“We Must Follow the Leaders”: Shakespeare Beyond the Classroom

The near constant stream of information and speculation, focusing on a single man and stacking up over hundreds of years, has given rise to the monolith that is our academic and pedagogical charge: the soul of the age, the sublime, the myriad-minded, the Janus, the natural, the modern, the democrat, the monarchist, the Bard: William Shakespeare. Out of so many words, a mythical figure rises. The challenge for the practitioner, academic or artistic, is to bring the lofty figure back to earth. One way to return such high reaches is by way of the stage, specifically the one (s) on which he worked, the Globe, the Theatre, or the Blackfriars. A journey to the theatres for which Shakespeare wrote invites consultation with Shakespeare the man, before history made him Shakespeare the Genius. Reconstructed spaces such as Shakespeare’s Globe in London or the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia are ideal places for students of Shakespeare to visit and learn. A field trip for every student of Shakespeare, however, is not possible. Fortunately, they are not the only means available. A look inside an historical moment, by simple presentation of the architectural and practical playing information available, permits students (of craft, theatre, literature) to explore the principles embraced by Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and their modern counterparts and gives them the ability to “read the stage” when they study Shakespeare’s page. This exercise opens up a method of inquiry and a dialogue with the playwright and his fellows. Shakespeare and his company faced the challenge of mounting plays in a short timeframe, within certain parameters—of space, of understanding, and of practice. When teachers and students consider the same variables as they approach Shakespeare in the classroom, they discover their own particulars, details, and anecdotes about what the plays offer.