You might not realise it but you are most likely quoting William Shakespeare every day. Or at least a few times a week. The celebrated English poet and playwright coined words and phrases that entered the bloodstream of the English language and stayed there.
If you refer to being “in a pickle”, well, that’s from The Tempest. “A wild goose chase” is from Romeo and Juliet. If you refer to something being “as dead as a doornail” you are quoting Henry VI, Part 2. And so it goes.
For that and many other reasons William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is worth celebrating. Theatre companies do that still by staging his plays. Some of them mess with the settings with varying amounts of success, but most would not dare mess with the words.
Queensland Theatre, for example, did a brilliant version of Othello last year, setting it in the Torres Strait, which worked a treat. But I was concerned and asked actor Jimi Bani, who was playing the titular role, how true they would be to the text. Very true, he assured me. “We’re still doing Shakespeare!” he insisted. “Thank God,” I replied.
The Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble focuses on his work and The Grin and Tonic Theatre Troupe spreads the gospel of Shakespeare throughout the state. So, The Bard’s work lives on.
And each year 4MBS Classic FM puts on the 4MBS Shakespeare Festival. Running for 17 years, according to 4MBS general manager Gary Thorpe the festival is a mark of the city’s cultural richness. Thorpe is fond of quoting a visitor who once suggested to him that “the mark of a mature city is whether it has Shakespeare in the Park for its citizens”. And we do.
The 4MBS Shakespeare Festival’s productions are presented at the Roma Street Parkland Amphitheatre – a wonderful setting and a relaxed way to enjoy Shakespeare, as long as the weather is kind.
This year, on November 4 and 5, the festival will present The Tempest, one of Shakespeare’s plays mixing comedy and tragedy.
As well as the production itself there is a range of events including the broadcasting of music inspired by The Bard on 4MBS, beginning with Tchaikovsky’s symphonic poem The Tempest. There will also be an afternoon broadcast, The Bard of Avon, featuring a range of music inspired by the plays and sonnets.
On October 29 at New Farm Cinemas there will be a screening of Not to Be, a film telling the story of an eccentric Shakespearean actor, our own legendary Bryan Nason, in his film debut. Nason staged readings of every Shakespeare play in his iconic Clayfield home of 70 years and took productions of the plays around Queensland as the founding director of The Grin and Tonic Theatre Troupe. As well as the film there will be readings and discussion.
The festival will also include a talk, Shakespeare’s Keynote Speeches, by our leading thespian Eugene Gilfedder, who has starred in and directed productions for the festival. The staging of The Tempest will be preceded by demonstrations of swordplay and a talk on Shakespeare’s language by wordsmith professor Roly Sussex.
I have attended a few of these productions. The one that stands out for me is Macbeth. I remember arriving to hear the haunting sound of bagpipes as a prelude. It was terrific.
It’s a real commitment to stage this festival every year and Gary Thorpe says that it is about enriching our lives. “The classics lift us above the mundane, inspire us with their genius,” Thorpe says.
“We’ve been broadcasting great classical music for 44 years and presenting the 4MBS Shakespeare Festival for 17 years. There is a strong connection between music and Shakespeare and over the last 400 years his plays and poetry have inspired more than 20,000 musical compositions. That is significantly more than any other writer.
“He created or used for the first time many hundreds if not thousands of words and phrases that we use to this day. So, Shakespeare remains an integral part of our everyday life.
“We have continued to present the 4MBS Shakespeare Festival to provide a platform for the brilliant talent that we have in Queensland. The MEAA (Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance) recently raised the issue of the difficulty that local actors have in securing roles in Queensland – the 4MBS Shakespeare Festival uses only Queensland talent and has done so for 17 years. This gives Queensland actors the opportunity to perform the major roles – Hamlet, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Henry V, Romeo, Juliet and so many more.
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“This year we are presenting Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a play about revenge, love, freedom, forgiveness and magic. These are themes that are very relevant to today’s world.”
The Tempest will be directed by Xanthe Jones, with an outstanding cast of Brisbane Shakespearean actors including Louise Brehmer as Prospera (that’s a tweak as the character is female in this version), Andrew Hearle as Caliban, Brigitte Freeme as Ariel and Ruby Gudenswager as Miranda.
The first act takes place at sea in a storm conjured by Prospero. Let’s just hope the weather is confined to the stage. Touch wood.
The 4MBS Shakespeare Festival is on Saturday November 4 and Sunday November 5 at the Roma Street Parkland Amphitheatre
brisbaneshakespearefestival.com.au
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