The Play's The Thing

King Lear at the Globe

People love to to adapt Shakespeare. There’s tons of movies that have been based off of his plays; like Kiss Me Kate, Ten Things I Hate About You, She’s The Man, and many others. Theaters throughout the world put on their own adapted versions of Shakespeare. I personally love seeing how the versatility of Shakespeare manifests itself in the individual performances of his plays, and experiencing the liberties taken by the actors and directors of the shows.

I’ve seen two completely opposite productions of Much Ado About Nothing. At Cedar City, this classic comedy was placed in the Elizabethan era, and the actors chosen for Beatrice and Benedick were a little over middle-age; with graying hair and wrinkles. They focused a lot on middle-aged issues and humor relating to that specific time of life. Naturally, the approach to this play was quite different than its counterpart; in this case, the performance I saw at the Globe here in London. It was set during the Mexican revolution, and the actors for Beatrice and Benedick were in their mid twenties -- young and energized with a lot of life ahead of them. Both sets of actors had specific chemistry onstage that was completely different from the other. I love that I was able to get two opposite perspectives of this play, showcasing how the story would have happened in two unparalleled settings. Not only were they set in different time periods, but the fact that two couples of different ages could be chosen to play these characters and the story remained the same shows how versatile Shakespeare is. In either case, I found both productions beautifully done, and thought it was a perfect example of how completely unique every performance is.

Reading Shakespeare is a different experience entirely. I create my own voices and personas for the characters and have only my perspective to go off of. But seeing the different performances of the plays has built on my understanding of Shakespeare, and overall makes it more entertaining for me rather than listening to the voice in my head.

I was also able to see King Lear at the Shakespeare Festival and the Globe. The Cedar City production was, like Much Ado, set in the Elizabethan period and fairly straightforward. I came away without thinking much of it -- I understood what was going on, and the actors and ambience were wonderful, but it didn’t really resonate with me. However, the production of Lear at the Globe was entirely different. It was set in a modern period, with the characters dressed as though they were homeless. The choice of music, props, set and costumes helped me make certain connections within the play that I hadn’t noticed before. Combining this with my previous experiences of this play, I felt that I came away from the performance understanding a lot more about Lear than I had before. I liked having the chance to compare the liberties taken by the actors and directors of each of the plays and what they focused on. It helped me to expand my knowledge of the play and I found myself enjoying it a lot more. It may be that I’m a little older and wiser -- emphasis on “a little” -- and perhaps when I first saw Lear I wasn’t totally prepared to take in the message and understand the deeper meanings of the play. I think after having been exposed to it once and given it a few years to marinate, I went into and came from the Globe having gotten a lot more out of it. Watching this new, fresh performance only added to the layers of understanding I’m creating for Lear. It was like having the play reborn or seeing it through a new set of eyes.

This is what I love about Shakespeare; the fact that you can plop any of his plays into whatever time period, pick any actor (within reason) and it’ll make sense. You can have two completely different performances of the same play and they can be equally as exciting and enjoyable. I love the understanding I gain from each performance I see and that my knowledge of Shakespeare is expanded with every interaction I have with his writings.