Redditch

Shakespeare

Group Leader: Sylvia Edwards

This group is currently at its maximum capacity but we are drawing up a waiting list so that we may start a further group up when it is viable. Please make contact through the link to register your interest.

The Shakespeare Group meets to explore one of Shakespeare’s plays, chosen by the members. Ideally, we choose a play where it will be possible to watch a production, either live at Stratford or a live screening at a local cinema. Members arrange their theatre visits independently, to suit their own schedule, although we have sometimes attended live screenings as a group.

Although the group is led by a former teacher, it is not so much a study group as a discussion group where every member has their own perspective and insights to contribute. The leader learns as much from the discussion as the other members!

We focus on one act per session, reading some scenes together and watching excerpts from past productions.

We have studied a range of plays: ’Twelfth Night’, ‘Measure for Measure’, ‘Troilus and Cressida’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘The Winter’s Tale’ and ‘Richard III’. Each play has its own themes and challenges: the historical background; the place of women - and servants - in Shakespeare’s society; the improbability of a supposedly-dead wife surfacing as a statue in the garden; the impulse to commit evil acts and the lure of power, for example.

The group does not meet continuously, having short gaps between plays, but as there remain many plays as yet un-explored, we should have plenty of material for years to come!