Richmond Times Dispatch - Richmond VA:
It’s got magic. And fairies. And monsters. And young lovers. It’s got a really, really big storm. What more could a kid ask for?
But this isn’t your average Disney movie or the latest animated adventure from Pixar. This is Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” the famous comedy-romance that has been gracing world stages for 500 years.
Only “The Tempest” that’s appearing at the McVey Theatre at St. Catherine’s School through March 30 isn’t just any “Tempest.”
12 comments:
This is a really great idea. I'm all for making Shakespeare accessible to a younger age group. I completely agree with the director's statement that Shakespeare is meant to be experienced through sight and sound, as opposed to through the printed word. Hopefully initiatives like this will allow children to experience Shakespeare's works in a theater before they are forced to read them in a high school english classroom. A significant part of the stories Shakespeare tells can be told through physicality and movement. This, combined with a careful pruning of the text, leaves no doubt in my mind that an initiative like this would be successful.
I think this is a fantastic idea! I wish I had been able to see something like this when I was a kid. I never really was too keen on Shakespeare, though when out in simple terms, it really does have everything a good kid's fairytale or romance would have. I think part of the reason I was turned off by Shakespeare was perhaps because of certain production elements, like length. I think it is so true that you should mold the play to best suit your audience. When the seniors here did the Tempest in their mask work, I saw it in a whole new light and was even able to better understand it. I think this production is aiming for similar aspects - for the visual and aural elements, to draw in younger crowds. And if we can get them to enjoy it at a young age, then hopefully they will grow into loving and appreciating it when they are older!
I think it's great that some directors are finding ways to expose children to Shakespeare, let alone have the patience and ideas to do so effectively. Yes, Shakespeare is meant to be experiences through sight and sound. These plays were meant to entertain every social class in London, even the penny-payers. So it makes sense that a play by the Bard is meant for entertainment. I think that exposing kids to the entertaining side of Shakespeare and helping them understand the story is a great way to encourage them to try out more of his plays, therefore expanding their literary knowledge, which is of course always a good thing.
This effort at the educational "shortened Shakespeare" is the most well thought out one I've seen in a while. Where the plays have often been simplified and filled with gags and tricks to keep a child's attention, these adaptations appear to be empowering the words of the text and the full theatrical experience of the full play to engage the intellect and curiosity of the child, and that's to be commended. I wonder about the process when it came to the actors learning two versions of the same script - were there any rehearsals for the shortened matinee performance built into the rehearsal process for the full play? Or is it as simple as talking through the cuts, doing a speed through and running right into the show?
It is really fantastic that this theatre company is dedicating so many performances to young children. Growing up in a public school district, I wasn't exposed to Shakespeare until high school. In high school, all of my friends despised Shakespeare's works, and were always complaining that they didn't understand them. Kids nowadays don't enjoy things that they don't understand, or aren't good at. I definitely agree with Powell when she says that Shakespeare isn't meant to be read on a page, and that it is meant to be seen and heard as an audience. It is wonderful that kids will be exposed to Shakespeare at a young age thanks to this company. It certainly seems as if the company's efforts are paying off not only for the children, but also for the cast and crew of the productions.
I also think this is great idea for children. I agree with what the director talks about Shakespeare's plays being adjusted and interpreted based on audiences. I think trimming down the length of the play was a good choice since children might get bored if it was too long. Also, changing the words in the script is also another great idea because sometimes, the difficulty in his wording might prevent children from fully understanding or engaging. I think by changing the play in a way that children can enjoy, young people can gain more interest in going to theatre. So I wish this show can be very successful and other directors can try in various ways to help audience's understanding in the future.
This is a cool idea, the ways people try to reach different audiences can get pretty creative. This reminds me of when I was younger my father used to read me Shakespeare and of course I never understood a word of it, but it was entertaining to see how much he loved it and how well he knew the stories. My father can recite paragraphs from Romeo and Juliet. I think it is really great that such younger audiences can understand such classics asap.
I think the idea of a kid version and an adult version is seen a lot when it is concerning shakespeare's plays. He plays often have bawdy language. He was extremely good at making people laugh with sex jokes. I think that now a days we just a lot harder time identifying the jokes because we are in a different culture and what might have be easy to understand and quite funny to Shakespeare's audience is not scene that same way. I remember watching a documentary on the original pronunciation of shakespeare and how some of they jokes relied on the way it was spoken. Many of the puns could not be understood until that. SO when people say they are making a kid version of a play it actually to mean seems like they are making a version with as many of the the sex jokes they can find removed.
I don't like this "kid-friendly" version of the Tempest at all. When I was a little kid I would go to see Shakespeare all the time and I never had a had time understanding what was going on. I didn't need the plot to be boiled down for me to see what was happening. To me it sounds like the only change they have made to make this kid friendly is to cut a few lines with the goal of making the show shorter. These people seem to think that children will not be able to sit still and focus on the play for more then 90min with a 10min break. That is just rude. As a young child I was about to watch long Shakespearean shows with no breaks and I didn't for a moment get distracted or lose focus. I may have been bouncing in my seat, but only because of how focused I was on what was happening on stage. Another problem I have with this show is the idea that having teenage actors will make young children like the show more. This is just silly, a small child has just as much in common with a 16 year old as they do with a 90 year old, maybe less. On the whole I do not like the ways this company chooses to play down to children.
I have to admit, I'm not usually a fan od adapting Shakespeare. I always think that changing the time period, or switching gender roles, or setting a show in a different place just doesn't work, and instead of connecting with the audience in a different way, it just drives them further away. When I saw the title of the article I was really skeptical, thinking that simplifying the story and animating the physicality for young kids was going to ruin it, but I actually think it's a fantastic idea. This is a really great way to get young kids interested in theater, especially a writer who's works are 500 years old, and essentially the basis of most theater today. I'm the first to admit that I have a hard time with Shakespeare. The language is tough, but I absolutely love the stories. If I had been able to attend productions like this when I was a child, I think I'd be even more passionate about theater, as well as had much more interesting stories to dream about. I think this is something that should happen way more often and I think it's fantastic that it is happening now.
While im all for making theater more accessible to kids, there is something to be said about authenticity here. When you take a classic Shakespeare play and mutilate it to a point where it is more understandable to children you are making it more accessible to kids while also taking it farther from the original. I think its a good idea but I also think it becomes something different entirely.
I think it is great they are trying to do this! Often times plays like The Tempest are meant to be read in Middle School or at least for me it was. So I think making it more accessible is a great thing to do. A lot of times there isn't an in between for Theatre. It is either children's or adult like The Book of Mormon. It is really hard to create that middle ground. I think this effort is a great way to try to create more plays of that age group.
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