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WEEK of December 10, 2007
@BFS! archives

The Gift of Shakespeare

by Roxanne Zazzaro, Head of Upper School

When Upper School English teacher Christopher Nattrass found it difficult to get tickets for the recent performance of King Lear by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Brooklyn Academy of Music for his class, he did the next best thing. He brought King Lear to Brooklyn Friends School. With a little ingenuity and a few friendship tokens, Chris was able to invite three members of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to perform for the upper school.

Chris, who is teaching a senior English elective entitled, “King Lear or Endgame” initially invited his friend Richard Goulding (top photo), a member of the RSC, to speak to his class. To everyone’s delight, Richard brought along two other cast mates, Ben Addis (middle photo) and Philip Winchester (at right in bottom photo), for a special performance. Students in the King Lear class and several others who are interested in acting, Shakespeare, or both were on-hand to see the three actors perform several scenes.

In one case, while presenting Act I, Scene II, Ben and Philip enacted the scene in several ways and even switched roles. This allowed the students to see how the audience’s preconception of characters can be changed. Richard and Ben then presented Act IV, Scene VI, showing that this scene only works in a theater—a cinematic version wouldn't—because the scene is about the nature of theatrical illusion.

Christopher was happy to be able to bring this mini-performance to his students. “Despite living in one of the great cities of theater, it surprises me that our students go to the theater rarely or not at all,” he stated. “Just to see actors at work was an eye-opener for many of them. Shakespeare's plays are merely ink on a page until they are brought to life on stage,” he added. “By witnessing actors at work in close quarters (a classroom), the students were able to get an idea of the decisions involved in staging a play.”

Matthew Gentile, BFS senior, was at the workshop and shared his thoughts. “The a great deal of passion to the scenes.” He added, “They engaged the students present who generally may not be interested in theater. As a performer myself, I learned a lot from watching these three actors and just listening to them. They were so eager to perform. They loved what they were doing.”

The Royal Shakespeare Company performed King Lear and The Seagull at BAM during September. The plays starred Sir Ian McKellen and were directed by Sir Trevor Nunn. The English elective, “King Lear or Endgame,” focuses on the comparison of King Lear by William Shakespeare and Endgame by Samuel Beckett as noted in the essay, “King Lear or Endgame” by Polish critic Jann Kott.