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Shakespeare on Trial November 15, 2011 |
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Hailing from Nova Scotia, Jeremy Webb and Simon Henderson take Shakespeare on Trial on the road to theatres all over North Carolina and Georgia, this Fall. The Arts Council is proud to bring the works of the Bard for students and adults in Northeast Georgia. This 60 minute fast paced introduction to Shakespeare is an amalgamation of Austin Power humor meets Monty Python. This one-time-only show will take place at Brenau University’s Pearce Auditorium on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 10:00am. Tickets are $10 each for students and $12 each for adults. For tickets and information call 770-534-2787. Shakespeare on Trial | See the video for play excerpts
The Arts Council is kicking off its Arts in Schools/Arts in Education program 2011-2012 with this unique opportunity for middle and high school students as well as adults. In a world where the quality of the art form called "writing" is rapidly diminishing, we cannot bid Shakespeare good riddance for it is important for students of the English language and literature to retain studies of the true classics. Shakespeare wrote with such fluidity of thought, word, rhythm, and sound that his work is presented in a complex manner, but is not unintelligible, even for the inexperienced reader. This paramount writer is one who finds even the entire existing vocabulary of his language limiting to his creative consciousness; Shakespeare often did, and so on occasion created his own form of grammar and vocabulary, much of which has since become common use (see all in italics). Few modern writers have such skill as to create new words which stick in our language, or to write in such a way that their words become common usage centuries later. His language is not Greek to us. Many of the common expressions now thought to be clichés were Shakespeare's creations. Chances are you use Shakespearean expressions all the time even though you may not know it is the Bard you are quoting. You may think that fact is neither here nor there, but give the devil his due, he is indispensable! Yet the beauty of Shakespeare’s talent lies not so much in the basic words and themes of his works as in the ingenuity with which he painted his portraits of love, power, greed, discrimination, hatred, and despair. Shakespeare’s ability to summarize the range of human emotions in simple yet profoundly eloquent verse is perhaps the greatest reason for his enduring popularity. William Shakespeare was the most remarkable storyteller that the world has ever known. Homer told of adventure and men at war, Sophocles and Tolstoy told of tragedies and of people in trouble. Terence and Mark Twain told cosmic stories, Dickens told Victorian melodramas, Plutarch told histories and Hand Christian Andersen told fairy tales. But Shakespeare told every kind of story – comedy, tragedy, history, melodrama, adventure, love stories and fairy tales – and each of them so well that they have become immortal. That’s the long and short of it! Shakespeare invented his share of stock characters, but his truly great characters – particularly his tragic heroes – are unequalled in literature, dwarfing even the sublime creations of the Greek tragedians. Shakespeare’s great characters have remained popular because of their complexity. For this reason Shakespeare is deeply admired by actors, and many consider playing a Shakespearean character to be the most difficult and most rewarding role possible. So students of English, refuse to budge an inch and demand your school bring you to appreciate and enjoy Shakespeare. This show is guaranteed to be too much of a good thing! It is a foregone conclusion Shakespeare is here to stay!
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