Week 5- Shakespeare Today

WEEK 5 - SHAKESPEARE TODAY

QUESTION: Analyse contemporary Shakespeare productions with reference to live performances you may have seen or clips or footage available online. You should comment on what you notice about them and how they differ from what you know about the original performance conditions of Shakespeare’s work? (Don’t be afraid to point out the obvious).
Consider how these productions are employing all the techniques, technology and resources of modern theatre.

I saw The Globes production of a midsummer’s night dream and it made me appreciate Shakespeare’s work even more than I already did, I always thought that Shakespeare was confusing and boring however this performance was extraordinary and made me remember why I love the performing arts, the play had an Indian theme. The play was definitely a modern concept and used lights and staging to add to this, the most obvious difference to classical Shakespeare was the fact women played women rather than having boys play them, there was also naturalistic costume and costume similar to character which the original performances wouldn’t have had.

the fairy queen from the version of a midsummers night dream i saw.

A similarity I noticed during the performance is that the stage still uses the ‘heavens; to create special effects, the queen of the fairies descended on a harness from the ceiling, this is something that would have been possible in the original conditions.

The staging of the play was also interesting as the used tables in the pit as well as the stage, this is quite a modern concept and in doing that it immersed those standing (of which I was one) they also integrated the use of modern language and culture into the text, normally I would find that this ruins the language as it is so different however due to the nature of the performance and the comedic way they did this it was very effective.

Contemporary productions are obviously more technically advanced. In the original performances of the shows they would have used daylight to light the stage however they can now use lights to create whatever environment they6 want, this makes performing Shakespeare now even more interesting as there are so many more ways of creating different effects, this is the same with music and props. Many companies have a better budget for props and you can also find things more cheaply so there are more props than there would have been originally.

I find that modern Shakespeare is interesting as it transfers old plays that were never intended to be set in certain ways to be interpreted differently, for example there was use of things like pop up tents in the version of a midsummer’s night dream I saw.Some productions even go as far to change genders of characters, there was a gender change in a midsummer’s night dream so the love triangle then had a gay relationship and character, this would have been unheard of in Shakespeare’s time however now it isn’t such a big deal.

There was also a use of physical theatre and a slightly experimental feel with the love triangle and them literally running in a circle, taking the text out of the original concept of them standing on stage dramatically saying their lines. There was also a use of direct address to audience which wouldn’t have happened in the Elizabethan era.

 I found the risk’s that the production took brilliant. The change of the play and making it modern makes it more enjoyable to watch, people are more likely to understand it rather than the serious Shakespeare we are used to.  Obviously the plays are performed in the same place as they were 400 years ago however you can clearly see the change.

The new globe theatre

Another major difference between performances now and in the past is that they are more likely to be performed in the evening rather than during the day as we have the technology to use lights whereas the Elizabethans relied on natural daylight.  There was also an interval halfway through the any modern shows however during the original performances there might not have been one or there may have been many small intervals to relight candles if being performed inside.