From Abroad: Shakespeare Plays as the World Shakes
by Blake Rehberg

Coming to London, it had been suggested that I write a column, but it’s been done and I wasn’t sure I would find enough that I wanted to write about. Now I could probably fill three columns and still go on, so I will have to be selective.
On Tuesday, we went to see Cymbeline at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I simply couldn’t resist writing about it.
A lot of research went into recreating the open-air Globe Theatre as it would have looked in Shakespeare’s time. The three tier circle galleries are framed with hand carved green oak. To my discomfort the seats were simple wooden benches. The only lighting that had been added was sparse overhead lighting for safety reasons and basic wash lighting on the stage to make night performances possible. By far the most impressive feature of the theater was the pit in front of the stage where the groundlings stand. Standing in this pit you are mere feet from the stage and the performers.
The theater allowed an interaction between the actors and members of the audience that is simply not part of modern theater. Through the show, birds would occasionally fly down to different parts of the theater. At one point in the show, there was a bustle among the groundlings as it began to rain. These characteristics unique to the Globe added a great deal to the show.
Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare’s later plays, and apparently one of his less respected. When my roommate and I stayed up the night before reading the entire play, we found out why. Although the first several acts are quite good, Act Five is quite a different story. If you were being nice you would simply say that the action was fantastical; I will say that it bordered on ludicrous. There were some uncharacteristically poor lines for Shakespeare, although we did find them very amusing at one o’clock in the morning, still recovering from jet lag. Oh yeah, there was also that bottle of red wine…
In brief, the play is about Cymbeline, king of the Britons and a contemporary of Augustus Caesar. There is, of course, all the regular drama surrounding the royal family that accompanies so many Shakespearean plays: a queen attempting to poison everyone and sieze control of the throne; two men, Posthumus and Cloten, who both want Cymbeline’s daughter Imogen; as well as a Roman invasion.
The play was performed by six actors who switched roles and wore white suits, but despite the limited cast and costuming choice, the quality of the acting carried the play beautifully. Mark Rylance, who played both Posthumus and Cloten, performed excellently and got a superb crowd reaction from his antics. Having been skeptical after the reading of the play, I found that my assumptions were wrong as the actors carried on beautifully. It was quickly becoming apparent that this was going to be a truly wonderful experience.
The first three acts came to the conclusion and there was a brief intermission. I took the opportunity to climb to the top gallery to marvel at the theater. That done, I mingled with other Oberlin students in the courtyard outside until the ringing of a hand-bell signalled the action was about to start again.
We took our seats as the actors appeared on stage forming a line. Then Rylance came forward carrying a couple sheets of paper. He spoke to us not as Posthumus or Cloten but as himself. He mentioned that Cymbeline is the last play in Shakespeare’s folio, and how the last word of Cymbeline was “peace,” reminding us that Shakespeare ends his collection of plays with this idea.
He then told us about the events in New York and Washington D.C. He asked us to think about peace as we had a moment of silence. There was then a pause when at least 20 Americans left the theatre. We could have left but being so far away we knew there was nothing we could have done anyway.
They continued with the second half of the play. I found my thoughts going in and out of focus. There were times when I would look into Rylance’s face as he was making some speech about death or peace and wonder what he was thinking about. Everybody there shared in the experience. One of the actors was visibly distressed and crying before they started back up. As they concluded the play the word “peace” seemed to hang in the air.
The actors left and people started filing out; I sat there, silent. We went as a group back to our teaching center and watched the television and talked together. Those with family and friends near the danger did their best to get through on the busy telephone lines.
Recovering from this tragedy will take much time, but I know that in 20 years when someone asks me where I was when I heard the news I will always remember I was at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre watching Cymbeline.