In 2004, Shakespeare's Globe in London began a daring experiment. They decided to mount a production of a Shakespeare play in 'original pronunciation' (OP) - a reconstruction of the accents that would have been used on the London stage around the year 1600, part of a period known as Early Modern English. They chose Romeo and Juliet as their first production, but - uncertain about how the unfamiliar accent would be received by the audience - performances in OP took place for only one weekend.
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As Shakespeare's work grew in popularity, it began to spread outside of England and eventually extended far beyond the Anglophone world. As it was introduced to Africa, Asia, Central and South America, his plays were translated and performed in new and unique ways that reflected the surrounding culture.
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…wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” is the famous line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but I’m using it for today’s post to direct your attention to two things — 1) the new PT issue that went live on June 2 that is all about children and play, and 2) about Shakespeare plays and poetry. The word “play” has various meanings and one of them refers to drama. Children naturally act out stories with each other or their toys, and create little ‘plays,’ as it were. And so taking them to see plays is a natural extension, I think, of that basic child-like impulse to create them.
Last year, I wrote a post about the Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, put on by the Unicorn Theatre in London. We also went to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe theatre. I was convinced by my experiences there that children (and parents) need not be intimidated by Shakespeare’s plays. Of course, for most people, it is the poetic language of Shakespeare (the plays are mostly written in blank verse which is unrhymed iambic pentameter) that can be off-putting; however, if one gets to see the play acted, the language does not appear nearly so opaque and in fact contributes to the pleasure of watching the drama. In Winnipeg where I live, we have a local theatre company, Shakespeare in the Ruins, that puts on a Shakespeare play every summer in outdoor venues. This year they staged the Merry Wives of Windsor. We took both our children to the play and they enjoyed watching it.
Have you ever taken your children to a Shakespeare play? What was it and did they enjoy it? Does your city have a local company that stages plays for children? Do tell us here at PaperTigers.
This week’s Poetry Friday host is Kelly Polark.
