Ask Hatshepsut?
The play comes to Mt Lawley
Ancient Historystudents of Years Seven, Ten and Eleven experienced a refreshing and enjoyable theatrical event on Monday 15th at our school. The "Starr Production" team from Sydney enlightened our audience with exotic and bitterly humorous colours and sounds from Ancient Egypt, with the mysterious and intriguing historical character of the Queen-Pharaoh Hatshepsut. The fifteen century BC narrative from Thebes opened up before our eyes with the astonishing achievement of this brave and capable female warrior king who charged fiercely at the enemy in the pharaoh's armour. She was also known for wearing the sacred false beard, pretending to be a man. She subdued the rebellion in the land of Nubia and brought the Golden Age to her kingdom that prospered under the mighty god Amen-Ra's protection. She re-created a unified Egypt.
The stage setup, costumes and effects were rather moderate, but still engaging with interesting and informative visuals, especially those which displayed the most famous buildings from this civilisation and era, such as Karnak and Luxor temples. Moreover, the passionate, meaningful and energetic acting and script conveyed many direct, but also subtle messages to the spectators, triggering their imagination.
The discussion that developed after the performance was also fruitful and encompassed challenging questions raised by the students and teachers on evidence used for the script, mostly on propaganda, as recognised in the play. For example, it was worthwhile to learn how propaganda and manipulations of the masses by the pharaoh, as the means of control, played a significant role in the Egyptian society. The divine representation of the pharaoh had such a purpose. We also found out that the script was largely based on historical evidence, with a little poetic licence for stimulating interest. Furthermore, the recent discovery of Hatshepsut's mummy provided scholars with an opportunity to apply X-ray and other scientific methods to establish the cause of her death. Finally, incest as an issue could not be avoided, considering the immense attitude difference between the Ancient Egyptian and modern times. As the actors explained, Hatshepsut's fate to become the female pharaoh was a result of the high death rate among the royal male heirs - which was associated with incest within Royal families, but generally being an abnormal practice.
On the whole, the play provided us with a rare, special and resourceful learning opportunity. Such comments were generally expressed by Ancient History students and staff members through their feedback. Hopefully, similar events will be available to us again in the future.
