This week has been a strange one. It is no doubt a wonderful and perilous feeling to know that the thesis you have proposed your research on has not only been approved by all the professors who have read it, but that it is deemed worthy as an innovative and original plan for exploration into the world of Shakespearean theatre by those very professors. Today, this quality was punctuated by the fact that Greg Doran, the Artistic Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, came to speak at the Shakespeare Institute. In attendance were all of my professors, and some Shakespearean notables of literature and stage fame. Here is where it gets weird... I feel like a complete pompous ass when I talk about meeting Shakespearean celebrity. As a particular TV personage once spoke so eloquently, "What's the opposite of name-dropping?" This of course implying that the name just spoken was not quite so famous as the speaker first thought it was.
It takes a minute or so for people to react when I say that I am getting a PhD. in Shakespeare. The most given response to that has been, "That is so cool!" And everyone who has said that, has meant it. I got a similar response in talking to one of my classmates today, when he asked what my PhD. will be written about. It seems to be a "go-to" answer of sincerity. The insincere answer of course being, "Well done you."
My point in mentioning this is that everyone has heard of Shakespeare, and fewer everyones have heard of Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's Hometown), and even fewer than every person in the world has heard of the Royal Shakespeare Company. So, when I say that Greg Doran, the Artistic Director of the RSC, came to speak at the Institute today, that made me feel like we were being graced by a freakin' rockstar. Michael Dobson was interviewing him for the Institute Lecture Series, and yes, I mean the same Michael Dobson that is a general editor for the Cambridge Complete Works, and the head of the Institute. Who, incidentally, is also the professor who has said that he will try to get Peter Hall or John Barton to come in to speak to our class. He was even serious, I think.
I think the expression is "geeking out."
When I met with my adviser this week, she mentioned that I should be trying to interview as many actors and directors as I can, as well as stage designers to get a well-rounded bit of research for my thesis. One of the designers that she casually mentioned was, Tom Piper, who is an Associate Designer at the RSC. Incidentally, on the RSC website Tom's name falls directly under Rupert Goold's and David Farr's (two other esteemed Shakespearean personages of note.) She said that I should meet with Mr. Piper and discuss my thesis, and actually talk with someone who thinks the same way I do about theatrical design. A bit of context is needed I think, let's see... when Sam Mendes directs stage productions of Shakespeare, he calls Mr. Piper. Please, for the love of god, tell me you have heard the name of the guy who directed 'Skyfall' and 'American Beauty', amongst many others.
The point I'm trying to make here is that I am in a place now, that seeing all of these people walking about getting groceries, and drinking at the local pub... is normal, and it is just this past week that it started to sink in. In NYC, seeing Woody Allen, Tim Robbins, and Spike Lee was something every New Yorker accepts... I guess when I get used to seeing Shakespearean cognoscenti 'round these parts, I'll finally be a resident. Though I'm not sure that I could ever feel comfortable name-dropping them to people outside this little burgh.
When David Tennant gets here in the fall, I'm not sure how I'll handle it... though I'm sure I'll be between casually wanting to interview him for my thesis and wanting to photograph him inside an actual phone box outside the RSC, which I will have painted blue for the occasion.
Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give
all my
fame for a pot of ale, and safety. -- Henry V, III, ii.
Year 1, Day 123 -- Words Written: 0.
No comments:
Post a Comment