The Students and the Bard
May 30, 2008
Delmar-Harvard
students recently enjoyed a performance of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream by the Shakespeare Festival St. Louis theater company.
The group was formed with the mission of producing professional
Shakespeare, outdoors in a city park, free, and for a diverse
audience. They also provide drama performances and classes
for students. DH students have been fortunate to see several
of the group’s performances in years past.
Is Shakespeare relevant to elementary students? Isn’t it hard to understand?
Terrell’s (4th grade) opinion seemed to be representative of many students’: he thought it was confusing at first but then it was really funny.
A group of 6th grade girls (Aries, Anta, Janisha, La’Darra) thought it was kind of boring, but definitely had its funny moments. While explaining about one character who put on a curly wig to impersonate a woman, they all spontaneously broke into a sing-song chant from the presentation: “Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?” Ah, yes, the play is about love.
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” noted a character in the play. He apparently would have agreed with Armon (2nd grade) who commented: “I thought it was interesting how everybody fell in love with the wrong person.”
His classmate Safiya added: “It made you want to imagine what it would be like to be at a Shakespeare play in real life (back in Shakespeare’s time).”
Fourth grader Sam gave me gave the most succinct review: he gave an unqualified thumbs-up.
The Shakespeare Festival St. Louis is currently performing “The Tragedy of King Richard the Third” in Forest Park through June 15. http://www.sfstl.com
