Julius Caesar and Nelson Mandela

Our production of 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘊𝘢𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘳, directed by Marshall Carby, continues tonight, 7:30 p.m., at Wyuka Stables, 3600 "O" Street in Lincoln!

Can't make it tonight? No worries! The show will also be performed September 8-11, Thursday through Sunday, at the same location and time.

So many remarkable performances make this is a show that you don't want to miss. Grab your tickets online at https://flatwatershakespearecompany.org or at the door. Come enjoy some Shakespearean theatre, as he liked it: actor-centered, open-air, big-hearted.

On the theme of big-heartedness, those who resisted South Africa's apartheid policy demonstrated courage and compassion again and again -- including Nelson Mandela, who eventually became the nation's president. Imprisoned on Robben Island for his politics, Mandela became part of a Shakespearean circle. Literature was generally forbidden, but a copy of Shakespeare's Complete Works was ingeniously disguised as a sacred Hindu text by prisoner Sonny Venkatrathnam. The book circulated among the inmates, who eventually signed their names in order to mark favorite passages.

"N. R. Mandela" appears next to these lines from Julius Caesar: “Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant only taste of death but once.” The signature is dated 16 December 1977.

For more about the Robben Island Shakespeare, listen or read (or both) to this episode of Shakespeare Unlimited, from the Folger Shakespeare Library --

https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/robben-island-shakespeare