Who is William and Why is He Shaking a Pear?

Getting to see not one, but two shows at the Shakespeare Globe was an amazing opportunity. It felt like an honor to see Shakespeare’s work done in his world. The theatre is meant for interaction with the audience and I love that it was so present in the two productions that we saw. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I got to go up on stage. If that’s not audience participation, I don’t know what is. There were so many effective breaks of the fourth wall. The acknowledgment of planes and birds in Mother Courage and Her Children was so cool. It brought the characters into our world and us into theirs. The closeness to the stage and actors made me wonder how the balcony seats were more valued.
Standing for a whole show turned out to be no half bad. I got great views for both shows, and they were not so good that I forgot to notice my aching feet and the sunlight in my eyes. Knowing that people have been standing in this theatre for centuries (recreated or not) was fascinating. I loved knowing that this has been done so many times before. I couldn’t help but wonder how many jokes we miss from the gap in language as well as time period. I pictured me within an audience in Shakespeare’s time and the different things that they would laugh at compared to our modern audience. I wondered how humor might change over time.
A Midsummer Nights Dream was done so perfectly. It added in aspects that kept it entertaining for a modern audience, while keeping Shakespeare’s story and style. Having it on this particular stage led to far more intermingling of the actors and audience than most stages would. Having multiple staircases into the audience led to more exits, entrances, and even scenes among the audience. I don’t think this could have been achieved as well in other theatres, certainly not theatres where the audience was sitting