Standing in front of the small but willing crowd, the actor transports his audience to a place created by a brilliant mind, one visited only in the imagination. The actor then metamorphoses into the educator whose command of the topic is so vast, the student yearns to hear more. And then, in playful discourse, the raconteur shares a humorous aside that unites those in attendance in a conspiracy of thought.
These three attributes are embodied in one person – one Stephen Collins whose presentation at the Marion Council on Aging on August 28 held the audience in rapt attention as he brought Shakespeare to life in Marion.
The hour-long presentation that Collins has crafted of the well-known “Bard” is a smoothly woven dissertation. He weaves explanations of Shakespeare’s writing styles into recitations of long evocative passages from his works with clarity and insight.
Collins is himself a commanding figure. Standing over 6 feet tall, he seamlessly moves with superb extemporaneous recall and expressive body posture through Shakespeare’s life with an eloquence honed from years of studying the subject.
Regarding the controversy around whether or not a man named Shakespeare actually wrote the plays we’ve come to know so well, Collins only offers us the arguments while holding back his own conclusions. Instead, he shares how the language of the plays speaks to an author who truly understood human nature and whose brilliance as a storyteller has never been equaled.
Collins said that in Shakespeare’s day – April 23, 1564 to April 23, 1616 – actors directed plays without a “director” guiding them. This is an interesting thought when contrasted against the over-produced and over-directed entertainment we consume today.
Throughout his presentation, Collins took the time to share long passages from Shakespeare, clearly rejoicing in the words or the turn of a phrase we’ve come to accept as Shakespeare and none other.
Collins also delved into how well the author knew human nature as evidenced over and over again in his words.
And then there are the plots and sub-plots, the hundreds of characters the modern world still hungers to indulge in – from Hamlet to Julius Caesar, from The Tempest to Romeo and Juliet.
Of the venues where plays were enacted, Collins said there were four main theaters: The Fortune, The Swan, The Rose, and The Globe. The latter is the one known to have been Shakespeare’s own. These theaters were all situated outside the city limits of London, as there was a bylaw prohibiting them. These historical tidbits added contextual flavor to Collins’ talk.
Collins further explained that during the years of the black plague when theaters were closed, Shakespeare turned his hand to writing sonnets. He said that in an era of expanding human intellect, it was the poet – not the playwright – who was heralded and esteemed. As such, Shakespeare also excelled.
Diving into a Shakespearean play can be a little intimidating to say the least. Yet Collins, who teaches school-aged children to the more ‘ageless’ students, brings the words and the intentions of the words – nay, the very intentions of the author – to vivid life.
Using only a chair, the floor, and his expressive face and hands, Collins acted out bits and pieces of the famous works, reminding all that “…The world is a stage … Men and women are merely the players…”
Collins is pursuing opportunities to bring not only Shakespeare to local councils on aging but also Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, and other great figures from our literary past. He is also developing a new show on the famous painter Whistler.
And if, perchance, you’ve forgotten just how ingrained Shakespeare is to our collective conscientiousness, consider the following that are used freely in common parlance: “break the ice,” “dead as a doornail,” “good riddance,” “in my heart of hearts,” “in my mind’s eye,” or, “love is blind.” Shakespeare all.
To learn more about Stephen Collins, visit www.unlaunchedvoices.com.
By Marilou Newell