WEEK 5- Shakespeare today

WEEK 5 - SHAKESPEARE TODAY

QUESTION: Analyse contemporary Shakespeare productions with reference to live performances you may have seen or clips or footage available online. You should comment on what you notice about them and how they differ from what you know about the original performance conditions of Shakespeare’s work? (Don’t be afraid to point out the obvious).

Consider how these productions are employing all the techniques, technology and resources of modern theatre.

Twelfth Night at the National
One main aspect of Twelfth Night that stood out for me was the set. It was incredible and ostentatious which heightened the comedy of the play. It is a play of chaos and disorder so seeing it modernized with such a set really brought that aspect of it to life for me. Also, there was a change of gender roles so that Malvolio turned to Malvolia instead and was played by Tamsin Gregg. It was a wonderful twist that I thought thoroughly modernised the play. The comedy in Twelfth night was also a lot more modernised than it would have been in an original Shakespeare performance, which was greatly enjoyable.


Hamlet at the Almeida Theatre
This version of Hamlet was extremely modernised. There was an excellent use of multimedia in the show- there were television screens around stage at the start to show the ghost in the opening scene. The scene where they put on a play to catch the King out was also done through a clever use of multimedia. I loved the modernised set- there was a glass door at the back of the stage and behind it some key scenes were shown but not heard. It was beautiful. The costume and set was also very modernised.

Othello at the Globe
Othello was an unusual production because it was not totally modernised. The set, costume and lighting was all traditional- the whole play was lit just through candels! All of the music was sung by a choir too. The modernised aspect of it was the songs they used- Desdemona's "willow song" was changed to Lana Del Rey's "Video Games" which I found interesting. Micheal Cassio was also now Michelle Cassio.