Thursday’s Thought

[excepts from “Performance Approaches to Shakespeare”, p. 14]

No teachers or directors need to put pressure on themselves to be an expert in Shakespeare. The purpose of the strategies presented in this book is to provide guidelines, like a loosely written recipe with a dollop of this and a pinch of that. It is every educator’s responsibility to take these strategies and adapt them to the knowledge of their own performers and classroom or rehearsal space. Donald Cleary states: “What is being suggested is that the director take an analytical approach to a work to help ensure an interpretation that is both consistent and appropriate. Whereas one can never be sure that one has the interpretation, one can at least seek an interpretation at [sic] grows out of the text.”

Melody Brooks offers us a clear analogy: “Understanding all of the hidden meaning in Shakespeare’s verse is like reading a good mystery story. There are clues throughout the language that tell us what characters are thinking and feeling, and even whether they are telling the truth or lying.” There is no right or wrong way to translate or interpret the works of Shakespeare. We simply don’t know what his intention was. However, we can assume the role of detective to discover and uncover layer upon layer of performance clues in what and how he wrote. Ultimately, David Montee encourages us to not succumb to the temptation to compromise how you choose to present the language of a play “in order to gain the momentary personal approval of the ignorant.”