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Geoffrey M.

I have a crush on Portia, or rather, Susannah Fielding, who played Portia in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Merchant of Venice and came and talked to us after we saw it for the first time. It would have been amazing to meet with anyone who had been a part of putting on such a fantastic piece of theater, but meeting with the central actress was truly thrilling. The actors in these productions acquired the aura of famous movie stars. While walking through the street we saw Scott Handy, who played Antonio in Merchant and Ross in Macbeth, at the pub. When we went to see the seventh Harry Potter movie, we ran into Chris Jarman, who played the Prince of Morocco in Merchant. It was akin to a trip to LA in which you see your favorite Hollywood stars. This kind of closeness with Shakespeare and the people who preserve his memory and plays was one of the reasons that the trip was so meaningful. Being in a place so steeped in Shakespeare lent a whole new dimension to the plays we studied in Seattle.

Shakespeare and the theater are an integral part of Stratford’s existence. In some ways this lent it a touristy feel with large tour groups flocking across the square wearing matching backpacks or interpreters explaining the details of Shakespeare’s birthplace to a group of middle-aged Japanese people. In others though, it made the trip seem wholly focused on Shakespeare. The old and slightly crooked buildings gave the town a feeling of age, but like Shakespeare they were still in use today. The visits to historical sites gave the whole trip the ambiance it needed.

Then there were the theaters. They were recently renovated spaces that were clearly constructed with all the benefits of modern architecture, but they preserved the style of the theaters of Shakespeare’s day. Seeing Shakespeare performed on a thrust stage, as it would have been in his day, helped to inform us on the Shakespearean style. The Swan especially had a very intimate atmosphere that added a new dimension to the theater-going experience. One of the advantages of a thrust stage, I think, is that it makes the action seem more realistic: actors are not forced to face out and can instead speak directly at each other. It also lends itself more to interaction with the audience because the audience is much closer to the action. Several times in the productions we saw, actors broke the fourth wall to address the audience. Sometimes this was in an appeal to the audience as a whole, as when in Cardenio’s Alex Hassell, playing Fernando, asked the audience to understand his logic when he argued that he had not raped Dorothea, as if they were the part of his mind that he needed to convince. Jamie Beamish, as Seyton in Macbeth actually went into the audience and spoke to specific people, increasing the sense that he acted as the play’s master of ceremonies. These aspects of Shakespeare’s plays and the craft of acting are not really things that can be taught in a classroom, and seeing the RSC put on such high quality productions of Shakespeare really helped to illustrate the appeal and relevance of his plays today.

To complement these excellent productions, the format of learning about the play and its history before seeing it, then discussing our reactions in a structured setting afterward gave an excellent framework to learning about the plays and the specific productions. It was nice going into the theater with some knowledge of the play and how it had been performed before, and it allowed us to focus on what this production had done differently. It was also excellent to have a chance to share my ideas and opinions on the choices of the production afterward and hear the ideas of my classmates. Our discussions always seemed productive and fruitful, and we were still trying to talk when we had to go, so it is clear that they weren’t forced or lacking in energy. Although we had studied it in Seattle, I really saw what was missing when we didn’t get this format of classes for the production of Macbeth. Having one play without the discussion showed how valuable the discussions had been.

The entire trip was exactly what I think travel should be like: while I took quite a few pictures, most of the value of the trip could not be captured by a camera. The importance of the trip was not in viewing stagnant objects, but in experiencing and learning about excellent theater. This course has made me rethink my self-designation as a “math and science guy” and rekindled my interest in theater and in Shakespeare.

 

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