The Blog

When thinking of Shakespeare’s great couples, it is often high drama that comes to mind: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Ophelia, Mark Antony and Cleopatra, even the Macbeths. Each of these pairings illuminated timeless aspects of relationships, from hope and confusion to struggles for power. Yet Shakespeare also crafted more lighthearted pairings — and chief among these is Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado about Nothing.

In a play that engages with melodrama as much as romantic comedy — a major plot point is a scandalous lie about a young woman’s virtue — Beatrice and Benedick bring great verve and wit. Sharing strong wills and keen minds, they bicker constantly with each other; yet the dynamic exchanges let the audience know just how very much this couple belongs together. (Listen above to a definitive scene and read here!)

Beatrice and Benedick live on in any romantic comedy that plays out the ‘opposites attract’ model of courtship. A classic example of this is in the Doris Day and Rock Hudson comedies Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back, where the audience knows that the very traits that place the characters in conflict are the things that will bring them together.

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For all that we explore here the importance of Shakespeare to children, the Bard himself endures in popular imagination as utterly adult. In portraits of the day, he appears as the handsome and dignified creator of theatrical worlds; in films like Shakespeare in Love, he is a rakish, romantic lead. Yet in her book An Introduction to Shakespeare (1951), historian Marchette Chute looks to his childhood to illuminate a life-changing event: the day that young William Shakespeare ― born in the cottage pictured here ― saw his first play.

Just the notion of Shakespeare encountering theatre for the first time is striking enough ― who can tell what ideas and images were later brought to life because of that childhood spectacle?

Chute’s retelling of that fateful day is all the more evocative, capturing the excitement of the town of Stratford ― of which Shakespeare’s father was the mayor ― at the arrival of the actors. The town hall became their theatre, the setting of plays filled with sensational scenes, humor, and “moral maxims.” As with Shakespeare’s own plays, there was something for everyone.

Chute closes this account on a contemplative note: “Every year the small boys of Stratford could watch [the actors] unpack their wagons, and some of them must have had visions of growing up to be actors themselves.” There was, of course, only one William Shakespeare; but the dreams of those young people live on hundreds of years later, in the spirit of any child introduced to Shakespeare today. Who knows ― the child in your class might be the next Bard!

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In life, too often it seems we each want to have the last word. Shakespeare’s characters are no different: Kate in Taming of the Shrew, Rosalind in As You Like It, Puck in A Midsummer Nights’ Dream – each of these figures, among others, offers the epilogue in their respective plays. Summing up the spirit of the work while introducing still more ideas for the audience to consider, the epilogue offers a contemplative conclusion.

Especially reflective is Prospero’s epilogue in Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest. Here, the magician meditates on the themes of illusion, forgiveness, and the power of art. Indeed, Shakespeare lore has it that the playwright is speaking through Prospero, beseeching the audience to “set [him] free” from their demands upon his own sorcery.

Such biographical interpretations are fascinating but, of course, very tricky to prove. What we do know for certain is that Prospero’s words speak for any artist who has done good work and who wants to bow out gracefully: “[R]elease me from my bands/ With the help of your good hands.”

And so as the audience leaves any production of The Tempest, they may wonder about that eternal dialogue between the artist and their art – and the respective elements of inspiration, creation, and expectation. Prospero – and perhaps Shakespeare – may well have been set free by the end of the play, but the spectator will still be in thrall to those wondrous last words.

Over the years, we have taught students who love the Bard but are reluctant to tread the boards. It’s only natural: for every student who loves being on the stage, there is another who feels more comfortable behind the scenes.

Happily, theatre is about so much more than the act of performing. If you have a shy student, or one who deals with stage fright, remind them that there are any number of ways to be an integral part of the team. Designing costumes or acting as a stage manager; working with lighting and set design; even creating a program or acting as prompter for actors who might forget their lines – all of these responsibilities are highly valued and necessary for a successful production.

Take time in your classes to talk about the importance of these technical roles, assuring every student that they are contributing to the show. As Shakespeare himself reminds us, “One man in his time plays many parts” – and it’s important to remind your students that not all of these parts need to be on-stage!

Over the years since its founding, Shakespeare For Our Children has been fortunate to see many young actors inhabit many parts. Yet with each new class of students – filled with fresh ideas and possibilities – there is still the trace of the past performers who brought their own singular approach to a given role. There are perennial favorites from class to class, such as Hamlet, Puck, and Juliet; but then there have also been more surprising choices, like Henry V. In every single case, the student made the role their own.

From videotapes to cell phones, various technologies have preserved these beloved performances. But what truly holds the spirit of each young actor are the words themselves – words that echo with the voices of thespians across the centuries. Such a phenomenon recalls one of Shakespeare’s sonnets: “Not marble nor the gilded monuments / Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme / But you shall shine more bright in these contents / Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.”

Each new group of SFOC students will graduate and share their love of Shakespeare with the next generation; every role will find a different interpreter. What remains a constant, though, are the words that will be spoken – given new life even as they gesture to what has come before. They are, as Shakespeare wrote in that sonnet, “the living record […] of memory.”

Who can tell what Shakespeare would have made of our digital age? It brings with it the joys of accessing and sharing information, as we do here! — but we all know too well its accompanying dangers. One of these is the ability to deceive, to misguide: a theme that Shakespeare himself explored in Othello.

Here, Othello is driven mad by jealousy and kills his wife, Desdemona, because he believes her to have been unfaithful. Or rather, because he was led to believe this, thanks to lies told by the wicked Iago. He is no ordinary antagonist: Iago declares friendship and loyalty to Othello, all while plotting his destruction. In fact, it is through Iago that one of the finest commentaries on reputation emerges: “Good name in man and woman […] is the immediate jewel of their souls.”

If and when you teach Iago’s monologue to young actors, be sure to remind them of the enduring truth of these words — even if spoken by a villain! At a time when personal authenticity can be exchanged for digital immediacy, and identities can be constructed with only a mouse-click, the most valuable thing of all is one’s own character.

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“Beware the Ides of March” – so the soothsayer told Julius Caesar, warning him of the assassination to come. As we approach the 15^th of March thousands of years later, we want to highlight Shakespeare’s own retelling of Caesar’s downfall. For Julius Caesar is more than a dramatization of a historical event; it is an exploration of betrayal, violence, and political intrigue.

Such things have always fascinated the dream factory of Hollywood. Think about the power-plays in early gangster films like Public Enemy or indeed Little Caesar, not to mention the majesty of The Godfather trilogy. In 1953, Joseph Mankiewicz directed the definitive adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, featuring – as the saying goes – “more stars than there are in the heavens.” Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud, Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr: some of the finest actors to grace the stage and screen joined together to bring the work to life.

So rather than dread the Ides of March, honor both Caesar and Shakespeare by having a look at Mankiewicz’s film – and keep an eye out for Brando’s searing performance of Mark Antony’s “Friends, Romans, Countryman” monologue. To paraphrase Mark Antony: the good that these actors did lives after them; so let it be with Julius Caesar.

Over the decades of teaching our program, we at Shakespeare For Our Children have consistently found that introducing the Bard to young people leads to greater confidence, higher skills in reading, and advanced analytical thinking.

But don’t just take our word for it! The Royal Shakespeare Company has recently publicized results from a study carried out at the University of Warwick, confirming that teaching Shakespeare with a “theatre-based approach” (rather than as straightforward literary texts) inspires a range of benefits for students.

Shakespeare’s works were meant to be performed, not just read in a classroom, and it has always been a gift to see his words reach and inspire new generations. Whether through the Royal Shakespeare Company or in a home-school environment, everyone can know the joys of inhabiting Shakespeare’s worlds – so have a look at our Resources page for some ways to get started!

At the beginning of The Tempest, Miranda beseeches her father, Prospero the Magician, to calm the stormy seas around their enchanted island: “If by your art, my dearest father, you have put the wild waters in this roar, allay them” (Act I, Scene 2). Miranda’s plea for the lives of those on a tempest-tossed ship (listen below) establishes the gentleness of her character; but even more than this, her words evoke greater questions about the ability of art itself to create, to unsettle, to inspire. If by art such an event has taken place, its force must be great indeed.

Scholars consider The Tempest to be one of Shakespeare’s final plays, with Prospero sharing with his creator kindred gifts of sorcery and conjuring. For it is through Shakespeare’s art that so many phenomena have been given life ― words and images so central to our culture that they need no introduction: The Balcony Scene in Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be,” the sleepwalking scene from Macbeth, and a mystical forest in A Midsummer Night’s Dream . . . with all of these worlds, and many more besides, emerging from one great Artist.

Today, we live in a time of instant gratification and immediate accessibility, a virtual age in which many of the things we desire can be attained uncannily easily. With so many objects and networks at our fingertips, it can sometimes feel that we ourselves are conjurers! Yet what has endured over hundreds of years, with infinitely more to come, is a far greater magic than that offered by technology: “the Power of Art.”

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As we post on the threshold of a New Year, it’s time to think about all the possibilities that 2018 will bring – chief among these, of course, being an even stronger engagement with the Bard! It seems appropriate, then, to consider some of his most famous words from Hamlet: “To thine own self be true.” (Listen here.)

Part declaration, part promise, this phrase captures the importance of each individual maintaining the essential elements that define them. One’s dreams, hopes, values – all of which are so easy to lose sight of, but so integral in making up a person’s identity.

As Polonius gives his fatherly blessing to his son, Laertes, he offers much sage advice relating to friendships and social graces; how to be oneself with others, that is. But Polonius ultimately closes his monologue with an exaltation of the importance of holding to one’s spirit – and as we ring in the New Year, Shakespeare For Our Children can think of no better resolution to make.