Unit 4: Question 5- Shakespeare Today

WEEK 5 - SHAKESPEARE TODAY

QUESTION: Analyse contemporary Shakespeare productions with reference to live performances you may have seen or clips or footage available online. You should comment on what you notice about them and how they differ from what you know about the original performance conditions of Shakespeare’s work? (Don’t be afraid to point out the obvious).

Consider how these productions are employing all the techniques, technology and resources of modern theatre.

You can use Digital Theatre http://www.digitaltheatre.com a password to access this site is available from the library.

List of Top 10 Shakespeare's Plays:

10. The Merchant of Venice
09. Romeo and Juliet
08. The Tempest
07. Twelfth Night
06. Othello
05. King Lear
04. Much Ado About Nothing
03. Midsummer's Night's Dream
02. Macbeth
01. Hamlet

• Twelfth Night directed by Simon Godwin- 2017 At the National Theatre

Twelfth Night at the National theatre was a really exciting performance to watch! I really enjoyed it. The contemporary set design was amazing and so was the actors! They added a lot of modern music into the performance and this helped to keep it alive and exciting, however I feel like sometimes it was over done. The way the set was created was fabulous and really captivating to the eye. The play adopted many modern techniques and technology, which kept it relatable for their audience and current. Another thing i really enjoyed about the performance was the lighting and how it contributed to their work. I thought that the plot was easy to understand, and this was not only because the modern aspects of the play, but because all of the actors had clearly worked very hard on their lines, tone and phrasing to make it as clear as possible, for us to understand what the story.

How it differs from the original performance conditions of Shakespeare's work:

Obviously this version of Twelfth Night, differed a lot from the original performance conditions of Twelfth Night. The performance was performed in a completely indoor set. There were many extravagant props and costumes, lighting, sound and set were heavily included. The actors were a mixture of both men and women. They added contemporary music tracks to the play. They even used cars and bikes on stage!

• Othello directed by Trevor Nunn- 1990

This was a very interesting piece of work that i watched on Youtube. I really enjoyed watching it. In my opinion most of the acting was good, especially the actor who played Iago, however at times I found the acting of others quite melodramatic, which
made me as a viewer feel rather uncomfortable. The overall version of the play was really good and I feel like the use of lighting was used well to portray the confusion and mysteriousness behind the plot. Contrasting to 'Twelfth Night' at the National Theatre, this version of Othello didn't adopt that much modern technology which was quite enjoyable because it kept the play truthful and realistic to when it was set. The did include lighting and some modern props which did keep the play a bit contemporary. The set was very big, having many places for scene changes which was a modern addition to the play. But the set was designed quite old fashioned and i really liked this too, as it kept some truthfulness to the play.






How it differs from the original performance conditions of Shakespeare's work:

There are women actors in this version of Othello, also the set was a lot larger than original performance conditions of Othello. In the Globe, and other spaces that Othello was performed back in the early 1600s, there was one stage, whereas this set, had lots of different tunnels and spaces for different scenes. It was a large performance space.

• Romeo and Juliet directed by Rupert Goold- 2010.

I watched some clips online, specifically Act 2 Scene 2 and i enjoyed watching their version of the play. I particularly liked how sometimes the set was very basic and subtle, it reflected the basic setting that would have been used in the late 1500s/ early1600s. However this basic layout was not used throughout the whole play, which i found was good, they used lighting and music to heighten moments in the play. They also had moments of dance, which helped keep the play alive. In my opinion, the play had a good variation of modernised theatre and old fashioned theatre, which was enjoyable because as a viewer, I was able to enjoy and relate to the play, and also remember/ considered the Shakespearean era as well- as it was not overloaded with modern technology etc. 

A Basic Layout of a Scene

                                                                              A Scene with Modern Technology, Music and Dance

How it differs from the original performance of Shakespeare's work: 

Obviously Shakespeare's original performances of 'Romeo and Juliet' would not have had any modern technology, lighting and sound effects. There also wouldn't have had many props like in Rupert Goold's version. Also there wouldn't have been many costumes and they wouldn't have been wearing the same clothes as in Goold's version. Romeo- played by Sam Traughton- was  

wearing a tracksuit jumper, baggy jeans and a t-shirt in a few scenes and this is not what Shakespeare's original actor would have been wearing as Romeo, firstly because these types of clothes did not exit. Secondly, tracksuit jumpers, baggy jeans and a t-shirt is currently not what we would stereotypically associate a wealthy person to wear, we would associate this attire with a regular person. Therefore, Romeo (a character created by Shakespeare to be from a wealthy family) wouldn't have been dressed in regular attire,  he probably would have been wearing something that presented him as "noble" during the time era.