For this blog post, I want to start by traveling back in time. A time before my voice had any weight other than within my own circles, a time before I could travel alone, a time before I could vote, a time when I was bound to work in my home. I am taking myself back between 15 and 16, not hundred, not century, but simply those to measure years, for I only travel back to 2016, when I was a freshman in high school.
I remember sitting in a room simply lit by the light crashing through the crevices between the plastic blinds. White brick walls surround me as we begin our introduction to Shakespeare — we prepared to read Romeo and Juliet. I learned about the Globe Theatre then, and I knew I wanted to go there one day. It felt impractical then, but I tucked that wish away in my mind, and now seven years later it appeared and came true.
Shakespeare’s Globe theatre is almost one of my favorite theatres we have visited. I went a bit overboard spending money at the gift shop, but I think it was worth it to buy a tote bag, a keyring, some other knick-knacks I don’t quite remember and most importantly, a flower crown. I convinced two other people, Madison and Ryan, to buy flower crowns, so I am kind of a trend setter now.
Moving on from my spendthrift behavior and back to my opinions of the Globe, I think if this theatre were in the middle of nowhere away from air traffic it would be perfect. The actors did a great job of adlibbing (or simply ignoring) loud sounds from the helicopters or planes above. Their actions to combat unexpected sound did not feel out of place when watching The Comedy of Errors or A Midsummer Night’s Dream because overall this theatre seems to encourage an almost casual acting style, and I kind of like that. Shakespeare is intimidating enough as it is because of the language barrier, but their acting styles give a modern audience some moments to latch on to while feeling confident in understanding the purpose of a statement.
This play involved a lot of audience participation, at least in the sense that the actors had a crowd to gesture to in order to make points. In my Intro to Shakespeare class with Dr. Candido, I remember he mentioned that the actors in Shakespeare’s plays would often involve the audience to some extent. I was very happy that I decided to stand because when I watched Midsummer, I sat down, and the actors do not really interact with the people sitting down. During Comedy of Errors, as a groundling (audience members who stood by the stage to watch the play), I was in the audience that the actors gave attention to. I was standing right behind a man who the characters compared to time because he was bald; they teased him several times.
This play is much more pleasurable to consume as a performance rather than text to read. When I read it, I was getting the same names mixed up, and I was unsure of who was who and what was going on. I remember during our discussion, we questioned why the Antipholus brothers were named the same thing, and why they Antipholus of Syracuse went along with Adriana as her husband. I think my questions about those parts of the play were answered by the facial and body expressions of the characters on stage. Those pieces allowed me to not take this play seriously and consider these characters rational people.
Theatre in London U of A 