Fury in the World

Utah Shakespeare Festival 2018

High School Competition-1st Place

These three devised pieces were created for Utah Shakespeare Festival’s High School Competition.  The process began with exploring current events of the time such as the Charlottesville riots, women’s marches, toxic masculinity, teen suicide, mass shootings, and personal identity.   We combed through hundreds of newspaper and online articles addressing current events.  From these articles we discussed the impact of these events on the individual lives of each of the actors.  We then connected the current events to themes found in Shakespeare.   We discussed how themes found in Taming of the Shrew related to the women’s marches.  We explored how Hamlet’s search for identity and purpose is relevant in today’s society of social media and need for validation. We spent a great deal of time discussing how Shakespeare’s words and ideas were still applicable today.  The script was devised using only lines from Shakespeare’s works.  The movement was devised using Viewpoints, Laban, Rasaboxes, and Image Work based on images and media from the current events.