Editor’s Note: This is the
second article in a two-part series focusing on how the
arts can be used effectively
in the education system. This series has so far focused on
programs in Canada but we will be looking at other innovative
programs being used in Australia, the UK and the US in the
future.
To understand or not to understand, that is the question.
The name Shakespeare usually strikes terror in the hearts
of students everywhere.
Shakespeare conjures up images of archaic language spoken
by old people in situations that don’t make sense.
Many students struggle to understand the plays of Shakespeare
and many teachers resort to condensed versions or showing
movies in an attempt to liven the experience.
Theatre Prospero, an Alberta based company is changing the
way Shakespeare is taught in the classroom.
Producing Director Mark Henderson believes that literature
has a lot to do with life and students of all ages have the
chance to live the adventure of Shakespeare when Theatre
Prospero comes to town. The project works like this: six
professional actors rehearse a play, with a few student actors
and present it at the Fringe Festival. Then they go out on
tour with the production. They send scripts, directions and
background materials ahead to the schools they are traveling
to. Up to 30 students are cast in parts and they rehearse
their parts with their teacher and the entire class studies
the play. When Theatre Prospero arrives in town, its show
time! In the morning, the professional and student actors
rehearse while the technical students set up the lights.
They then perform the show for the entire school.
Re-inventing the
Classics
Since 1996, Theatre Prospero has toured all over Alberta
and is becoming a sustainable part of Alberta’s cultural
and educational landscape. The mandate of Theatre Prospero
is “To provide innovative and affordable classical
theatre for student and community audiences, and to provide
high-level training and performance opportunity for teenagers.”
Henderson freely admits to stealing the idea of Shakespeare
for students from Ken Brown, an Edmonton actor, teacher and
playwright. Mark says, “ In the early 1990’s,
Ken was doing a ‘one-professional-actor-with-many-audience-member-actors’ version
of Romeo and Juliet. My friend and I were invited to help
out with an early performance. Afterwards we looked at each
other and said ‘What if we did this with three actors?’ It
kind of grew from there.”
Theatre Prospero has performed Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, and this year they are
adding Hamlet. They have also tackled Euripides’ the
Bacchae, and Charles Dickens’ The Life and Adventures
of Nicolas Nickleby.
Theatre Prospero also offers residency programs for artists.
Two or three artists (typically an actor, a designer, and
choreographer)
from the company come to a school to cast and rehearse a
Shakespeare play. The actor rehearses the students while
the designer works with the art class to design and build
the sets. The choreographer works with gym and dance classes
to prepare any movement sequences. The end result is a full-blown
student production of the play.
Mark believes that the bigger the production the better, “The
plays provide opportunities for many students who may be
floundering in traditional learning environments, to flourish
and gain self and peer esteem. There is nothing like the
magic that happens when students surprise themselves and
their peers by excelling in front of the whole school.”
Working with Shakespeare’s incorporates many aspects
of the school curricula: Language Arts, Literature, Social
Studies, History, and Art.
Putting together a company of this scope came pretty easily
to Mark, “The organization, such as it is, came with
artistic interest and fiscal viability - people are more
willing to contribute time to the company because it looks
like it has an interesting future, and because they believe
in what we do.”
When asked what he wants students to take away from their
experience with Theatre Prospero Mark says, “A greater
appreciation of themselves, and of Shakespeare, perhaps a
new perception of what theatre and culture can be - that
it can be created by them and those like them - that it doesn't
have to come through a wire from a foreign land or city.
Really, I want them to find something of themselves or their
world somehow illuminated by the play.”
In the words of one student participant: “ It was
cool. I got to sword fight. I learned that even English can
be fun sometimes.”
Parents and Educators: For more information on Theatre Prospero
go to: http://www.theatreprospero.ca/
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