Alum provides creative teaching to Laguna Beach drama students with Shakespeare

Laguna Beach High drama students received a special treat last week from an alumnus with an affinity for a well-known English poet and playwright whose last name begins with an “S.”

For five days, Michael Irish, a 1999 Laguna graduate, challenged students in Alexis Karol’s sixth-period drama class to exude characteristics of roles they portrayed from William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” a comedic tale of love and deception.

Irish, who lives in New York City, is teaching artist of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and a professional actor.

Irish’s mother, Angela, mentioned to Karol, the school’s theater director, that Irish would be in town the first week of June. Karol, Irish said, then inquired whether he would volunteer to teach students. Angela works on costumes for the school’s performing arts department.

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“I hope to make Shakespeare more personal, more than words on a page,” said Irish, 35, who participated in productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Twelfth Night” while a Laguna Beach High student. “Yes, we have an archaic form of the English language represented in the poetry, but it’s still people talking to each other. All the things they dealt with are things we deal with.”

Irish also worked with students in Karol’s theater class throughout the week.

Irish challenged students not to think too hard about the nuances of their roles, but rather go with the scene’s mood and tone, whether they participated in warm-up exercises or scenes from the play

In one activity, Irish had students act out their scenes as if they were making a silent movie.

Karol considered the idea brilliant.

“A lot of times with theatre, [the focus] is on the words,” Karol said. “Another way is looking at the physical first.”

Students split into three groups of two and one group of four, with each working on a particular scene. Performing silent scenes appeared to prepare the students for additions of sound and dialogue.

In one scene, a student in the role of Hermia raced toward Helena in anger, only to be stopped by the outstretched arm of Demetrius, Irish said. Hermia’s father, Egeus, wants her to marry Demetrius, but she is resistant.

Hermia thinks Helena stole her fiance, Lysander. Both Lysander and Demetrius were infected with a love potion that made them both fall in love with Helena, Irish said.

The scene is one example of a play with multiple plot lines surrounding the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta.

Sophomore Seryne Aryeh enjoys studying and acting scenes from Shakespeare’s works, though acknowledged the tasks can be challenging.

Seryne played Oberon, king of the fairies, who becomes upset at his wife, Titania, because she will not relinquish a young boy he tabbed as a knight, or henchman.

“There is a language barrier, but it’s about bringing a real element,” Seryne said. “They are still real characters.”

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Bryce Alderton, bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce

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