I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God’s sake.

Rather than traveling to Lansing to take part in the MCTE conference like some of my classmates, I chose to go to James Shapiro’s lecture on Shakespeare and then Grand Valley’s performance of Cymbeline. I had read a chapter of Shapiro’s book, A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, 1599 for another class, so I was prepared for his style of writing and his subject matter. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how real and down-to-earth Mr. Shapiro was. I suppose I expected a “geeky” Shakespeare nerd, but instead he was a “normal” guy who talked about the famous playwright as if they had once been best friends.

I was a bit surprised that Mr. Shapiro mainly read from what seemed like a chapter from his book rather than actually lecturing, but it was informative nonetheless. It is amazing how much he was able to find out about Shakespeare’s every day life and then apply that to his writing career. I find that the context and history surrounding a piece of literature is often the most entertaining aspect of reading a famous text, and I cannot wait until I have time to read my new copy of Mr. Shapiro’s book to find out all about Shakespeare’s back story.

Later on in the evening I attended Grand Valley’s production of Cymbeline, which I highly enjoyed. At first I was a bit upset at having to devot my entire Friday evening to school functions, but the performance was very good, so I didn’t feel like I had wasted my night. I had read the play for my ENG 313 class and was expected to report on the play for that class also, so I paid close attention to the actors’ performances, sets, and costumes. I found the performances of Christopher Weaver (Jachimo), Josh King (Cloten), and Lauren Gregory (Abigail Bell) to be the most entertaining. It seemed as though Weaver thoroughly enjoyed playing the conniving Jachimo, and seemed to enjoy the audience’s hatred of him. King also played up his character’s faults, most notably his insatiable pride and confidence in his abilities to woo Imogen. He played Cloten to the hilt, filling in the role very well but also making him somewhat more likeable than in my inital read of the play. And although Gregory’s part was included for the GV production, I believe she stole the show whenever she appeared on stage. She was so lively in front of the audience, and played into the comedic role of one of the Queen’s ladies so well, that I found myself looking forward to her appearance on stage more so than any other actor.

I’m not quite sure if taking Cymbelineout of the ancient British court and transplanting it to Civil War-era Kansas helped the play at all. I understand that it would help the audience connect to the characters and conflict more easily, but there were too many inconsistencies and changes that had to be made to make it work. It was a bit unbelieveable that the battle between the North and South in Kansas decided the fate of the entire war, or that the day was one by the help of just three men. However, the situation did lend itself well when Posthumus changed sides multiple times throughout the fighting.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed both the play performance and the lecture, and both have inspired me to read more Shakespeare and to appreciate the complexity of the plays.