Lights, Curtains, Shakespearience!

“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo.” At Shakespearience, that’s where he was, along with Frazier Mountain High School's’ drama and freshmen classes. They went on Wednesday, February 1st to experience the works of Shakespeare. Drama went to look at the elements of design, and the freshmen went because they read the play Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespearience is a theater performance that puts together different scenes from Shakespeare's plays that all revolve around a central theme. This year, the theme was relationships, and students got to see performances from Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. While the older language may be harder to follow, the actors did a fantastic job of using their movements and way of speaking to portray the meaning of the words. They used a minimalist set with just slight variations for every scene. They also broke the fourth wall using “Robin Good-fellow” as a comedic narrator and host.

The performance started with a bunch of theater workers running around to get the show ready. Robin was “late” and the director was freaking out. Finally the actor shows up and they start with the first performance. Between the different play scenes, Robin would continue to talk to the audience and explain the backstory of the scenes, as well as provide comedic commentary. The actors would also break the scene and once again become themselves as they made decisions and set up for the next scene.

The first scene opens to Juliet on a balcony and Romeo watching her from below. A hopeless romantic, Romeo makes us laugh at the beginning, but eventually steals our hearts when he proclaims his love to Juliet and they share their first kiss. However, following this, the scene shifts to a courtyard where Tybalt and Mercutio get into a sword duel. Everyone is soon on the edge of their seats, eyes following the quick paced and dramatic fight. Mercutio defeats Tybalt and leaves him on the ground, but then Tybalt comes back and stabs Mercutio with a knife! To avenge his friend, Romeo comes back and kills Tybalt himself.

Cut! Onto the next scene: Petruchio is convinced to woo the the “beast of a woman” Katherine in order to allow her younger sister Bianca to be available for marriage to other men. What starts out as a man trying to get a woman’s heart soon becomes chaos: words are witty and sharp-tongued, Katherine and Petruchio fight, and while Petruchio is constantly knocked down by Katherine’s will, Petruchio gets his laugh by getting Katharine into many awkward positions. The audience was in an uproar of laughter throughout the whole thing.

Following this we come to The Tragedy of Macbeth. After winning in battle, Macbeth is given a prophecy by three weird sisters in the wood. To fulfill the second half of the prophecy and become king, he creates a plot with his wife to murder the current king. When his resolve falters, his wife pushes him to finish it, and eventually has to do the cover up of the plot herself because Macbeth gets paralyzed with fear. In the end Macbeth is defeated by a group that invades the castle. These scenes were intense and dark after the comedy of the previous act. The crew used dark lights and sound effects to add to the creepy atmosphere.

To be, or not to be, that was the next act. We got to see an extremely well done soliloquy that tore at the heartstrings. The famous speech by Hamlet brought a solemn air to the theater; but following this, Hamlet becomes hostile. When Hamlet’s love Ophelia appeared, Hamlet got violent and threatened her, afraid that she might be consorting with his uncle. The scene ends with Ophelia on the ground, mourning Hamlet’s new insanity.

The last performance was from A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Bringing a lighter air to the theater, we see a convoluted scene where the two young gentlemen, under a spell, confess their love and fight for Helena, the girl they had both once scorned. Hermia, the girl both men used to like, is confused by their change of heart and starts arguing with Helena. The scene is full of fights, chasing, and clever declarations of affection. It was a wonderful ending for the show.

When the curtain finally closed and the actors took a bow, everyone was disappointed that it was over. However they got a surprise when music started playing and the actors got into an old jig and did a final dance for the audience. The fun music made everyone want to get up and join, and when the students finally did leave the theater, it was with excited chatter and good memories.

#fieldtrip #drama