MURRAY – For the past 25 years in the month of March, yellow school buses line up outside Lovett Auditorium to deliver hundreds of middle and high school students to see a Shakespearean play on stage. This year is no exception, except two plays are being presented by two different production companies, one from Memphis, and one from Louisville.
The curtain rises on Romeo and Juliet, March 4-5 at 10 a.m. On March 6 at 7 p.m. and March 7 at 2 p.m., The Tempest takes the stage. Also featured on Tuesday, March 3 at 6 pm, Dr. Rusty Jones presents a fascinating analysis of Shakespeare lore, inspired by the current novel and award-winning film, Hamnet. Admission is free to all Shakespeare events.
Some educators from the region introduce their classes to a Shakespeare play every year. According to Michele Young, a teacher from Hickman County High School, “It is worth the hour bus ride each way for students to see a live performance. Seeing it in person gives students another level of appreciation. They are always amazed that people really memorize Shakespearean English and make it sound so natural on stage.”
Teacher Tessa Northcutt, Marshall County High School, shares similar sentiments. “It is awesome for my classes to see Shakespeare live. They see, first-hand, what we talk about in class.”
Ms. Northcutt understands that the level of Shakespeare’s language is challenging for many of her students, but the meaning comes alive onstage. “You can understand the words if the play is performed well. The characters are real people,” she explains, “and the actors perform like real people. They deliver their lines with understanding.”
“You can’t always catch every word,” she concedes, “but you get the message.”
Annual Shakespeare field trips are not only high school fare. Joseph Dublin, Murray Middle School teacher, has been bringing his classes to the festival since 2012. To prepare, his classes work in groups with different sections of the play and then act out scenes in class.
“That makes it easier to understand,” he remarks. “I can see lightbulbs going off. We have a lot of fun. Even kids who sometimes have trouble engaging have a good time.”
This year Murray Middle kids are working with King Lear with Mr. Dublin, and they are discovering a timelessness to the characters and situations. “We live in an era when there are a lot of public figures who, like Lear, can be manipulated through flattery,” Dublin remarks.
He describes the irony and tragedy embodied in the character of King Lear and his students recognize it for themselves. The way Dublin puts it, the king’s tragedy is, “he doesn’t see until he gets blinded.”
Besides reading Shakespeare and acting out scenes, Michele Young’s classes study the history of the theater in Elizabethan England.
Ms. Northcutt guides her students through general scene work, character development, script analysis, and details regarding line delivery and blocking. “We also look at what characters want and how they get it,” she says.
All three teachers reflected on their own personal experiences with Shakespeare when they were students, crediting their teachers with lighting the spark of their appreciation. Joseph Dublin was inspired in college classes at Murray State University with Dr. Barbara Cobb and Dr. Rusty Jones.
“I met my wife in Dr. Cobb’s class,” he admits sheepishly, adding that he concentrated on learning about Shakespeare and his works, “because I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of her.”
Michele Young’s awareness of Shakespeare was kindled in 10th grade at Murray High School. “I remember reading Romeo and Juliet in freshman English with Mr. Mark Etherton as my teacher. He really brought the play to life for us, providing extra support as we needed it, so we had an understanding of the language,” she says.
“That is the experience I want my students to remember,” she declares.
When Tessa Northcutt was an MSU undergrad, she auditioned for Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and landed the leading role of Beatrice, who is eventually tricked to confess her love for Benedick.
“That was the beginning of my fascination with Shakespeare,” she confesses.
Besides acting, she is also partial to directing and set design, and her fascination with theater continues through service on the board of Murray’s Playhouse in the Park. She also directs and acts in Murray and in Paducah’s Market House Theater.
Traveling companies from Tennessee Shakespeare and Kentucky Shakespeare are staging performances at MSU as follows:
- Wednesday, March 4: 10 a.m.; Romeo and Juliet (Tennessee Shakespeare)
- Thursday, March 5: 10 a.m.; Romeo and Juliet (Tennessee Shakespeare)
- Friday, March 6: 7 p.m.; The Tempest (Kentucky Shakespeare)
- Saturday, March 7: 2 p.m.; The Tempest (Kentucky Shakespeare)
For more information contact Dr. William R. Jones, who chairs the festival at Murray State University. The phone number is 270-809-2397 and email wjones1@murraystate.edu.
