Rehearsing the Bard

Despite having written for nearly 400 years, William Shakespeare remains a perennial favourite on the Leaving Cert syllabus and this year’s students will doubtless spend many hours trying to decipher the archaic language of “Othello” and his mental perambulations about a handkerchief.

But in a highly proactive initiative by Draíocht, Leaving Certificate students will get the opportunity of seeing, and indeed interacting with, a professional theatre company as they rehearse and argue over a forthcoming production of “Macbeth.”

Storyteller’s Theatre Company director Liam Halligan, who has had great success with “Leaving,” “Rashomon” and “Dream of a Summer Day,” will put a cast of young actors through their paces in preparation for a production of the play. Students will see that even actors and directors can interpret language and meaning in a play in totally diverse ways and that final decisions are not always arrived at smoothly.

“The main aim of this exercise is to make Shakespeare in general and “Othello” in particular more accessible,” said Liam. “We hope to improve the students' understanding of Shakespeare by showing them that it was written to be played and not as straight literature. These are scripts as opposed to novels.

“When Shakespeare is performed, the language becomes clearer and is more easily understood, which means that the characters can be related to as ordinary people. It is a widely held tenet that dramatisation gives Shakespeare the opportunity to make sense to a contemporary audience and to relate the plotline and themes to contemporary happenings and people,” he said.

Storytellers’ aim is to offer a unique and immediate theatre experience focused completely on the text without the distractions of set, lighting and costumes. To intensify the experience the scenes will be played ‘in the round’ to a maximum of ninety students and will then be discussed focusing on character interpretation, language structure, possible themes and the cultural/political context in which Shakespeare was writing. Time will be allowed for interaction and debate. Students will be encouraged to suggest alternative approaches to a scene. The actors will then take these ‘notes’ on board and recreate the new interpretation of the same scene.

Anne O’Gorman, Children and Youth Arts officer at Draíocht ran a similar project last year and feels it will be of enormous benefit to those students currently studying “Othello” on the Leaving Cert. “Draiocht feels strongly that this is a great opportunity for students, and we want students to have as many chances as possible to interact with the cast,” she said. The students will be drawn from the Leaving Cert classes of local schools.

“Shakespeare in Rehearsal” takes place in Draíocht Studio on Wednesday 30th January at both 11am and 1pm.

Places are limited, so early booking is advisable.

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