English Language Courses in South West England
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Shakespeare Experience
William Shakespeare was baptised on 26 April 1564 and died 23 April 1616. He was an English poet and playwright and is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He has become a symbol of England and the English Language and is often called England's national poet and the Bard of Avon. His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two narrative poems, and various other poems. His plays have been performed more often than those of any other playwright and translated into every major living language.
For all of his fame, did you know that we are not even sure how to spell his name? Six signatures survive, none of which have the current accepted spelling – Willm Shaksp, William Shakespe, Wm Shakspe, William Shakspere, Willm Shakspere and William Shakspeare.
On 7th November, Year 11 GCSE English Literature students from International College, Sherborne School, were privileged to see a Royal Shakespeare Company performance of ‘Twelfth Night’ in Statford-on-Avon.
The actors brought the play to life with their exuberant acting, colourful costumes and imaginative stage settings. The students enthused about the performance and understood that a Shakespeare play must be seen to be fully enjoyed, in addition to being studied in class.
Here are some of the students’ comments, taken from reviews which they wrote afterwards:
‘I enjoyed this play very much. I liked reading the play, but when I saw it on stage I liked it even more.’
‘From my point of view the play was brilliantly done, with the words spoken loudly and clearly, and wonderful music and dancing.’
‘I want to say that the actors were just so professional, each one being exactly the right choice for the part they had to play.’
‘The props were incredibly well thought out and imaginatively used, particularly the tree which looks like a box and hides the actors.’
‘Although the play is very long, I didn’t feel bored, but was laughing and just waiting for what might happen next.’
‘I was completely satisfied with the performance. I’m glad we had the chance to watch such a great play. If I hadn’t gone to Stratford I would have missed a lot.’
Here are some further comments from the students’ English teacher:
‘Although the students who went to see this production came from countries which have strong traditions of drama (China, Russia, Europe…), they seem to have had little exposure to ‘straight’ theatre. Their reactions to the immediacy of ‘live’ theatre were interesting and impressive – particularly their appreciation of the way in which the characters they had read about were realised on stage by the actors. To students brought up on ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’, it was surprising that there was so little dissatisfaction at the lack of ‘special effects’!
‘During our reading of the play, they had had to learn some of the speeches by heart. Their complaints were loud to begin with, but learning by heart necessitated a high level of understanding of the language, and also of the pronunciation and the rhythm of the verse. Great was the satisfaction when each one was able (to cheers and applause!) to recite the lines in front of the class – even the student who warned me beforehand that, due to her sheer terror, she had always been excused any similar exercise at her last school. It was good during the performance to see the delighted recognition on their faces when they heard the same lines that they had learned by heart spoken aloud on the stage.’
Article by Geoff Davey (17/12/09)
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