This year the pioneering Afghan theatre company – ‘Rah-e-Sabz’ (Path of Hope) – will be staging Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors in Dari at the Globe theatre as part of the London 2012 Festival. The Globe is hosting productions of all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays, each performed in a different language.
The path to the Afghan production is by no means easy. Notwithstanding the fall of the Taliban, a woman appearing on stage in Afghanistan is still perceived by some to be little better than a prostitute. For over a generation men and women have not appeared on stage together and professional theatre barely exists.