Arts Igniting Minds - permissions to play

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre commissioned artist Simon Elliott to direct an audience intervention to bring visitors closer to the actual experience of visiting the Globe for a contemporary audience.

At Southwark’s Frost Fair, as thousands of people walked along the South-bank, a few noticed ‘a strange gathering’ near the Globe. On closer examination it turned out to be a group of silent protesters. Their placards read: “Say NO to Shakespeare” and “Down with the Bard!”. A protest, against Shakespeare?

While most passers by wondered whether it was a real demonstration against Shakespeare and some took a few photos to document it, some took it very seriously indeed: responses ranged from someone asking “do people really have nothing better to do?”, a ten year old girl calling them “silly” and a young teenager in a tracksuit in typical anti-authoritarian mode started chanting that he “loved Shakespeare”! He punched the air shouting “Say YES to Shakespeare” – Mission accomplished…

As people stepped into the building they were asked to touch Shakespeare’s head (or at least a bust of his head). Although they may have felt a slight tingle, it seemed like nothing out of the ordinary until they descended into the Underglobe and noticed a projection of the head on the big screen.

Something strange seemed to occur every time someone touched him – a bright light would emerge from the head and take hold of the visitor while all sorts of words would flow from body to body, a literary communion providing inspiration to thousands and demonstrating that Shakespeare’s spirit is still alive and well.

The first floor actor’s zoo provided quite a few chuckles as the actors held up the lower parts of the ceiling while protesting “I only have a supporting role.” Quite a few members of the public also took pride in helping the actors “support Shakespeare’s globe.”

To keep our promise of staying true to Shakespeare – complete with violence and dirty words – we provided a few murders for the public to see. Two seemingly normal members of the public would suddenly act out various different Shakespearean murders, from Romeo & Juliet’s poisoning to Othello’s death through suffocation. After initial shock and horror, the public were quick to laugh and show their own knowledge of Shakespeare – often volunteering which play the death was from before the actors had the chance.

The very skilled and playful Natural Theatre Company from Bath brought to life a ‘literary greengrocers’ where the public were asked to buy half a pound of Grapes of Wrath, or try something a little more ‘crispy’, ‘crunchy’ and ‘moist’…

Romeo and Juliet were present on the day – both endlessly searching for each other, often seeing each other from the balconies and professing their love but never quite finding one another. As they asked members of the public whether they had seen “my Juliet/Romeo” (using a cameraphone to provide visual recognition!) it became quite an involving storyline. It was found particularly entertaining by the younger members of the audience and as one little boy directed Juliet to her Romeo, he was horrified to find Romeo talking to another woman!

A slightly strange pale looking man with a rat was lurking around and started spreading diseases. Children who petted the puppet rat were given the pox in the form of a red sticker. They were also given the chance to spread it to others and going home that night on the tube, it became quite clear who had been at the Globe.

A few mad-scientist types were floating around too. Asking members of the public to hop on one leg, stick their tongues out and say “To Be or Not to Be”, they quickly gave their diagnosis. They told the audience member which Shakespearean character they were suffering from and who they had to find for their cure. The result was that throughout the day people who knew nothing of each other would approach each other after recognizing name tags, so many a Hamlet found his Ophelia, each holding the other half of their cure: a single line from a rhyming couplet.

A big glass box beautifully presented a whole range of swords and Elizabethan objects. It also housed a living actor painting his toenails much to the incredulity of many a spectator!

Marlowe supporters broke into the Globe – as the audience filed through, these shady characters opened their trench coats and surreptitiously asked people if they “wanted a line” before giving them a line from a Marlowe play.

Of course this did not go without punishment and before entering the actual theatre members of the public had to go through a Shakespeare scanner – much like in an airport, but the contraband here was Marlowe! One young lady was so frightened of being caught with Marlowe she was caught trying to hide it in her sock! Anyone caught was given a ball and told to throw it on stage if Marlowe appeared.

The audience had the chance to use Shakespearean insults after a “Marlowe Pusher” was dragged through the Underglobe by his captor. A bucket full of insults was provided and reading the lines at him proved very popular, although a few of the kinder souls took pity and read the line to the captor instead!

On stage there were a variety of different sketches, some of the most popular included: the Beryls who had an unhealthy obsession with the Globe and spoke only in iambic pentameter, the Montagues and Capulets who would battle through a ‘war of questions’ with the help of the public and a Shakespearean ‘blind dating’ session where one unsuspecting member of the public ended up with a date with one of the three Macbeth witches to the audience’s great amusement. Most importantly there was the chance for members of the public to get on the stage and read some Shakespeare, something that is not allowed at any other time of the year. Despite some nerves, a great range of people from all backgrounds and of all ages had their five minutes in the spotlight and the talent was astounding!

Marlowe also made guest appearances on stage, at which point hundreds of colourful foam balls were simultaneously thrown at him and energy levels reached a peak as children and adults alike raced to find more balls before Marlowe was caught!

The weekend was a great success and the Globe estimates about 30,000 visitors came through it’s doors in two days – a new record for them, especially significant as many of these were new audiences attracted by the free entry and humorous, playful and accessible tone of the event.

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