This weekend has been a festival of words, words, words…and not just any words but those of Shakespeare. Performers as young as 7 and as old as 22 have performed some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters and speeches. Clarke Hall was the stunning venue where Macbeth’s witches, Hamlet plus entourage and the lovers, fairies and mechanicals from The Dream were seen and modern day sonnets and the seven ages of man soliloquy were heard.
The actors did indeed speak the speeches trippingly on the tongue and with more competence than they themselves ever thought possible at the start of their journey.
With their words they’ve made people laugh, cry and think and allowed some of their audience to experience Shakespeare for the first time or in completely new ways. This audience incidentally that included parents, siblings, youth theatre colleagues and past members of the youth theatre who joined us to revel in Shakespeare’s rich legacy…
Gemma before the first performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream talked of the cast’s process of rehearsing as being honourable…I couldn’t help thinking how appropriate that was and how through that process all of the actors have taken Shakespeare’s words and made them their own…this journey hasn’t been an easy one but it has been a rewarding one…watching The Black Company perform Hamlet I was reminded of how nervous they had been about the language in the initial rehearsals…and how now, far from being afraid, they were embracing it with a sense of mastery and playfulness that I for one delighted in…the performers (and directors) took risks and there bravery was rewarded…in the end their readiness was all…
The actors did indeed speak the speeches trippingly on the tongue and with more competence than they themselves ever thought possible at the start of their journey.
With their words they’ve made people laugh, cry and think and allowed some of their audience to experience Shakespeare for the first time or in completely new ways. This audience incidentally that included parents, siblings, youth theatre colleagues and past members of the youth theatre who joined us to revel in Shakespeare’s rich legacy…
Gemma before the first performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream talked of the cast’s process of rehearsing as being honourable…I couldn’t help thinking how appropriate that was and how through that process all of the actors have taken Shakespeare’s words and made them their own…this journey hasn’t been an easy one but it has been a rewarding one…watching The Black Company perform Hamlet I was reminded of how nervous they had been about the language in the initial rehearsals…and how now, far from being afraid, they were embracing it with a sense of mastery and playfulness that I for one delighted in…the performers (and directors) took risks and there bravery was rewarded…in the end their readiness was all…
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