Bardwatching: Autumn Term 2 2021-22
Sarah Lambie
Friday, October 1, 2021
When it comes to the Bard, she's an inveterate twitcher. Sarah Lambie shares what she's spotted through her beady bardy binoculars.
Had I no eyes but ears, my ears would love…
As part of Bloomsbury Festival in October, theatre company Extant, the UK's leading professional performing arts company of visually impaired artists and theatre practitioners, has adapted Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis for the stage, in a contemporary reimagining called States of Mind which relocates the action into the clinical setting of an institutional room, to explore the darker themes that lie beneath the poem's erotic veneer.
By delivering integrated audio description through the theatricality of a medical observation room, this feature of the production – though primarily for a visually impaired audience – is designed to include sighted members to enhance their own enjoyment of the piece.
While it may be too late by the time you read this issue's Bardwatching to get along to the production itself, there are interesting ideas included here about ways of staging and adapting Shakespeare, which may inspire work with your own students.
We are such stuff as dreams are made on…
In early 2020, the Bristol-based theatre company Roustabout worked with 195 primary and secondary students to develop its new show, This Island's Mine, exploring themes of colonialism, identity and place. Set in the magical and comic world of Shakespeare's The Tempest, this vital new play encourages young people to explore complex and sensitive issues of colonisation, immigration and national identity: Where do I belong? Where is my home? Is it truly mine?
The premiere production will tour in Autumn 2021 to 25 primary and secondary schools in the South West as well as to the egg, Bath (9 Oct); Theatr Clwyd, Mold (16 Oct); Bridport Arts Centre (23 Oct); Exeter Phoenix (24 Oct); The Pound, Corsham (27 Oct); Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol (28-31 Oct); Blackwood Miners Institute (6 Nov); and Valley Arts, Chew Valley (7 Nov).
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me from mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom…
As the new academic year gets firmly underway, a host of Bard-related books have been published which we hope to review in forthcoming issues.
What Country, Friends, Is This?: Directing Shakespeare with Young Performers by Max Hafler, published by Nick Hern Books – ‘A highly practical, comprehensive guide to exploring Shakespeare with young people.
‘You’ and ‘Thou’ in Shakespeare, A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers by Penelope Freedman, published by Bloomsbury – ‘Romeo and Juliet always use ‘thou’ to each other, but they are the only pair of lovers in Shakespeare to do this. Why? All the women in Richard III address Richard as ‘thou’, but no man ever does. Why? Shakespeare's contemporaries would have known the answers to these questions because they understood what ‘thou’ signified, but modern actors and audiences are in the dark…’
Shakespeare and Meisner, A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers by Aileen Gonsalves & Tracy Irish, published by Bloomsbury – ‘This practical handbook is invaluable for anyone performing, teaching, studying or simply wanting a new way to enjoy Shakespeare.’
Shakespearean Rhetoric, A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers by Benet Brandreth, published by Bloomsbury – ‘This book helps you understand the key concepts of rhetoric. It gives clear explanations, stripped of jargon, and examples of rhetorical technique in the plays. It also provides engaging, practical exercises to unlock character and to identify themes in the plays through the lens of rhetoric.’
Staging Shakespeare, A Director's Guide to Preparing a Production by Brian Kulick, published by Bloomsbury – ‘Everything you ever wanted to know about Shakespeare but never thought to ask; a one-stop-shop designed for early career directors who are about to embark on their first production.’
For now I am in a holiday humour…
Shakespeare's Globe have announced a number of education activities available to young people and their families during October half term, between 24–30 October, including storytelling performances offering a sensory interactive adventure for younger audiences aged 5–12; on-stage workshops using activities and games designed to draw out elements of plays' language, characters and themes: Macbeth for 5–12-year-olds, and Othello or Hamlet for those aged 15+; and 30-minute explorations into Costume and Stage Combat.
