Julia S.

Our weeklong trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon was an experience that opened my eyes to so many more aspects of Shakespeare’s writing than I thought possible. I was already very fascinated with Shakespeare’s work before we left, but was captivated by his beautiful language and heartfelt stories even more so after being thrust into the small town that was essentially the heart of William Shakespeare. Deep discussion of the plays with those who have acted in them and been a part of productions helped me gain a better and more complex understanding of what Shakespeare meant to convey through his words, especially with the Merchant of Venice. Overall, the trip provided me with a greater appreciation for the work that the people involved in the plays put into their performances, a better understanding of Shakespeare’s writing and its depth, and a love for Shakespeare’s works and history that I was unaware I had before being thrown right into the heart of it.

The first night we went to see The Merchant of Venice at the RST, I was amazed by the production itself, but hadn’t really thought about all the time and energy that goes into such a performance. Shakespeare is almost like a foreign language to those who first read it. It is full of hidden complexities, and almost daunting when first handed to you. I didn’t fully appreciate what the actors were bringing to the stage right away because they made their heartfelt performances look so easy and believable. After speaking to Susannah Fielding about her audition experience and the different accents and layers that she and the director worked on, I was shocked by the enormous difficulties and minute details that went along with creating a Shakespeare play. When we had our voice class with Michael Corbridge, who works with the actors involved with the RSC, we were given the task of developing a character and becoming more comfortable with a monologue we had just been handed. After an hour, the progress we had all made with the monologue was incredible, but I definitely felt challenged and it took a lot of effort. It was amazing to go through what the actual actors and voice coaches go through every day. I truly began to understand all the hard work it takes to act in a play with language and meaning so complex as Shakespeare’s. We also got a glimpse of what the wig and makeup workers do when new plays are being worked on. Without the wig and makeup designers, the three child witches in Macbeth wouldn’t have captivated the audience with their zombie-like appearance, and we wouldn’t have been able to see the contrast between Lady Frugal’s extravagant life full of ornamental wigs and makeup, and the dirty servant life she had to portray later. Listening to Brenda Leedham discuss how she hand-made her wigs with actual hair, placing every strand individually, was astonishing. The time and effort that it takes to put on the amount of Shakespeare plays that the RST does was amazing to hear about, and that hard work showed in each of the plays we saw on our trip.

Reading a number of Shakespeare plays prior to our trip was incredibly helpful for me to understand the style of writing better: when we arrived in Stratford and had our daily discussions and lectures about different plays, ideas began to form inside of mine and my classmates’ heads about the layers and layers behind Shakespeare’s text that might not be noticed when you first read it. Our class had especially detailed discussions about The Merchant of Venice. After watching the actual play with Susannah Fielding as Portia, I think we all immediately fell in love with it. The mask of Portia’s character really came out in Susannah’s portrayal of her and we all couldn’t help but discuss it on our way to our hotel that night, in the post-performance seminar with Alycia Timmis the next morning, and for almost the entire trip. As we had our discussions we were able to uncover so much about the different characters that I had not even thought about when reading it the first time. Being able to look at the archives on Thursday was also very eye-opening in terms of the characters and how they were portrayed differently throughout history. All of the different variations that Shylock was given were fascinating to me, and we were even able to see a book of stage directions to interpret what the directors were thinking in terms of presentation of the characters. We had the time and the resources to dive into the intricate lives of many of Shakespeare’s characters - it made me even more fascinated in what Shakespeare was thinking when he created his characters, and what they meant to him.

Being tossed in the mix of a town built around Shakespeare himself gave me so much more admiration for the work he did and a greater fascination for the life he and his family lived. Being able to take a five minute trip to Shakespeare’s birthplace, Nash’s House, Hall’s Croft, Mary Arden’s Farm, and Anne Hathaway’s cottage was enthralling for everyone, because we all knew this piece of history was right in the palm of our hands. Walking through the small streets of Stratford every day and passing by these historical monuments made Shakespeare come alive. It made him more relatable, because he began to feel more like a person rather than just a famous name. When Shakespeare came alive for me, his writing came alive, and it added to the entire experience.

The trip to Stratford was truly one of the most remarkable trips I have ever been on. Not only was it historical, fascinating, and incredibly fun for the entire group, but it opened up the world of an incredible writer to our group of twelve and let us put a modern spin on what he had to say about issues in the world when he was alive. I would love nothing more than to go back, and wish the trip lasted longer; I gained a completely contemporary and more complex view on Shakespeare’s work and the people who have chosen to devote their lives to what he has written and the characters he has created.

 

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