Huh? Why we should do Shakespeare.

I just went to a play reading of Twelfth Night last night in the hope that a local community theatre group might produce it in their season next. It went well. We laughed and we had fun. It's a funny play. Sits a bit on the page in Act 4 and 5 because the show becomes so much about physical comedy; so it wants to get on its feet but, other than that, a good night all around. Most folks in the room were behind the idea.

And there were a few that just thought we shouldn't do it at all. Why? It's too hard. Too hard to understand. I don't get it. I'm missing a lot....

Okay. Okay.

The language is archaic but a good dramaturge can work that script up nicely for a current audience unused to its rhythm and its turn of phrase. A good dramaturge can also streamline the piece to keep it at a nice length. Shakespeare will not be turning in his grave. He would, I am sure, be saying: "Give them what they want!" I imagine the guy to be more like me (this is a personal conceit) than like the purists who are worried about which folio they are working from and who want to preserve and reproduce every word. So we could do a version, with a bit of extra work, that our audience will love.

But it got me to thinking: why do Shakespeare if it takes all this work both for the company and for the audience. Why bother?

It could be because Shakespeare is the greatest playwright in the English language. But that's not why I do it. It could be because Shakespeare is the most oft quoted person in the English language after the folks who wrote the Christian bible. But that's not why I do it. It could be because we owe Shakespeare more of a debt language-wise than most people know. He added thousands of words to our daily vocabularies. But that's not why I do it. That's why we should respect him but not why we should produce him.

I do these plays because they are fun or moving or compelling. The stories are excellent; the devices simple and unreliant on fancy tech or gimmick. The characters are deeply memorable, inspiriing, or easy to hate. The language is vaulted, beautiful, and inspiring. These are real human stories told well and, four hundred years later, we relate to them. In short, I do these plays because they are entertaining. I do these plays because audiences love them.

And I think I can hear Shakespeare cheering because there's really no other reason to produce any play.


Jacqui Burke is a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  She is currently directing the all female version of Taming of the Shrew for Jaybird Productions going up in the fall of this year and running her Shakespeare is Boffo!  -- theatre for active kids -- summer camps. She is, also, serializing The Pretender, her first novel, online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.  


Jacqui Burke
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