Shakespeare’s Globe-the beginning of theatre, movies, everything. It all started here. Our group saw another Shakespeare production a couple of days ago at the Globe Theatre. As we made our way into the Globe Theatre, I tried to imagine what the experience would have been like during Shakespeare’s time. Did audiences realize how they were a part of something bigger than themselves? Did they realize that they were witnessing plays being performed and written by who was and always would be the most known and greatest writer in the world? As I sat in the heat on the uncomfortable benches, I wondered how they ever did it in so many layers of clothing. Being a spectator in Shakespeare’s Globe made me feel like I had torn the tapestry of time and was peeking into the past. One thing that would not have been in the past however were the captions screens. I noticed immediately that there were caption screens to help hear and understand the play better. This was definitely a much appreciated modern touch to the ancient tradition of Shakespeare.
The play that we were seeing is known as The Comedy of Errors. After both being separated from their twins in a shipwreck, Antipholus and his slave Dromio go to Ephesus to find them. The other set of twins lives in Ephesus, and the new arrivals cause a series of incidents of mistaken identity.
This play was one of the plays that we read in our on-campus class before our departure for London. I must say that the play’s humor is so much more effective when performed rather than read. I found myself understanding jokes a lot more and laughing hysterically. The jokes just don’t hit the mark quite well without the bodily gestures and animated facial expressions of actors.
I think what also made this play so funny was the fact that the actors interact with the audience. I often wonder if this would have been done in Shakespeare’s time or not. I’m sure that the audience would have laughed, but would breaking the fourth wall be considered unprofessional? One instance of breaking the forth wall that I loved was that when there was a baby that would start crying, one of the actors had a line where they said, “Well.” The actor turned to the baby when it started crying and repeated this line more dramatically by saying, “Weeeellll” It produced a lot of laughter from the audience and eased the tension of the audience being distracted by the baby. It even happened a second time where the actor yelled “yeah” in agreement to the baby’s fussiness. I also loved how the women interacted with the people in the front of the audience. One even pointed out a man in the audience and spoke to him. Another reason I love these plays is because in the production, actors make entrances from the other side of the theatre, requiring them to have to pass through the audience to get to the stage.
While the play was much more humorous in person rather than when reading it, I found myself becoming a bit more confused at first because the actors who played the twins looked so much alike that I would have to try to pay more attention on who was who which led to me missing plot points of the play. Another reason that I missed points of the play or became perplexed at times was because my eyes kept reading the captions on the screens thus forcing me to sacrifice the chance to fully see their faces and movements when they delivered the lines. I feel as if this play would be much easier for those in Shakespeare’s time to understand because the language would have been much more familiar to them rather than to us. Nevertheless, many of the jokes were still knee-slappers for modern day viewers.
Speaking of modern day, plays at the globe may be performed more progressively than Shakespeare production performed in contemporary America. There is a significant amount of bending gender roles in plays at the Globe. This was also seen there at our viewing of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Women will play the characters of men and vice versa. This is quite a twist of tradition compared to how things were done in Shakespeare’s time. Women were not allowed to perform on the stage so all of the female parts were played by male actors. Now, it is often seen that the male actors are played by females. I did not see any males playing females during either productions at the Globe.
There are also many other elements of Shakespeare’s play that are performed differently in the Globe now than they would have been performed during their original time. One way that they are performed differently is that there is a director for the plays whereas in Shakespeare’s time, each actor would have to direct themselves. Essentially, each actor only knew the time of their own parts rather than all the lines of the play to reduce the risk of the entire script being stolen.
As I tried to imagine how Shakespeare’s plays would have or would not have been performed during his time, I found myself feeling incredibly grateful and privileged to be where I was right there, in the present, taking it all in with modern eyes and modern ears. I would say that I was born in the wrong time, but then again, I don’t have to worry about dying from the Black Plague or having my thatched roof catch on fire. I can watch Shakespeare, ride the tube, and get coffee at Pret all in one day. What a life.
Theatre in London U of A 