Shakespeare and Cell Phones - Classical Text in Contemporary Performance

The reason I’ve started this little writing series on our blog, is that I wanted to share with you a little about the process of producing Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona. We see Shakespeare done all the time, and we always talk about the time; how themes remain relevant throughout time, and that Shakespeare touches the very heart of the human condition. So can you just stage it “straight”, trying to make it as accurate as possible, refusing to make cuts, studying diagrams of the stages of the era, layering contemporary actors in period dress and asking them to channel some spiritual connection with the ghost of the Bard? Sure such an event would be an experience, and has validity for the Bardophile, but it sounds kind of dry and academic to me. Or do we just put cell phones in everyone’s hands, have them mumble and slur their language like they were hanging our with their friends over a couple drinks, and present it as contemporary casual Americans. Well that approach was exciting a few decades ago, but the whole premise seems to undermine the point of doing a piece by Shakespeare, the beauty of the language and the appeal of a connection with times and people past.

So, how do we get the right distance, the right perspective to see things resonate from Shakespeare’s day to our very own? I think first and foremost we have to find the contemporary parallels and explore them, answer the question first, “what would be the modern day equivalent to this character, to this action” and we temper it with Shakespearean context, questions like “how does the world view then compare with our world view now, and what is that culture?” Comments about Jews and Moors definitely don’t play the same way today as they would in a very ethnocentric, Elizabethan England. So one eye on the present, one eye on the past. Half historical context, half modern day parallel.

This blog is a place where I plan to explore/meditate/think through what it means to be a contemporary theater artist making art for a 21st century audience. An American audience in a city with a theatrical history only a third as old as the play we’re working on. For all the times we asked “What was theater like in Shakespeare’s day?” the more important question for us here is, “What does Shakespeare need to be for today?” I hope you’ll join me on this blogtastic voyage as we delve into Two Gentlemen of Verona.