Friday, May 30, 2008
Day 6 - The Globe Theater
Though located near the river Thames, Shakespeare's original playhouse was not in fact in central London, but rather an outlying district called Southwark. I heard that Southwark had a "colorful" reputation of being not too different from what we would call a "bad" district today, certainly not the place to find respectable gentry. Yet the famous playhouse, by attracting commoners and gentry alike, brought people of all classes together in a region "renowed for bear-baiting and other less than respectable activities" (Globe Theater pamphlet). Nonetheless, elements of England's strict class divisions remained, commoners were in the courtyard by comparison with England's nobility which were seated in the balconies. I also read something in a pamphlet, about the old Globe, relating to geography: "That playhouses could even exist at all was in part due to its Southwark location, it was outside the jurisdiction of a disappointing central London bureaucracy." Though the original playhouse is no longer with us, we can enjoy a very close approximation of it today in Southwark, the very same place the original was built in. I felt that the performance was authentic, with no fancy stage production as we may see in other theaters in the US. I really enjoyed the play and I think everything about the recreated Globe theater was fantastic. Our ticket allowed us to tour exhibits and recreations of Shakespearean costums and homes. There were also many younger kids there (because of school vacation), and I think that they would enjoy it as well- the language was not off-putting because when it is acted out, it is a lot easier to follow than reading it. I think that many people who visit the Globe have the potential to broaden their understanding of Shakespearean theater. Along with the play, the atmosphere and history truly made it a memorable experience.
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3 comments:
You make a lot of points in this post. One of your smaller points I think is one of the most important: the younger crowd being exposed to Shakespeare. A Shakespeare production at The Globe is a great way to get younger students involved because you are right; kids will be able to understand an acted performance easier than just reading alone. Students will have the opportunity to "see it all" so to say, and be able to envision what Shakespeare was trying to get across.
I too was impressed with the amount of children of varying ages found at The Globe Theater on the day we attended the performance. I would have liked to have spent a bit more time poking around downstairs where there were a variety of activities for children to participate in, in order to get a better picture of what they encouraged the children to do. I would have liked to have located some of the worksheets and projects they were completing, but I think that the matinee production of the show made discussion with employees difficult, as did the large number of students in attendance. I do know from personal experience, that it helps to be able to see a difficult work, such as Shakespeare's King Lear, acted out in order to better understand it. I was never a fan of Shakespeare in high school. It wasn't until my senior year I believe, that we went and saw Hamlet live. By following our reading, discussion, and analysis of the play with a viewing in its original text, I believe that it peaked our interests in the subject and enabled us to relate to and understand the content more. I wholeheartedly believe that teaching things to students in a variety of ways, allows them to fully absorb the material and understand it. It also a way in which you can help to build on that knowledge in other areas. For example, once one Shakespearean comedy is understood and covered in class, you can then build on that information and spark discussion on other works of the time. It made me happy to see children of all ages in attendance at The Globe who were furthering their understanding of Shakespeare, something that all students should be familiar with.
i definetly agree with you in your post and how they did a really good job of re-creating the enviroment that shakespeares played would have been acted out. aside from all the commercialisation(z)?, the play itself was replicated well and seemed genuinely authentic with the way is was actually done after you got into the globe.
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