Dr Dennis Stephen Bartholomeusz, an acknowledged world authority on Shakespearean studies (90) passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on March 25 in Melbourne.
Dennis was born and raised in Sri Lanka, attended St Joseph’s College Colombo, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Ceylon. He established the English Department at Aquinas University College, in Colombo in 1954, where he was one of the first members of the English Department to be a literature specialist. He directed a number of plays, including ‘The Teahouse of the August Moon’, with Hilary de Alwis, a hilarious Japanese-American clown, ‘Moliere’s Tartuffe’ the two absurd hypocrites played by Percy Colin-Thomé and Brian Rutnam, the tragic beauty of Reneira Campbell’s Joan of Arc in Jean Anouilh’s ‘The Lark’, all box office successes at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in Colombo. In 1966, he graduated with a doctorate in English Literature from the University of London.
As a Reader of English at Monash University’s English Department, he analysed how Shakespearean plays had been performed down the ages, resolving the age-old conflict between academics and actors over what Shakespearean texts represent. By looking at the history of Shakespeare on stage, he explored the link between text and presentation. He believed that a historical study of a play in performance, can unfold many complex cultural significances, while extending our understanding of the text, and enriching our awareness of its form and meaning.
He injected his methods into directing performances by students and staff in the Alexander Theatre: King Lear in 1966, and Coriolanus in 1973. It seems paradoxical that King Lear considered by many literary critics to be Shakespeare’s “greatest achievement”, should have a reputation for being impossible to stage. But the first ever Australian production of King Lear was directed by Dennis and performed on stage at Monash University, as part of the third year English course on Shakespearean drama. His lectures were always insightful, and thought-provoking, encouraging students to make their own discoveries, and make recommendations for their own productions.
He committed his analysis of the evidence on Macbeth to the book Macbeth and the Players (Cambridge University Press, 1969); which included interpretations by Sir Arthur John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Samuel Richardson and Eric Porter. Confining the study to a single play, he brought the interpretations into focus, still further sharpened by concentrating on the two principal characters, Macbeth and Lady M. The book brought him wide reputation, including a Fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Institute in Washington DC, and a visiting Associate Professorship at the University of Illinois in 1972.
He reminds us that ‘Poetry is the secret life of each and all the arts’(Jacques Maritain), and that Shakespeare’s plays contain some of the most expressive poetry ever written. His book on the The Winter’s Tale in performance was not only a technical and scholarly affair, but a creative act.
Dennis retired from teaching at Monash University in 1996, but there was no diminution in his research or academic activity. India’s Shakespeare co-written with Poonam Trivedi was published in 2005, presenting a collection of essays on how Shakespeare was read, taught, translated, and performed into the cultural fabric of India.
Profound and astoundingly brilliant, his goodness and compassion radiated a quiet influence on the people around him. Inspiringly, he remained devoted to English literature to the end.
