Production or Reproduction

“Shakespeare never intended to have his plays read while sitting in desks,” I can hear my sophomore English teacher say. Speaking as if she knew by experience, I could not help but wonder exactly where she was trying to take the comment. Within in minutes our classroom had become a stage and we were running around as if the empty desks were our audience. However, this too, is no example of what William Shakespeare dreamed of as he wrote some of his greatest works.

Growing up, I became very aware of how our school system worked to incorporate all of the local theaters and museums into the curriculum. Before reaching high school, I had been

to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater more times than I could count and has seen multiple renditions of A Midsummer’s Night Dream and MacBeth. Nevertheless, these productions, as amazing as they were, are more reproductions than anything else. They are the “Kool-Aid,” as there is an added sugar element of new sets and cast members and a watered down flavoring of making Shakespeare as easy to understand as possible for the young children in the audience. It still is art, and phenomenal at that, but nothing compares to the experience I had this summer when I went to the Globe and saw as close to the original as I deem possible in this day of age. Standing there, I could not help but take in the circular stage around me and imagine what it would it have been like when the first shows premiered in that setting. The stage was simple, yet elegant, and the actors moved among the audience as if it was all a part of the show. I was not sitting in another air-conditioned theater with red, cushioned chairs, but rather taking in the elements, the surroundings, and every detail I could pull together to make the most of the experience. This still may just be “kool-aid,” as sometimes I fear grapes are becoming quite difficult to find.

However, the fact that there are Shakespeare theaters around the world is not a bad thing, but rather an example of a production that became a reproduction, but in doing so reached millions.

Images: Top examples the Globe Theater in England, Below examples the outside of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

On my honor, I have not given, nor witnessed, nor received any unauthorized assistance on this work"