Summer Shakespeare programs are an enriching experience for children everywhere. On June 22, The Reading Eagle reported on a project to introduce Shakespeare to kids. This summer is a wonderful time to introduce kids to Shakespeare, especially with free Shakespeare in the Park productions all over the country.
On June 22, The Cascadia Weekly reported on a summer program for kids at the Neighborhood Playhouse in which youth will “…use active drama—using one’s mind, voice, body and imagination to engage in the text. ” This is an especially effective way to introduce kids to the great art of Shakespeare that was intended to be dramatized on the stage. All over the country there are summer Shakespeare productions and films, many are free in summer park offerings and will be enriching for youth and adults.
Some of the most notable summer Shakespearean festivals include the following: The Public Theater in NYC, which for many years, has presented the best of American and Shakespearean actors in free, live performances; Louisville, Kentucky’s oldest national free Shakespeare in the Park with its mission to educate, inspired, and entertain; and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with its rich array of offerings. Most metroplex areas across the country also offer free Shakespeare in the Park, such as in Austin and Dallas, Texas. Live Shakespeare is also available this summer through Fathom Events in cinemas.
Shakespeare’s plays are written for the stage and are best enjoyed in live performances. Through live performances, the rich Elizabethan language of Shakespeare is most understandable and appreciated when its literary devices are heard through skillful delivery and when the dialogue is clarified with facial expressions, body language and action.
Shakespeare still relates today because he writes of timeless, universal themes; fascinating, multi-dimensional characters who develop in instructive ways; and because he writes for all people of all strata of society for all time. William Shakespeare reflects both the Renaissance and Reformation influences of his time under the direction of Queen Elizabeth, who allowed both movements to co-exist in Britain.
Shakespeare writes with the rhythms of the human heart, in unrhymed blank verse and in iambic pentameter. He masterfully uses literary devices that appeal to the mind and ear. He writes with great breadth and depth as he probes great philosophical issues, universal themes and complexities of his characters. He writes for actors to present his characters with intense human emotion, as well as with skillful, eloquent diction and delivery for live audiences.
In Shakespeare’s work, the great artistry of the Renaissance works together with the profound universal moral and spiritual ideas of the Reformation. Shakespeare brought to great heights and depths of expressions some of the best of both the historic Renaissance and Reformation movements. His work has continued to set a high bar for dramatic artistic expression across the globe.
Leave a Reply