A few days back; I had the chance to watch an entirely different production of Shakespearean plays. It was a production by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. This company reproduced the complete works of Shakespeare but from a totally different dimension and style. The first impression I had was definitely wrong. It was certainly not the boring stuff I thought it would be. I should say that what the trio of actors did on the stage was certainly an amazing feat. Although most of the time I was laughing with my friends over the amusing antics of the actors, there was indeed a lot to be learnt from them. First of all, I feel that the actors has opened the eyes of people who used to think that live Shakespearean performance was boring and dry and only suitable for nerds and bookworms. They had proved through their superb performance that almost everyone can appreciate literature and that one does not have to be a scholar to comprehend what Shakespeare is all about. (Please post your comments if you think that I am wrong).
And as an English teacher-to be, the 2hours of watching that DVD was certainly a learning experience for me. I think most of my friends that concentrated on the content would agree with me. It was also changed my perspective of Shakespearean play. I used to have the notion that performing plays by Shakespeare is burdensome, let alone trying to understand it. But, the 2 hours were enough to change my thoughts. The various methods and also props used to perform the plays can certainly be applied during lesson involving drama activities. I assume that by adapting some of the methods used by the actors into the classroom, students would definitely be glad to participate in drama activities due the simplicity of performing it. Perhaps when I finally enter the teaching world, I would get my students to perform an abridged version of Hamlet, a play considered to be one of the best.
nur haiyu ishak said...
Reading your response, I can smell your excitement and how much you have enjoyed the show. Well, I do feel the same. It is an enjoyable and pleasing show to watch though it is not a live performance. If I am given the chance, perhaps, I may want to watch it again but mind you this time I want to watch it live in the theatre hall itself.
Just like you, I never expected the show to be such exciting, entertaining and enlighting. It is enlighting because I never have expected that there is anyone in the world who is able to perform as such. So far, all Shakespeare's plays that I have watch were very serious, extremely tragic and dramatic unlike the one by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. It is an eye opener to me that there are people who can make Shakespeare's play fun and entertaining.
In short, the play was just amazing! Applause!
