{"id":9314,"date":"2022-10-05T21:53:23","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T02:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=9314"},"modified":"2023-02-21T12:21:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T18:21:38","slug":"the-spectacular-shakespeare-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=9314","title":{"rendered":"The Spectacular Shakespeare Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

The oft-cheered Ryan from TheatreSquared performs a rap at the end of “The Shakespeare Show.” The rap received rapturous applause. Photo by Phillip Zawislak.<\/em><\/p>\n

When all four grades filed into the auditorium, they expected to hear some sort of performance about Shakespeare. What they didn’t\u00a0 expect to see was a well-thought-out, consistently funny show that kept them entertained for an entire class period.<\/span><\/p>\n

The performance, called \u201cThe Shakespeare Show,\u201d was\u00a0presented by TheatreSquared, a theater company based in Northwest Arkansas. The show was as part of\u00a0TheatreSqured’s\u00a0in-school tour; the company performs to students at no cost to the school due to support from private companies, the Arkansas Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.<\/span><\/p>\n

The student response to the performance was overwhelmingly positive, with raucous applause from the more than 300 students at each of the two showings. The performance, which detailed the tragedies of Shakespeare in an abridged 45-minute format, began with Romeo and Juliet. A \u201cTED Talk\u201d explanation of iambic pentameter followed, with \u201cThe Scottish Play\u201d \u2014 also known as Macbeth <\/em>claiming a few minutes of stage time.\u00a0\u00a0Antony and Cleopatra<\/em> also received its own brief description. Due to not having time for a detailed explanation of every single Shakespearean tragedy, there was a brief death montage in SparkNotes<\/em> style, followed by an explanation of Hamlet<\/em>. This abridged version of Hamlet<\/em> was preceded by a note to the audience on the importance of the play, and concluded with a fight scene that brought members of the\u00a0audience up onto the stage, most of whom played dead characters. Finally, with just a few minutes to go, the cast performed a rap on William Shakespeare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n