Pericles in Burma [1913]

The performance of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, in Burmese by the Mandalay Court-House amateur dramatic club at the Shwe Dike Yon, Mandalay, was in many ways a notable achievement, says the Rangoon Gazette. The play itself, as rendered in Burmese, is an adaptation only of Shakespeare, the main events being taken and changed to suit a Burmese audience. The scene is laid in China and Burma. Antiochus being changed into U-di Bwa, emperor of China, while Pericles becomes Nagashan, Prince of Nagrothama. The pirates who seize Marina from the clutches of the rascally Leonine are of course dacoits, and the cause of the supposed death of Marina, which is not given in the play, is here said to be smallpox. Thus local interest is created and Asia Minor is kept in the background. The selection of the play, too, is fortunate, for such events as shipwreck, supposed deaths and consequent bringing to life, not to mention contests for the hand of the fair princess, are not unknown on the Burmese stage or in Burmese literature.