This year’s Shakespeare comedy, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, opens on Monday night! The Class 9 Shakespeare play has long been a staple part of the curriculum in our Waldorf schools, an opportunity for teenagers to learn literature in action, but also a whole lot of social and life skills appropriate for their age.
Shakespeare almost certainly never got to leave his little island, and his geography is up the spout in this play, where the heroes travel from Verona to Milan (two landlocked cities) by boat, for example. The locations are not literal – they exist in some other world of love, and hence we have also stepped out of any particular time and place, and into a Steampunk world where the quirky characters can arrive with brassy gadgets and accessories and goggles, be they lovers, servants, tramps, outlaws or knights.
There have been many challenges for the Class 9s en route, such as working as a team, both on and off stage, with fellows who the students might not ordinarily choose as part of their personal clan. And this all happens in a very different way to drama in conventional schools: every student in the class works with a relatively large part, as well as a supporting acting role, and a production task backstage. Teamwork in action, often rapid action – as the play comes together and quick responses and a sense of responsibility are increasingly needed. Of course extra hours, like group projects in the real world require, are part of the challenge. Even so, the timetable of other subjects is suspended in the final part of preparation, as it would be otherwise impossible to put a full Shakespeare play on out of brief rehearsals.
On stage, it is not simply the “natural performers” who get the opportunity to shine, but all students who get stretched a little out of their “cool” personalities into something more comic, romantic, and enjoyable for an audience. That brings its own challenges of understanding and empathizing with a character who may have traits very different to themselves, and finding how to express that, in extending their vocal range and their body expressions, all of which takes them “out of themselves” a little further.
And then there is the challenge of presenting all this to an audience. Not easy for a young adolescent, of 14/15 years of age, who would often rather be hiding behind a pair of headphones or (shock horror) a screen. Finding such things as comic timing, working with the audience, and ‘getting out of their own way’. It’s another step on that journey towards confidence in being themselves, paradoxically through trying out being other people.
But why Shakespeare? Isn’t that Elizabethan language so unnecessary in this day and age?
Rudolf Steiner had a fair amount to say about the value of Shakespeare’s work, some of which was collected a few years ago in a new translation of a series of lectures he gave, “Shakespeare: Becoming Human”. The title gives it away – he felt that Shakespeare’s work can support us in understanding and really becoming contemporary, conscious humans. Shakespeare’s comedies may have laid the basis for a thousand romcom movies and series in the century since Steiner spoke, but they also aim, as in this early play, in leading the protagonists, and us as active watchers or performers, towards a moment of acceptance of errors, recognition of the needs and desires of others, forgiveness and redemption. And yes, the language is old but it remains creative and beautiful, and has given rise to so much richness in modern English phrases. To see students gradually discover the meaning of these phrases and realizing that what the characters are saying is recognizable and often emotionally astute is part of the joy of this process, as if they were reaching a new country for the first time. And when they present it on stage, it’s hopefully ripe for all ages to get the message from the performance, even if the words are a little complex. My two grown up daughters watched the Shakespeare play religiously from the time they were in Class 1 (even if back then, we often snuck them home at interval), loving seeing the big kids becoming larger than life with the Bard’s help.
So do come and support the Class 9s this coming week! Performances are every night, Monday to Saturday, 26th to 31st August, at 7pm, and suitable for all ages. Entrance is by donation and refreshments will be on sale at interval. The first half is slightly longer; the second half shorter and of course a little more crazy as things race to a conclusion. There are two casts, so come twice or more to get the full picture!
Simric Yarrow
For the High School Drama Department
