such a thing as the Klingon Language Institute? I didn't! :eek:


Don't you love that remarkable moment when roSenQatlh and ghIlDenSten exit the stage and Khamlet is left alone to deliver the immortal words: "baQa', Qovpatlh, toy'wl"a' qal je jIH"?

No? Well, it always kills on Kronos. That's the home planet of the Klingons, the hostile race that antagonizes the Federation heroes of "Star Trek." We learned back in 1991 in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" that the Klingons love Shakespeare. Or as he's known to his ridged-foreheaded devotees in the space-alien community: Wil'yam Shex'pir.

The line above might be more familiar to earthlings as "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!" But now, we Terrans have an opportunity to savor Shex'pir as the Klingons do. The Washington Shakespeare Company, that Arlington, Va., outpost of offbeat treatments of classic plays, is going where no D.C. enterprise has ever quite gone before, offering up Shakespeare in Klingon.

At the company's annual benefit on Sept. 25, selections from "Hamlet" and "Much Ado About Nothing" will be performed in the language that was invented for the Klingon characters of the "Star Trek" films. Actors will be speaking the verse in two languages, English and Klingon, and the lines in each will correspond to the Bard's signature meter: iambic pentameter. The translations are courtesy of the Klingon Language Institute, a Pennsylvania group that published "The Klingon Hamlet" several years ago, in addition to composing the Klingon version of "Much Ado About Nothing."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z0yU73QCxp
 
A

a_lost_packet_

Guest
crazyeddie":cr0yohjd said:
Did you even know there is such a thing as the Klingon Language Institute? I didn't! :eek: ...

At some conventions, you can sign up for Klingonese classes. :)

(No, I've never done that.)
 
D

docm

Guest
The first version of the Klingon language was developed by James Doohan, Scotty of the original series. Also, their homeworlds name isn't spelled "Kronos" but "Qo'noS."

My wife can speak conversational Klingon rather well, but I still trip over a lot of it. You'd be shocked at how many English profs & teachers list it among their secondary languages on CV's :roll:
 
J

jim48

Guest
Eddie's really waiting for them to do The Rocky Horror Picture Show. :lol:
 
S

StarRider1701

Guest
Shakespeare in Klingon...

To what, an audience of 12 people, if they're lucky?!? Stupidist thing I never heard. :roll: :lol: :mrgreen:
 
M

matthewota

Guest
I don't think it would have a wide audience, since only trekkies would understand the language. Seems a waste of time.
 
E

EarthlingX

Guest
If they would make it accessible from Internet, i think there would be a lot of interest. If they have fun with it, than it's anything but a waste of time.
 
E

EarthlingX

Guest
SDC : Klingon Space Opera Makes Cosmic Debut
By SPACE.com Staff



posted: 10 September 2010
02:46 pm ET

Die-hard "Star Trek" fans may want to dust off their Klingon dictionaries and take a transporter to Europe for the debut of the first opera ever to be completely sung in the invented science fiction language.

The opera, called "u," kicks off a three-day run at the Zeebelt Theater today in The Hague, Netherlands. The title "u" is the Klingon word for "universe" or "universal." [Photo of Klingon opera rehearsals.]

Tickets for the performances were still available as of Friday morning, according to Reuters.
 
S

StarRider1701

Guest
matthewota":1iw9wnlo said:
I don't think it would have a wide audience, since only trekkies would understand the language. Seems a waste of time.

I am a Star Trek Fan (hate the word trekkie) and I have never even begun to be interested in learning Klingon. For that small percentage of fans who do know the language, how many will like Shakespeare or Operas? Not very many, I'd bet. Not my kind of entertainment, whatever the language.
 
J

jim48

Guest
StarRider1701":25g1kjd3 said:
matthewota":25g1kjd3 said:
I don't think it would have a wide audience, since only trekkies would understand the language. Seems a waste of time.

I am a Star Trek Fan (hate the word trekkie) and I have never even begun to be interested in learning Klingon. For that small percentage of fans who do know the language, how many will like Shakespeare or Operas? Not very many, I'd bet. Not my kind of entertainment, whatever the language.

Back in the Day when I went to Star Trek cons, I found that many of the Trekkers were into theater and the Bard. Natural born hams. Klingons and Shakespeare are an obvious mix, IMO. I'll bet you'd go if the Swedish Bikini Team were doing Shakespeare in Klingonese! Have they created a Romulan vocabulary yet?
 
E

EarthlingX

Guest
Klingon and Wagner, that should work :)

Imagine 'Nibelung Ring' in Klingonesse, or on a second thought, perhaps not ..

For perverse :

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1gZ55mkTsA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH80dwJ4Oh0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8njyLeEfuQ[/youtube]
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts