Spring 2014 Playing Shakespeare Class performs Richard II at Shakespeare's Globe

Last week, seven Notre Dame students on the London Playing Shakespeare course took to the stage at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, to perform scenes from Shakespeare’s Richard II.

 

Playing Shakespeare is taught in partnership taught in partnership between the University of Notre Dame London Global Gateway and Globe Education at Shakespeare’s Globe.  The first half of the semester is spent studying and reviewing Shakespeare plays with Dr. Boika Sokolova, followed by half a semester putting their acting skills to the test with actress and Globe Education course director, Joanne Howarth.

 

The students presented Act 2 Scene 2, in which Queen Isobel is forlorn and preoccupied now her husband is at war in Ireland, and Act 3 Scene 3, where the Duke and Dutchess of York and Bolingbroke find out that Aumerle is a traitor, in a traditional but energetic manner.  Caitlin Crommett, Kelsey Sobzak, and Nicole Sganga gave particularly notable performances as Green/Aumerle, the Duke of York, and the Dutchess of York.  In a new style, Joanne Howarth introduced and set each scene.

 

LUP Librarian and Academic Programs Coordinator, Alice Tyrell, said “Performing in an intimate space with a minimal set and the audience within touching distance is always a daunting prospect, all the more so when the audience is made up of friends and relations.  This semester’s student company tacked their challenge bravely, bringing to life two scenes from the play, and earning the enthusiastic applause of the spectators.”

 

Notre Dame students and their families, faculty, and staff attended the performance alongside staff from the Globe, and the evening ended with a reception at Anchor Bankside pub.