By Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO — On the first Seder night, I hung in there through the Fourth Cup and Chad Gadya. Then I was up bright and early the next morning for the 2019 Student Shakespeare Festival compliments of the San Diego Shakespeare Society. Both the society and the festival were the brainchild of the late Alex Sandie.
Alex came to San Diego from Scotland with a great love of the arts and an infectious optimism for the potential of young people. Alex was in ICU during last year’s festival and passed shortly thereafter. So the torch has passed to his daughter Lisa. She later told me that she read him my article and that it gave him a smile.
Young people from around the county –under the guidance of their drama teachers- give a variety of presentations. They can be scenes, collages, monologues, sonnets and even interpretive dances. Popular choices come from Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tempest, and Romeo and Juliet. I had to chuckle at the boys playing Romeo. From the text, he’s clearly trying to kiss Juliet, but for a boy who’s never kissed a girl, this is rather daunting.
Costumes were an array of period gowns and doublets with sneakers. In one scene from Midsummer Night’s Dream, the boys were sporting frilly tux shirts and plastic swords. (I later gave them a few pointers on their swordplay.) Plus, there was some cross-dressing. In Elizabethan England, it was immoral -and therefore illegal- for women to appear onstage, so young men played female roles. That’s why Shakespeare didn’t write nearly as many roles for women. Today, you always have more girls than boys in drama class, so girls play male roles. This year’s festival featured a few boys in drag who weren’t a bit bashful.
In the performances, there was the usual nervous energy manifested in fidgeting, meandering and rapid delivery. But our standout winner of the Buckingham Monologues was Paulina Achar, a young lady who was laser focused on her role as Hamlet. Another hands-down winner of the day was Scott Ruth, a ten-year old boy with a sparkle beyond his years. I was duly impressed with his penitent monologue of Clarence from Richard III.
One well-presented collage was called “Crazy Women of Shakespeare” featuring Ophelia, Lady Macbeth and Titania. While it detracted from the tragedy of a nervous breakdown, the presentation was tight and the kids had a blast.
Another category is Bi-Lingual. You would think that the Spanish Immersion School would take advantage of this, but they only presented in English. However, I saw a Lady Macbeth code switch between English and Portuguese with great alacrity and there were some clever choices made with American Sign Language.
The kids had a lot of heart, but what they did not have were microphones. Just days prior to the event, Balboa Park decided to pull a fast one and deny us the use of power this year. And the society had neither the time nor the budget to come with four generators for separate stages. So the kids had to project, but they were competing with the usual busy tourist traffic and buskers. My notes to several of them were that I simply couldn’t hear a word.
So the Student Shakespeare Festival is looking for a new home, preferably a venue that’s less crowded and more accommodating. Let’s keep this going. It’s a wonderful opportunity for these kids to learn, work together, take direction, be creative, play dress up and blow off steam all at the same time. Let’s be the people that help them make memories they’ll cherish for the rest of their lives.
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com