Directors note

 

Lean in.

William Shakespeare wrote mostly plays for the general public; the audiences came from all walks of life, from all classes, races, genders, and everyone mingled in the playhouse.  He wrote for a public that was more sensitive to the spoken language than the written one.  His audiences came to the playhouse to hear and see stories told; they came to interact with the stories and the players; the audience came to play.  The players and the audience together created every performance—unique, unrecorded, ephemeral.

William Shakespeare wrote for and acted in private halls, public spaces, and purpose-built indoor and outdoor playhouses. In most cases, the playing space was surrounded—or nearly so—by the audience, and that audience was under the same light as the players. Of course, the audience could see—and react to—the players, but in Shakespeare’s time, the players could see—and act to—the audience, and the audience members could see—and react to—each other. At that time, there was no English world where players performed on a remote stage and the audience peeked in to see another reality.  In Shakespeare’s public and private playing spaces, everyone collaborated to create an alternative reality, one in which the audience could be bidden to weep as if spectators at Caesar’s funeral, to cheer as if ragged English soldiers massing for battle at Agincourt, or to become  Viola’s “wing-persons” as they navigate court and courtship in Illyria.

That Shakespeare’s plays were written partially or wholly in verse was certain to entertain an audience craving beautiful, evocative language.  But that same verse is also a memory aid for the actors.  (Yes, indeed, we humans remember regular rhythms and rhymes more easily than we do workday prose. And early modern actors usually kept upwards of 20 parts in diverse plays at the ready for repertory performance!) That memorable language repeatedly suggests actions necessary for performers to embody and express the text.  The lines are dynamic and moving, not static and declamatory.

Individual actors never were given written copies of the full text; each received a “part” that contains their character’s lines and the last few syllables of the preceding speech.  Actors were responsible for their parts, their stories, not the entire play.

And audiences?  Just like today, they responded,  reacted, and interacted.
Lean in.  We invite you to play.

-Sandy Boynton