MA Shakespeare Studies: Reflections on February
MA Shakespeare student Allison Dillon looks back on February.
Every Wednesday evening, right after the sun sets, the MA Shakespeare students gather together for a plenary lecture called a twilight session. Throughout the week we move through London at different times and speeds, in different classes and spaces, but on Wednesdays we all gather to learn together. The twilight sessions are led by guest lecturers, who can be scholars, actors, composers, writers, directors, or any other person whose work relates to Shakespeare or the early modern stage. The variety of the twilight sessions enriches and broadens our educational experience at the Globe while allowing us to connect with faculty and educators outside of our program. Each lecture challenges us to think in a new way.
Despite the grey skies and
bitter air, the MA Shakespeare students had a February full of great mirth and
rich matter. Our first session of the month
was lead by Dr. Erin Sullivan from The Shakespeare Institute who spoke on
concepts of early modern emotion and biology. Early moderns believed that the four
humors (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm) would fluctuate in the body,
causing diseases, disorders, and an alteration of one’s temperament. In order
to be healthy and stable one required a balance of the humors and a steadiness
of emotion. Evidence of these beliefs can be located in many works of
Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Hamlet’s melancholy, Katherine’s shrewish
temper, or Bardolph’s splotchy red face can all be examined through the lens of
humoral theory. Erin’s lecture was fascinating and supplied us with a new
method of reading characters and emotion in early modern drama.
The following week we met with actor and Globe Education Practitioner Colin Hurley for a workshop on the Globe stage. The absence of shows in the outdoor space during the winter months allows educational groups some time to play and learn on the stage. Colin regaled us with stories of performing Shakespeare at the Globe and directed our attention to the beautiful idiosyncrasies of the space. Shakespeare’s Globe is a unique structure that provides actors with possibilities that don’t exist in other theatres. The ability to perform down to the groundlings, up through the galleries, and out into the sky is magical and invigorating. After giving us a chance to explore the space, Colin had us split into pairs and perform a short scene from Hamlet. One partner read for Hamlet and the other Polonius. Colin lead us through a few exercises that explored different character motivations, tactics, and movements within the scene. Many of the Shakespeare MA students had little or no experience performing and enjoyed discovering how much we can learn from putting a Shakespearean text on its feet.
Our third and final twilight session of the month was with Dr. Matthew Dimmock from the University of Sussex. Matthew spoke about early modern concept of otherness. We discussed the diversity of race, religion, language, and status that existed in Elizabeth’s England. Matthew had us look at excerpts from plays like Othello and Henry IV Part I and asked us to interrogate the way otherness was portrayed and manipulated. He also brought in short play that none of us had seen before. It was a short and funny piece about a letter from the Emperor of China addressed to the Queen and was likely performed for Elizabeth at court. It’s always exciting when we are introduced to new and relatively unstudied material. It’s a great reminder that, even though we are working with some of the best-known pieces of literature in the history of the world, there is still plenty of exciting work and fascinating research to be done in the area of early modern theatre.
February was a short, but full month for the Shakespeare MAs. Our guest lecturers left of with lots of new information that will continue to shape our research as we complete our courses and begin our dissertations. Coming together for these remarkable meetings has been a highlight of our year at the Globe. And an added bonus of the twilight sessions is that afterwards we can discuss all of the new information we learned over a pint at the Swan. Cheers!
Find out more about our MA in Shakespeare Studies, a unique collaboration between Shakespeare’s Globe and King’s College London.