Globe to Globe

While we were flat hunting, building furniture, and moving house, there was a rather unique event at Shakespeare's Globe as part of the London 2012 Festival.  It was called Globe to Globe.  For six weeks, all 37 of Shakespeare's plays were performed by 37 companies from all over the world in 37 languages.  I had serious doubts about this idea when I first heard it.  But experiencing it was amazing.  I only saw 3 plays: Henry VI Part 2  by the National Theatre of Albania in Albanian, Coriolanus by Chiten in Japanese, and Hamlet by Meno Fortas in Lithuanian.  My beloved as you might expect saw many more.  And based on her reports of her experiences, they were even better than mine

I am afraid that the production value of Henry VI Part 2 was not up to the level you would expect at such an event.  But the experience was still utterly enjoyable.  It helps to have a Shakespearean scholar spouse to give a quick synopsis on the way to the theatre, especially when you don't speak Albanian. We stood in the yard right against the stage (photo) and I pounded my fist on the boards shouting 'Jack Cade! Jack Cade!' along with the actors during the uprising scene.  Thankfully, 'Jack Cade' in Albanian is 'Jack Cade'.  It was great fun.  There was a small contingent of Albanians in the audience and you could see the pride in the actors faces when they waved their Albanian flags.  It was magical to see the power of getting to perform Shakespeare's work in their own language in that replica of the space so close to where it happened for real hundreds of years earlier.  You could feel it in the air.  

Coriolanus on the other hand was amazing in terms of production value.  One actor played Coriolanus while everyone else was played by the same four actors.  But unlike Rylance's incoherent Tempest, the role sharing in this production worked marvelously.  The four players were part individual actors, part chorus complete with masks, and part modern dance ensemble taking on thought-provoking abstract forms and movements that somehow went perfectly with and became part of the plot.  I cannot say enough about this production.  It was superb.

The last play I saw was Hamlet.  The repeated use of ice in the production was very clever.  They smashed stuff covered in ice for auditory effect, and there was stuff with ice in it or on it that melted for visual effect.  I suspect that this effect will be much copied.  This production also used other material props to clever audio-visual effect as well.  And because these numerous large props were stored on stage, this was the first production I have ever seen at the Globe where I was not constantly distracted from what was happening on stage by the Globe's needlessly punitive volunteer stewards policing the audience.  I couldn't see them at all: the stored props blocked my view of them!  It was a bold choice though because the props also blocked my view of the action on stage.  But it was worth finally experiencing a Globe production without omnipresent  stewards upstaging the actors. And the bits of performance that I managed to glimpse between the awkwardly stored props was quite good.  I wish there was a way I could have seen more of it.  

Globe to globe was amazing because not only did I get to see Shakespeare in the context of different cultures… it seems unlikely that I would get to see these three companies in a typical lifetime… I also got to see them do it on that hallowed ground.  And because the companies attracted people who shared the cultural heritage of the company on stage, each performance was a little cultural pride / appreciation event via the vehicle of Shakespeare.  I suspect that the cultural contributions within each of these companies' typical performance venues are probably taken for granted.  Adding new cultural ingredients to the already mystical location that the new Globe represents is what made this event so special.  It was nothing short of amazing.  Thank you Shakespeare's Globe for such a wonderful event.