We all know the story of the Emperors new Clothes.  The “more money than he knows what to do with” Emperor wants the finest pair of clothing ever made.  His tailors, asking for more and more money for material, tell the Emperor that they have created a fabric so fine and sophisticated that only truly intelligent and educated people can see it.  The tailors show the supposed fabric to the king.  Of course the king sees nothing, but rather than be thought less than intelligent he pretends to see a truly wonderful fabric.  Likewise on the day he parades his “finery” through the street, the people ooh and ah over how magnificent the suit is.  Their secret objective is to be thought intelligent and sophisticated.  One young child sees that the king is naked and says so for all to hear.
  Children are infamous for stating the naked truth, or more appropriately, the falsely clothed truth.  This is why most kids hate Shakespeare, why they call it boring.  Ninety five percent of all Shakespeare productions suck.  The text is beautiful; it’s the killing of the text in most productions that I object to.
British director Peter Brook, in his essay on the Deadly Theatre states:
 …secretly we find it excruciatingly boring – and in our hearts we either blame Shakespeare, or theatre as such, or even ourselves.  To make matters worse there is always a deadly spectator, who for special reasons, enjoys a lack of intensity and even a lack of entertainment.  Such as the scholar who emerges from routine performances of the classics smiling because nothing has distracted him from trying over and confirming his pet theories to himself, whilst reciting his favorite lines under his breath.  In his heart he sincerely wants a theatre that is nobler-than-life and he confuses a sort of intellectual satisfaction with the true experience for which he craves.
 We, in contemporary western society, likewise confuse the act of theatre with the formal and elitist ritual of sitting in a darkened space with our hands crossed politely in our lap.  Here’s a news flash: theatre has been on a downward spiral for longer than any of us have been around.  Not because humanity has lost its appreciation for theatre; but because theatre has lost its appreciation for humanity.  Theatre is not supposed to honor a long dead poet, it is supposed to honor its audience.  Not by telling it what it should strive for, but giving its audience the tools for striving.  It’s the difference between showing a farmer a beautiful field of crops, and giving him a shovel and seeds.   I’m not saying don’t do Shakespeare, I am saying don’t do Shakespeare for Shakespeare’s sake.  He can no longer benefit from it; we, however, can.  If you want to see an example of what I’m talking about go and see Company 13s production of Mid Summer Night’s Dream.
Company 13 is made up of recent graduates and current students of the Towson University undergraduate theatre program; none of them are over 25.  Their Mid Summer is not historical, it does not attempt to “re-create” any element of classical theatre, and it is far from boring.  The company members take great pleasure in their hard work.  They are producing theatre that is joyous.   What’s even more interesting is that they are so young they don’t even know what they  have stumbled upon.  They have rediscovered the true nature of theatre through their own joy of life and joy of performing.  It is a testament to their training and their self-respect.
If you want to re-confirm your pet theories, there are any number of Shakespeare productions you can see in any given month, but if you want to have fun, go and see this production.  Their innocence will charm you, their talent will surprise you and their production just might change your mind about Shakespeare.  In fact it just might change your mind about theatre.
The Production takes place in the courtyard of the Towson University Center for the Arts.  It runs August 9-11 and 16-18 at 8pm.  This is the inaugural production of Company 13.  Its members are too modest to even charge admission but I hope you will leave a donation.  I’m sure the Theatre department will be happy to give you directions.  410-704-2792.

  -Joel Mason is the artistic director of Liminal Theatre.  He attended the graduate program in theatre at Towson where he is currently a part time faculty member.