Category | Arts & Living

Party with the Bard: More fun than you can shake a ’speare’ at

Published on April 28, 2009 by Leah Hale, Mallory Brewer and Heather Cook

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.

They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts”-Act II, Scene VII of “As You Like It.” William Shakespeare coined that phrase, and even though he is dead and gone, his words still live on in our society. Shakespeare turned 445 this year, and KSU celebrated with the third annual Shakespeare birthday party held at the gazebo on April 23.

Shakespeare’s Tavern actors perform a scene from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Legacy Gazebo (above). Dr. Sarah Robbins cuts cake at Shakespeare’s birthday celebration (left). Photos by Mallory Brewer.

The weather was beautiful for the occasion as it was outside in the amphitheater behind the English building. Balloons decorated the Gazebo, and flocks of avid Shakespeare readers and curious passersby gathered to listen to the words of one of history’s finest writers. “Shakespeare was one of those revolutionary writers that you just have to remember,” said Lauren Richey, a sophomore middle grades education major.

Dr. Keith Botelho, assistant professor of English, is the creator and coordinator of the event. His idea came from the man who originally got him hooked on Shakespeare:his undergraduate renaissance professor, Gary Bouchard from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., where they have their own annual birthday party for Shakespeare. “In a way, I put my own spin on the events that I experienced as an undergraduate and made this one my own,” said Botelho. For instance, Bouchard gives student-designed buttons to readers, but Botelho gives out t-shirts. “The shirts seem to be the draw for a lot of people,” Botelho said.

From 10 a.m.-3 p.m., students, teachers, administrators, people from the local community and alumni read all of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. Some readers make their sonnets unique. “I encourage inventiveness,” said Botelho.

This year, several students and faculty members read French or Spanish translations, and students from Acting III (TPS 3243) memorized and performed sonnets during the 10-11 a.m. hour. Jeff Cebulski, lecturer of English, carried on his tradition of setting a sonnet to music. “I challenge him,” said Botelho. “I give Jeff a sonnet and he tries to find music that will go along with it-jazz, usually.”

“Sometimes I find a song that says, in a more modern way, what I think the sonnet actually means,” said Cebulski. “However, sometimes I find something that has a humorous irony to it.” This year, he paired sonnet 8 with “He loves and She loves,” a George Gershwin song, sung by Tony Bennett.

“I think the birthday celebration focuses on the sonnets because they allow many people to participate without formal training in acting,” said Donald Fay, an associate professor of English. “They are 14 lines of the Bard that any student or faculty can practice and deliver.”

The biggest events of the day occurred during the 12-1 p.m. hour. The honorary cake cutter was Executive Assistant to the President Dr. Sarah Robbins, who will be leaving KSU this year. Robbins walked over to the table where two white cakes sat that read “Happy Birthday, Will!” Once everyone was ready, she sliced up generous servings of vanilla-frosted chocolate cake, which drew a line of people.

Dr. Richard Vengroff, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and official cake cutter at past parties, cut the second cake. After cake, six actors from the Shakespeare Tavern performed scenes and monologues from the British playwright’s works, such as “Hamlet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Then the anachronistically-dressed Marietta group, Knightsong, performed, singing acapella renaissance madrigals. One song, “Since Robin hood,” was written about Kemp, one of Shakespeare’s main actors, according to the group. After chants for an encore at the end of their set, Knightsong sang a final non-renaissance song.

“Other than my reading the first and last sonnets and even better readings by students and other faculty, the best part of the celebration will be the noon hour festivities-plays, music, and cake. ‘If music be the food of love, play on!’” Fay said.

Throughout the ceremony, Botelho asked audience members Shakespeare-related questions for which they received prizes if they answered correctly.

The party attracted heavy participation as it has in past years. Since the event lasts around six hours and people mingle in and out, it’s hard to determine the number of attendees, but at noon last year, Botelho counted over 200 people.

Sean Goulding, a junior English major, arrived shortly after the event began. Although he was given Sonnet 31 to read in someone’s place, he was very excited to take it. “I’m very fond of Shakespeare,” Goulding said. “My favorite tragedy is ‘Hamlet’ and my favorite comedy is ‘Taming of the Shrew.’”

“Shakespeare’s birthday has become a big celebration on Kennesaw’s campus and to have so many volunteers reading his historic works is a great auditory event even if I wasn’t participating,” Goulding said. “I thought the event was very well-organized, the décor was wonderful, and many of the participants seemed very prepared and excited to read.”

Another junior English major, Cat Queen, also read some verses of Shakespeare. “I volunteered because Dr. Botelho gave extra credit for reading a sonnet-and I really wanted one of those fabulous shirts,” Queen said. She said she attended the party “to support the English department and all of the hard work I know that Dr. Botelho puts into the party.”

Though Queen has never really been a Shakespeare fan before, she’s becoming one. “The Tempest” is her favorite of his works. Overall, Queen had positive impressions from the event. “It was really neat. I was impressed by the theatre students who recited their sonnets, and by the number of students who volunteered or were otherwise involved-I’m sure Shakespeare would have dug it.”

For Botelho, the celebration is a chance to create a sense of community at KSU, especially among English majors. “It does a couple of things. One, it’s a great end-of-the-year event for English majors and faculty, and two, it works with National Poetry Month. It gets people listening to and reciting poetry,” Botelho said.

“There’s always the hope that we will reach out into the community,” Botelho said. “Every year, community members have come, so it’s not just an English-major event. I’ve talked to the agents of Paula Deen and Alton Brown from the Food Network, who are both Georgia natives, but we’ve never been able to get them in Georgia at the time. That will come down the road.”

Botelho’s own favorite sonnets are 135, often called the “Will Sonnet,” and 122. His favorite play is “The Merchant of Venice.” “There are so many ambiguities,” he said. “You don’t know who to support. You’re constantly questioning what you think you know. I think that’s one of the best things about Shakespeare: He pushes you to the edge, and when you think you know what you’re talking about, he jerks you out of your reality and makes you reconsider.”

According to Fay, “It’s important to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday for many reasons. He contributed words and word usages to the English language that we still use and say. Could we get along without phrases such as ‘a fool’s paradise,’ ‘as good luck would have it,’ ‘good riddance,’ ‘love is blind,’ ’set your teeth on edge,’ or ‘the game is up’? All of these first appeared in Shakespeare. His plays and poems use the largest vocabulary of any known speaker, ranging from street slang to the elevated diction of the universities. His plots show the intricacies of love relationships, family struggles, mistakes in our perception of others, and political intrigue we all experience and desire in our art entertainment. Many a book, movie and television show borrow from Shakespeare’s plot and characters, though rarely with his skill. Contemporary films, such as Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Ran’ based on ‘King Lear’ or the film ‘O’ based on ‘Othello,’ adapt Shakespeare’s plays.”

William Shakespeare’s actual birthday is unknown, although it is highly surmised that it is on April 23. Scholars believe this conclusion because his date of baptism is known (April 26, 1564) and they believe he was born three days prior, which is on St. George’s Day.

Shakespeare is known as England’s national poet and also as “the Bard.” He wrote 154 sonnets and perfected the English sonnet, which is also known as the Shakespearean sonnet. He wrote 38 plays and two narrative poems along with a number of other poems.

After 1594, all of Shakespeare’s plays were performed by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a playing company that was established during the reign of Elizabeth I.

In 1599, the company built The Globe Theater, the stage that is most commonly associated with Shakespeare. The theater, which was built on the south side of the River Thames, caught fire in 1613, and another one was built in the same spot in 1614.