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Annabella S.

First off, I would like to start out by saying that this trip to Stratford–Upon-Avon definitely made the list of the top trips I have ever taken in my life! I thought it was such an amazing opportunity to be able to come to Stratford, home of Shakespeare, after vigorously studying him and his works in Seattle beforehand. This trip definitely made the whole world of Shakespeare “come to life” for me, and it helped me to get a lot more out of the course as well as to gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare in general.

When I first signed up for the Shakespeare summer course, I had limited knowledge about Shakespeare. I had previously read two of his plays in my English classes (Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet), and I had seen a few plays and movies back in Seattle as well. However, I sometimes had a hard time understanding Shakespeare’s language and the plays in general. At the end of my trip to Stratford and the Shakespeare course, I definitely feel more comfortable with Shakespeare’s plays and, in addition, I feel like I am much more knowledgeable about him as a person overall.

Because of this, I definitely think that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust succeeds in their statement to “lead the world’s enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare’s works, life and times.” In fact, I couldn’t agree more with it! Not only did I simply understand more about Shakespeare on this trip – I actually enjoyed it as well! I really liked how the Birth Trust focused on his “life and times” in addition to just his “works.” It was a great way to really immerse myself in his culture and therefore get a better understanding of the plays as well. For example, the visits and tours of Mary Arden’s Farm, Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Nash’s House, Hall’s Croft and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage allowed me to develop an understanding of Shakespeare’s world and how he grew up. I even loved seeing the people working at the different houses dressed in Elizabethan style clothing, because it helped me to get into Shakespeare’s mindset and visualize what everyday life was like for him. That being said, I would have liked to have a little bit more background information on Shakespeare’s life in an actual class at the Birthplace Trust. In our first talk with Elizabeth Woledge she didn’t really talk about this because she said we would be learning about it more on our tours, but I feel like we didn’t end up learning as much as I would have liked. It would have been interesting to have a brief talk/discussion about what it was like in Shakespeare’s time, and what kind of world he lived in, though of course I was grateful for the site visits because they helped to answer some of my questions.

I thought that two of the things that was most helpful in my understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare on the trip were the performances at the Royal Shakespeare Theater and the discussions we had about them at the Birthplace Trust. In our voice class with Michael Corbridge he said that Shakespeare isn’t just words on a page – you have to actually get up, move around, and act it out! I couldn’t agree more, and I realized how true his statement was after getting to see Shakespeare’s plays performed for us (both in the classroom with our scenes and in the actual RSC theater). Seeing these plays in Stratford definitely added a whole new dimension to my knowledge about Shakespeare, which helped me out a lot. Furthermore, the discussions and lectures we had together about the performances added yet another dimension to my understanding: these talks not only helped me to understand the performances, but the plays themselves as well. I enjoyed these talks on the performances because back in Seattle we had been mostly focusing on the text of the plays, but then in Stratford we were able to focus more on the actual performance/production side of it, and were then able to see the play in a new light. It was one thing to actually see the plays come to life, but then to be able to share ideas about them allowed me to truly appreciate and get more out of the performances that I would have otherwise. A lot of the times in discussions, or even when we were walking home from the plays, one of my classmates or professors would bring something up that I would have never noticed or thought of before! I was so grateful to have my peers and the experts at the Birth Trust with me on this trip, because I loved being in an environment (at the Birthplace Trust and Stratford in general) where everyone around me was so enthusiastic and passionate about Shakespeare - the energy was contagious. Being in a place entirely devoted to Shakespeare helped me to really “hone in” and appreciate all that he had to offer – because, like I said before, there is so much more to Shakespeare than just words on a page!

For the play Merchant of Venice specifically, I felt like I received a great level of education in Stratford. In just reading the play (as I did before coming to Stratford) I would have never realized all the complex layers that I was able to see at the RSC production. They introduced so many interesting ideas, especially about Portia’s character and all of the different layers/personalities that she had. When I was reading the play, I never would have thought of that because I was more focused on the dilemma with Shylock and Antonio, so I thought it was a great choice for them to bring it out more in the play. Their decision to focus on Portia really illustrates the fact that you can interpret the text in so many different ways and do a lot of different things with it (this was also shown when we performed our scenes on the last day and people interpreted them in ways I never would have imagined).

I would like to end by saying a sincere thank you to everyone at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (and everyone else involved) for making this a truly memorable experience. Coming to Stratford was like putting on 3D glasses and diving into the world of Shakespeare, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better! The trip has not only helped me get a deeper understanding of Shakespeare, but also helped me to realize that there is so much more to “Shakespeare” than I thought – we were able to tackle the issue from so many different angles (discussions, visits, workshops, plays, etc). This has also made me appreciate and enjoy his works a lot more than I did at the start of this course! Thank you so much.

 

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