“…because they were studying Shakespeare as a text to be read, and not as a performance as it was written to be.”

Actors From The London Stage came to town for a week. They visited classes at the local university, taught a workshop at the library, met informally with students and faculty, and performed the whole of King Lear twice.

Several of us took part in the workshop at the library (and were happy to discover that they were real British actors from the London, England, stage). The workshop was led by two of the actors and began with the history and background of the troupe, which travels to universities across the States every year.

The founding directors of AFTLS (of whom Sir Patrick Stewart was one) saw that Shakespeare was being done a disservice in America by being analyzed and studied and picked apart as text, when all along the plays were intended to be performances. “You can’t fully understand the nuance and meaning by merely reading the words. You have to see it happen in front of you.”

The actors talked about “getting into the heads” of the characters they play, and how they become so involved with their roles that they begin to take on their perspectives. In King Lear, for example, one of the main villians is Edmond, and the actor who plays him, Fred, has such empathy for his feelings and motivations and will so defend him that when he plays the part he brings the same feelings, the same motivations. He brings himself.

For them it’s an honor to bring their individuality to their roles. Together — actor and role — Edmond becomes real; Cordelia is real; King Lear is real.

The actors also talked to us about the classes they’d visited at the university: the English classes, and, surprisingly to me, sociology.

With English majors they talked about the effects of Shakespeare on language and communication. With sociology students they discussed the family dynamics found in the play — fathers and children, in particular. They mentioned that they’ve heard different perspectives depending on where they were, based on cultural norms in either Britain or America.

And then the psychology of it all. The actor who plays King Lear was amazed that Shakespeare understood the human psyche  as well as he did, and that his ideas sometimes seem to belong to another age. “Take the character of Cordelia, for example… Her idea that love is a verb, that love is found in action and not simply words is quite modern and not one you’d think to find at that time.”

And there was more.

They were like missionaries for Shakespeare, and there were many echoes of a greater drama.