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Learn more about Georgia Shakespeare camps at www.gashakespeare.org/camps
It might seem crazy to try to pull off William Shakespeare's Macbeth or The Tempest with a bunch of third and fifth graders. But for two decades, Georgia Shakespeare has produced the Bard's work, comedic and tragic alike, with elementary school kids in the metro area. "It is a real challenge — no doubt about it," acknowledged Allen O'Reilly, fresh from eight weeks of directing students at Atlanta's Garden Hills Elementary in a production of Much Ado About Nothing. O'Reilly is Georgia Shakespeare's education director and has been an actor with the company for 24 years.
O’Reilly also performs plays for students as young as kindergarten. But the residency — where students transform into the roles of Romeos and Lady Macbeths — is its largest educational program. “To be totally honest, I am not sure how much of the language and ideas the students retain,” O’Reilly said. But all the “dosting” and trickery does not keep the show from going on. “When all is said and done, many students get the Shakespeare bug,” he said. “That is pretty good on our part.”
Q: How do you make Shakespeare relevant to kids in the era of the iPod Touch?
A: The focus of what we do at Georgia Shakespeare is to make the themes and ideas as contemporary as possible. I strive to get students to appreciate the idea that Shakespeare’s language is not foreign, not outside of them, but close to them. Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter, which is patterned after the human heartbeat.
Q: What are you up against with young kids as Shakespearean actors?
A: Getting them to understand what they are saying and not just parroting what the director wants them to say. Getting them to focus — that is tough. Getting them to treat their play experience like another school subject. I strive for that with varying degrees of success.
Q: What do kids bring to Shakespeare that adults don’t?
A: They bring innocence. A lot of us already have stuck in our brain how we should do Shakespeare. Kids don’t have those kinds of preconceived notions. They are not even sure whether Shakespeare is alive or dead but they know his work is important.
Q: How many students sign on because their parents made them?
A: Maybe a good third. For some kids, it beats going to afterschool. If that is how they get into it, great. I hope they come out of it with some appreciation and empowerment.
Q: The students you work with are racially and ethnically diverse. Does that ring true to the work or say anything about Shakespeare?
A: Shakespeare had no color barriers. He never said that Macbeth or Hamlet or Lady Macbeth or Rosalind had to be a certain color. Shakespeare is not limiting like some other playwrights who are very specific about casting. And that is very freeing.
Q: Are there plays you wouldn’t perform with students?
A: Hamlet is not going to work or King Lear or Othello or Richard III. They are too difficult and dense. Romeo and Juliet always seems to work very well.
Q: What do you get out of bringing Shakespeare to students?
A: The payoff for me is when it all comes together. The students always come through no matter what. Somehow.
The Sunday conversation is edited for length and clarity. Writer Ann Hardie can be reached by email at ann.hardie@ymail.com.
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