The Value of Performance

    While I do think that reading the printed version of The Tragedy of King Lear was important in understanding it's concepts, I solidly believe that a simple reading of a play like this pales in comparison to seeing it.  The problem with reading the works of Shakespeare is the fact that it is very difficult to understand.  Folger helps with this problem somewhat, with annotations, summirizations, and translations on the left side pages, but reading printed versions of literature like this is still confusing. 

    I have found that three things in particular help me understand Shakespeare's works after I've already read the plays.  The first is simply discussing it.  Two minds are better than one in this regard, and with more people sharing ideas it's far easier to extract meaning from a passage, especially when different viewpoints are applied.
    The second thing that helps me is watching it.  I don't think that watching a play would do me much good had I not already read through it, but after the inital reading, watching a performance tends to give people a much better idea of what's going on due to tone, scenery, blocking and general body language.
    However, by far the most helpful means of understanding the minute details of a play must surely be performing it yourself.  I was responsible for learning Lear's lines in Act II Scene 4 like the back of my hand, and there is no scene in the entire play that I know better.  To play a charicter in a work like King Lear, an actor must almost become the person they are playing, or at the very least empathize with them.  By putting myself in Lear's metaphorical shoes for a scene, I feel like I learned a whole lot more about him than I had known before I was responsible for being him.

    While I'm not the most outgoing person, and would strongly reject to having to perform every scene of every act and memorize a large number of lines, I can absolutely appreciate the value of performing when it comes to a higher understanding of Shakespeare's works.

Comments

[Kirsten H.]

I completely agree with you. I think that acting out the scene itself really helps you understand the real dynamics of the characters in the play. I have yet to do my performance, and I would kind of prefer to keep it that way-- simply for respect of stage fright, but just from practicing and discussing the scene with my fellow thespians I have had to really pay close attention to every detail of our scene. I truly think it has helped me understand the play better as a whole.

Like you I would not enjoying acting all the time, but I think that this project added a bit of alternative creativity to the class, and for me that is always welcome.

[Natty Dread]

I definitely agree. I understood the play a whole lot more when I became responsible for playing Albany. What's more, I had a great time doing it. :D

[Rachel H]

Not to be repetitive, but I completely agree with your post. I am a horrible actress but I really like performing Shakespeare and watching others perform Shakespeare. This week, when each group focused on one scene, really helped me understand the play. For me at least, it was much more effective than simply reading the play on my own or even discussing the play.

When I read Shakespeare, I just skim over parts that I don't understand, and to be honest thats usually a lot of lines. While watching and performing this week I noticed how much I had missed out on. When you perform something you really have to understand every word that you are saying, and really understand where your character is coming from.

I really liked approaching King Lear from this creative angle, I think it really helped my general understanding and my appreciation for the play.

[Adam S]

You mentioned something that I thought was kind of important and I wanted to elaborate on it. And it might only be an issue in my period, but here it goes. While not the absolute best way to understand Shakespeare, discussing it can be extremely helpful. So...let's have actual in-class discussions. Two or three people throwing out ideas is not a discussion. Bounce ideas off each other; actually engage in conversation about what we are reading. I know the purpose of this blog thing is so that we can have those discussions we wouldn't have had otherwise, but I am sorry I think we need to work on creating quality in-class discussion before we try to take it outside the classroom.

[Andrew D]

When I mentioned that two minds was better than one, I wasn't limiting that to simply two minds. I was thinking that more benifit and insight could be gained by a larger number people participating in discussions, meaning an enitire class, or at the very least, small groups.