Most native English speakers struggle to grasp the meaning of Shakespeare’s poetic language.
Joel Loum Okumu – who migrated to Australia without knowing one word of English – went above and beyond by putting his own spin on the classic plays.
The 17-year-old high school graduate from Newcastle, New South Wales, has been chosen from 200 hopefuls to perform the immortal works of Shakespeare alongside some of Australia’s finest actors.
Joel will travel to Sydney this month for a masterclass and mentoring from the Bell Shakespeare theatre company, one of the country’s top drama groups.
‘I couldn’t believe it. I thought it wasn’t true, then I thought ‘wait a second, I actually won?’ Joel told Daily Mail Australia, of the moment his teacher gave him the news.
Despite only acting for two years, Joel wowed the judges with his unique interpretation of Hamlet, the antihero of the Shakespearean tragedy.
‘I was performing two characters – Hamlet and his father – at the same time. I incorporated elements of Nigerian witchcraft, which is a big deal in Africa.
‘The performance was basically channelling my own experiences and aggression.’
While many students are turned off Shakespeare after being force fed his plays at school, Joel was drawn to the writer on a personal level.
‘I first heard about him through the rapper Tupac. When I was learning English I was listening to rap music, and Tupac always said he was influenced by Shakespeare.’
‘When I looked into it, started reading the language, I was like I was like “wow, this is so advanced”.’
‘I love how he follows the extremes of emotion, and I love the language.’
Joel’s family came to Australia after leaving Uganda.
‘We were in a dangerous refugee camp. One night a rebel soldier came to our camp in the middle of the night holding an AK-47. That was our wake-up call.’
But tragedy followed the family to Australia.
Joel lost both his parents at seven years old when his father killed his mother, leaving the children to move in with a guardian.
His father was found in 2008 to be not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness.
It’s this hardship that caught the eye of Bell Shakespeare head of education Joanna Erskine, who told Daily Mail Australia she had never seen a performance like Joel’s.
‘It was an interpretation of the play we had never seen before, so we’re very excited to see how things play out.’
‘He gave an amazing and raw performance. For somebody who has only been acting for two years, it’s clear Joel has a natural gift. It was impossible not to take him on board.’
The teenager will travel to Bell Shakespeare’s headquarters in Sydney this month to begin the scholarship.
This article first appeared in Daily Mail
