Unconventional Shakespeare

Imagine this: Kids scalping 25-cent tickets for $1 each while others banged on the door, hoping to gain admission to a sold-out performance of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”

This was the amazing scene outside Portola Middle School’s Little Theater on Friday when the advanced drama class acted out the conclusion of the classic tale of greed, power, love and death.

But then again, this was no regular performance of “King Lear.” There was a tote board with the names of “bad” characters in red and “good” characters in blue. As players gained or lost stature, Mariya Groysman--portraying a Vanna White character complete with long white gloves and a frizzy wig--would position their names on the board accordingly. As they died, she covered their name with a black circle with a diagonal line going through it.

Between the old English lines, a trio of narrators interjected modern English commentary to explain what was happening.

“Oh look, the king of France wants to marry Cordelia. He’s got a crush on her because she’s so honest,” went the narration. “Check out the scoreboard. By being honest, Cordelia scored big.”

Twice, a videotape was shown featuring a mock TV news reporter interviewing Cordelia and later, a battle scene between the French and English.

The unconventional approach to Shakespeare was an attempt to “get the spark going,” said drama teacher Paul Richardson, who cut the three-hour play down to 45 minutes, including narration. “Some may say you’ve ruined it. But if you’ve made them interested in it, you haven’t ruined it.”

Many of the actors said they wanted to prove that Shakespeare can be entertaining and educational.

“We wanted to be able to teach them, for them to visualize the characters moving up and down in power,” said Elizabeth Tamen, 13, who played the Fool.

The approach appeared to have worked.

“I liked it and understood it,” said 13-year-old Robin Jenkins, who had never before seen a Shakespeare play. However, she thought King Lear should have been played by a boy.

Julie Lindeen, 13, who played one of King Lear’s daughters, Goneril, said her family enjoyed the performance.

“My mom is Shakespeare-illiterate, but she got it. Even my 8-year-old sister got it,” she said.

Hundreds of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students were exposed to Shakespeare this week by two casts of performers. Some paid 25 cents (or more) to see a 10-minute section of the play during lunch. Others got to watch the entire performance as part of their English class.

The students who saw the entire play were given a work sheet with questions about the characters and plot lines. On Friday, the audience sat mesmerized by the live performance.

“They were amazed we could do it,” said Amanda Arsenault, 14, who played Regan, another of King Lear’s daughters.