William Shakespeare
CENTURIES OF SHAPING LANGUAGE
HIS WORK IS SO PROLIFIC it has been translated into more than 80 languages, including Klingon, a constructed language that first appeared in Star Trek. More recently, it drew huge audiences to the Pop-up Globe theatres in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney.
So, why do we still care so much about the language from the ‘Bard of Avon’? Although William Shakespeare was a playwright for not much more than 20 years, he is still considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.
The Most Famous Writer Who Ever Lived
“It seems cont radictor y for a world hurt ling headlong into an increasingly grim future to embrace preservation of any kind,” says Tom Bishop, professor of English and drama at the University of Auckland and author of Shakespeare and the Theatre of Wonder. “Yet Shakespeare’s prest ige has never been higher, or more widely invested in. His floating head with its balding pate is probably better known globally than that of any other artist of the past.
“In part this fame is merely contingent,” he explains. “If the dominant world power of the age of colonial settlement had been Spain, as it nearly was, we would now be reading and recognising Calderon, or if it had been China, Ji Junxiang. We should not underestimate the extent to which Shakespeare’s contemporary dominance is the product of circumstances that have little to do with his actual work.”
Still, Shakespeare’s language is an intrinsic reason for his position.
“The modern Anglophone world has embraced its intensity, its dynamism and its expressive pungency,” says Professor Bishop.
Engaging the Emotions
It’s the raw emot ion that makes Shakespeare’s language so engaging to Albert Walker, 27, who acted in the Pop-up Globe in Auckland.
“No writer is as good at finding the core themes of human existence and exploring them in great, simple story lines,” says Walker. “I think the only barrier is the language, which is often misunderstood and can become something to be feared, especially during high school, where to me it was taught in a stale and torturous way.
“I think Shakespeare is as relevant now as he ever was and ever will be. His stories deal with universal themes that transcend t ime. Whether it ’ s the
devastating, conf l icting loss that Hamlet suf fers or the intense, forbidden love that our famous lovers Romeo and Juliet go through, Shakespeare’s themes relate to people of all generations.”
Universal Themes and Emotional Truth
Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) trained New Zealand actor Lisa Harrow, 75, has spent many years performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Harrow has at ta ined much acclaim in both theatre and film, and has acted with Dame Judy Dench, David Suchet, Pierce Brosnan, Peter O’Toole and Nigel Havers. At the Pop-up Globe in Auckland she performed as Prospero in The Tempest.
“I think for an actor there’s nothing more thrilling than standing on a stage and engaging fully in the fibre of your being – mental as well as physical – with some of the things Shakespeare wants us to say,” says Harrow.
“It just v ibrates through your body. In his plays there are some heroic characters but most have feet of clay. There are some great leaders but most have failings. What he’s able to do is be honest and fearless about what makes us tick. And exploring emotion is what makes me want to act.
“I’ve never really studied Shakespeare; I’ve never done a course or read the literary criticism, because for me it’s never been about that. It’s about emotional truth. It’s about what’s inside the consonants and vowels that he puts on the page. It’s the feeling of the power of his language and the clarity and depth and perception with which he expresses what it’s like to be human, with all our foibles,” she says.
Shakespeare’s Appeal is Worldwide
The Bard’s work has made its mark right around the globe because of its enduring language and themes.
“I’ve heard of a project in the US
where they take military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and work with them on Shakespeare plays in which soldiers and military leaders experience war and brutality, defeat and betrayal, victory and remorse,” says actress Lisa Harrow.
‘Shakespeare with Veterans’ is a free weekly conversation and acting ensemble based in Kentucky for military service personnel. Veterans of the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are finding confidence and comfort in Shakespeare’s language, despite never having acted before.
The group discusses and tell stories about their lives to help with the healing process, as well as performing snippets of Shakespeare for other veterans and civilians.
“People who have never encountered a Shakespeare play in their lives find his words are giving them a way of getting to the grief that has been trapped inside them,” says Harrow.
“There can be no greater argument for Shakespeare’s continuing relevance than the power to heal someone who is so destroyed by his or her experience of the brutality of war, and to help them find their humanity again, and therefore find themselves.” This is an edited version of an article compiled by Judy Wilford for Ingenio, the alumni magazine of the University of Auckland.