the rowdy theatre crowd

I came across an article in the August 2^nd edition of London’s Sunday Times.

“A number of West End theatres are now employing bouncers to cope with intoxicated patrons who fight, fondle one another and even urinate in the auditorium.

The yobbish behaviour has led to theatregoers being ejected during performances and police being called to some of London’s most successful shows.

One production was interrupted after a woman was caught “pleasuring” her partner in the stalls. And the cast of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music were stunned to see an audience member walk over to the side of the stage and relieve himself.

Critics believe the vulgar antics have been fuelled by falling ticket prices designed to attract younger audiences and the ease with which theatregoers can take alcohol into the auditorium.

Police have been called on occasion to deal with troublemakers.

Meanwhile, the audience for Dirty Dancing, a musical based on the Hollywood film, has been likened to a “bear pit” by insiders who insist that patrons — many of whom turn up drunk — have to be regularly removed from the premises.

Desmond Atuehene, 46, who works on the door of the Prince of Wales theatre, where Mamma Mia! is playing, said: “When hen parties come, they are always drunk but you just have to ignore them. Two months ago a drunk guy came in and assaulted me.”

Some patrons have been known to let their phones ring and even take calls while a play is running. Rosamund Pike, the film and stage actress, , who recently appeared opposite Dame Judi Dench in Madame de Sade, has seen someone in the front row texting another patron further back in the audience.

Some theatregoers seem to have no qualms about joining in with the cast. Greta Scacchi, who appeared last year in Terence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea, said: “Someone in the audience called out ‘It’s on the table’ during a particularly dramatic moment. During another performance of the same play, Scacchi recalled someone falling asleep in the front row and snoring loudly.

A combination of factors have been cited for deteriorating standards of behaviour. Some theatre managers have been blamed for creating a climate that deliberately appeals to the Big Brother generation — including offering tickets for as little as £10.”

Well! What’s new? Going to the theatre in Shakespeare’s London was the most popular form of entertainment. Modern theatre-going in London has been, until the current efforts to make theatre more accessible, an elitist activity. But with the cheaper tickets it begins to resemble Elizabethan theatre-going. In Shakespeare’s time everyone went to the theatre. Richer patrons could afford to sit in expensive seats and indeed, the very rich bought tickets to sit on the stage itself. But most of the audience paid a penny to stand in the large area between the stage and the seating. They were the groundlings and, not being raised as well as the higher classes, they set the rowdy tone for performances. But in any case, unlike today’s audiences, it was customary to make direct vocal responses to the performance.

Commentators of the time observed that missiles might be used not only to hasten the beginning of a performance but also to stop it, and even to make the players offer a different play. In the modern theatre ice cream and other delights are sold. In Elizabethan theatres they sold oranges and if you didn’t like someone’s acting or wanted to change the play you hurled oranges at the players.

Pickpockets and prostitutes plied their trade in the theatres. There was no question of calling in the police if you caught someone picking your pocket. If a pickpocket was caught he could expect to be dealt with by a form of mob rule. Will Kemp in 1600 wrote of cutpurses being tied to one of the stage pillars “for all the people to wonder at, when at a play they are taken pilfring.”

There is nothing new under the sun, as Shakespeare himself observed.

Language is a wonderful thing. We often choose our words carefully, depending on the occasion. But most of the time we are in informal situations, with our friends, classmates, colleagues and so on and then we go onto auto-pilot and our language just flows. Have you thought about the impossibility of speaking English without using metaphors? It’s impossible. Even just saying ‘I’m freezing’, or ‘I died laughing’, or ‘I see what you’re getting at’ – the list can go on forever – we are using the richness of poetic English in everything we say. But even more, we can’t get through a day without quoting Shakespeare. And we’re not even thinking about it.

There is a poster used in almost every English classroom in England that shows a bit of that. It was devised by a famous English journalist, Bernard Levin, published in The Times newspaper some years ago, and this is it:
If you cannot understand my argument and declare it’s Greek to me, you are quoting Shakespeare. If you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare. If you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare. If you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied – a tower of strength – hoodwinked or been in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows – made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play – slept not one wink – stood on ceremony – danced attendance on your lord and master – laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift – cold comfort, or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days, or lived in a fool’s paradise, why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are as good luck would have it, quoting Shakespeare. If you think it is high time, and that that is the long and the short of it, if you believe that the game is up, and that the truth will out, even if involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low  – till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge at one fell swoop – without rhyme or reason, then to give the devil his due if the truth were known for surely you have a tongue in your head, you are quoting Shakespeare. Even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a doornail, if you think I am an eyesore – a laughing stock – the devil incarnate – a stony-hearted villain – bloody-minded, or a blinking idiot, then by jove – o lord- tut, tut! – For goodness sake – what the dickens! – but me no buts – it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.

How’s that?

In the last half century there have been some great speeches by American presidents and some have been wonderful orators. But there has been a striking lack of Shakespeare quotations and that’s strange when you think about it: Shakespeare had something beautiful, concise and definitive to say about every imaginable situation.

Abraham Lincoln was one president who used Shakespeare liberally. He was fascinated by Shakespeare and was an enthusiastic theatre-goer, which was quite literally the death of him, assassinated, ironically by John Wilkes Booth, a member of the renowned Shakespearen theatrical family. Lincoln was particularly fond of Macbeth and perhaps a victim of the Macbeth curse. In productions of the play members of the company will never utter the word “Macbeth” because of the bad luck it will bring them and refer to the play as “The Scottish play.”

President Obama has yet to quote Shakespeare in a speech but I fear for his safety because he has uttered the dreaded word. On a trip to Ford’s Theatre, site of Lincoln’s assassination, Obama paid tribute to the 16th president’s ability to recall passages of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth. It’s quite alarming!

In his inaugural speech the President came close to quoting Shakespeare, echoing Richard III’s “now is the winter of our discontent” with “this winter of our hardship”. He used the phrase again more recently in a news conference, referring to the economic downturn. But winter is only one of the seasons and perhaps the use of the phrase is an expression of hope that there will soon be an upturn. Perhaps he was implying an unspoken quotation for us to supply: “If winter comes can spring be far behind?”

Two of the most lasting and influential phenomena in Western culture are the plays of Shakespeare and the science fiction series Star Trek. The science fiction series touches Shakespeare at many levels, over and over again. Some of Shakespeare’s plays look as though they could be episodes of the series and some of the episodes of Star Trek draw on Shakespeares stories. We immediately think “Macbeth” when in the episode Catspaw the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise beams down to the surface of the planet Pyris V11 and are confronted by three witches who chant:

‘Winds shall rise

And fog descend

So leave here all

And fog descend

So leave here all

Or meet your end’

Characters in the series quote Shakespeare, episodes are titled after his works, and stories are adapted to fit the futuristic space arena. The Klingons quote Hamlet, both in English and in their own fictional language, into which language Shakespeare has been translated.

Captain James Kirk is Macbeth, Hamlet, Ferdinand, and Petruchio at different times. As he is always the winning hero, though, he has the ability to defeat the villain, even when the Shakespearean characters could not. For example, in the episode ‘Catspaw’, Kirk is essentially Macbeth, but, unlike Macbeth, here he has the ability to resist the evil pressure of the Lady Macbeth figure of Sylvia.

Within the framework of the original series, The Next Generation series and the films, Shakespeare has become an integral part of the universe that Star Trek inhabits. The series uses Shakespeare as a major reference to introduce new ideas and to maintain a connection with the future and the past.

The original series alone uses these Shakespeare quotations as episode titles.

Dagger of the Mind
The title is a reference to Macbeth.

The Conscience of the King
The title is a reference to Hamlet. There is more in this episode as the main plot concerns a travelling troupe of Shakespearean actors.

All Our Yesterdays
The title refers to Macbeth.

By Any Other Name
The title is a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Kirk makes additional reference while talking with a woman as he holds out a rose-like flower and says, “As the Earth poet Shakespeare wrote, ‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’

Whom Gods Destroy
The character of Marta quotes Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.

Elaan of Troyius
Here the plot is lifted straight from The Taming of the Shrew with Kirk playing the part of Petruchio.

Catspaw
The plot of this episode borrows parts of Macbeth.

The connection between Shakespeare and Star Trek are numerous. Both William Shatner and Patrick Stewart were trained as Shakespearean actors. Some say that Shatner never made the transition in style from stage acting to television acting. His overacting and wild gestures are more suited to the stage than the TV set, where the camera picks up every move.

Patrick Stewart worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company for several years, and has also done productions of Shakespeare He also appeared in a number of the BBC productions, including The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet. He has also appeared for several summers on the UC Santa Cruz campus with the Shakespeare Santa Cruz group.

Gene Roddenberry was a Shakespeare fan.

General Chang, the Shakespeare-quoting Klingon from Star Trek VI, was played by Christopher Plummer. Plummer is an accomplished Shakespearean actor. He played Macbeth in a 1988 Broadway production of the play.

And so it goes on….where no Bard has been before!!

Shakespeare has been quoted in many places for many reasons before now, but plans by  London Underground to use Shakespeare quotes on tube trains may yet be the most outlandish!

Bosses at London Underground have asked tube drivers to mix quotes from various authors, philosophers and great thinkers with their usual announcements. The initiative is being introduced on the Piccadilly line where drivers and station staff have been issued with a booklet of quotations.

So if you want to brush up on your Shakespeare skills, one way would be to buy a travelcard and ride the tube for the day!! Alternativley, you could study this great Shakespearen tube map, created by the Royal Shakespeare Company, which shows what the tube would look like if Shakespeare was in charge…

Shakespeare Tube Map

The conflicts and emotions currently raging in Shakespeare’s hometown would make an intriquing drama.

Romeo & Juliet’s Adult Boutique opens this week in Shakespeare’s Stratford-on-Avon. The new mayor said it could destroy the town’s image and put tourists off. Several business persons welcome it as an interesting addition to Stratford’s shopping streets, with its colourful stock of sex toys, porn movies and sexy lingerie. A vicar has weighed in with the opinion that it’s a “seedy” kind of shop and entirely inapporpriate as it is next to a bus stop used by children.

The owner of the shop, Kathy Gilbert, said that Shakespeare would be proud of such a shop in his town because his plays and poems are saturated with sexual overtones. He would have taken a mature and realistic view of it. Ms Gilbert, a 33 year-old mother added that her new shop would honour the Bard by selling candy in the shape of Romeo and Juliet having sex, dressed in jesters’ costumes. She says that she’s been surprised by the reaction of some of the Stratford people – the mayor and the vicar and other dignitaries should come along to the shop and see for themselves.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is more relaxed. Their spokeswoman pointed out that all kinds of businesses capitalise on Shakespeare’s name to sell their products. That is what happens in Stratford. And why not?

Ms Gilbert insists that it’s a good move regarding sexual health and sexual health education.
“We have worked very hard with the NHS to promote sexual health,” she said.

There’s an exciting summer ahead for New Yorkers. Daniel Sullivan’s new production of Twelfth Night opens at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park on June 25.

The cast is headed by a host of award winners in theatre, television and film. Oscar nominated Ann Hathaway plays Viola. Four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald takes the role of Olivia. Other Tony nominated actors are: Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed) as Maria, Raúl Esparza (Company, Speed-the-Plow) as Orsino and David Pittu (What’s That Smell?) as Feste.

The staging will feature an original score by the popular Brooklyn-based folk-rock band Hem, with vocalist Sally Ellyson, pianist Dan Messe, and guitarists Gary Maurer and Steve Curtis.

Something to look forward to stateside.

The debate about what Shakespeare looked like has taken a new turn with the discovery of a new portrait by Cobbe. This is one of those things about the Bard that will probably never be resolved. There are some who insist on the Sanders Portrait, but there are quite a few problems with that. The most serious is that the picture was painted when Shakespeare was almost forty but it’s an image of a much younger man.

Sanders Portrait

The latest candidate is more credible. It is the Cobbe portrait, which has been in the Cobbe family since it was part of a marriage settlement when a member of the family married a great-granddaughter of Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton, who was Shakespeare’s patron. He was believed to have commissioned the portrait by an artist whose identity has, sadly, been lost.

It’s an exciting discovery because it has that direct link with Shakespeare’s friend and patron – the young man of the sonnets. What’s more, the picture has been dated to about 1610, six years before Shakespeare’s death. Shakespeare would have been forty-six, a man in his prime and at the height of his fame and wealth. The portrait seems to show just such a man. As a successful businessman and playwright, already the equivalent of a modern-day millionaire, Shakespeare would have presented himself just like that. And it looks more like a successful forty-six year old than some of the other candidates.

Cobb Portrait

We all have the same mental picture when we think about Shakespeare. It is an iconic picture – more like a logo or symbol than a picture of a living person. It’s an image of a high-domed, stern, wooden presence presented on a black and white woodcut. That’s the short-cut image that anyone wanting to refer us instantly to the Bard produces.

Droeshout Portrait

It’s the engraving by Martin Droeshout, an important portrait because Droeshout was 15 when Shakespeare died and 22 when he did the engraving. It’s unlikely that he ever saw Shakespeare but he is thought to have worked from an authentic portrait, which either hasn’t survived or hasn’t been identified. Scholars are getting excited now because a consensus seems to be growing that the Cobbe portrait is that painting.

The Cobbe portrait went on display at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-Upon-Avon on 23rd April, Shakespeare’s birthday, and continues until 6th September, in the exhibition “Shakespeare Found: A Life Portrait.”