AUK Students Live the Shakespearean Experience

As part of his Shakespeare class, Dr. James Lambert, Assistant Professor of English at AUK, provided the students with hands-on experience in theatre techniques and acting skills by offering them an opportunity to participate in the "Julius Caesar" play performed at the British Embassy earlier in March.

Dr. Lambert's Shakespeare students took a large role in putting together the main evening of the "Julius Caesar" play. They presented their class projects to the audience, they prepared and served Shakespearean era food, and they created and distributed programs for "Julius Caesar" with information on both the play and Shakespeare. Most excitingly, the students had the opportunity to participate in the play themselves as citizens of Rome, and in doing so, greatly increased the number of these citizens on stage, which improved the play tremendously in the eyes of the audience.

"The students planned, prepared, and executed these projects totally on their own. Although I oversaw the assignment itself, all the work was from them. Because of this, some of the students found this to be one of the most rewarding experiences of their college lives." Dr. Lambert commented "I received countless comments from the attendees about the depth of knowledge, enthusiasm, professionalism, and creativity of the students. After all, just imagine walking into the British Embassy, being immediately greeted by five men in authentic Roman garb talking about Roman honor, then being welcomed by "Roman actors," then entering into a festival of food, costumes, paintings, documentaries, and architecture, all put on by AUK students for this class. And this was all before the actual performance began."

Prior to the "Julius Caesar" evening, Dr. Lambert invited Alison Shan Price, Director of One World organization, to give the students a better understanding of Shakespeare's plays and writing style. Price energized the class with a few acting exercises meant to personally involve them in the creation of theatre. Students made their own Roman costumes out of bed sheets and worked on other Shakespeare- themed activities. They also discussed their class projects that they presented at the British Embassy on the three nights of the "Julius Caesar" play.

Price explained how William Shakespeare wrote his plays, saying that Shakespeare always used history to inspire his works. According to Price, as history tends to follow patterns, the presentation of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" at the British Embassy was reflective not only of ancient history, but also the current "Arab Spring" conflict.

According to Dr. Lambert, the students benefitted by carrying out their own research about Roman politics, Shakespearean culture, and performance history in Kuwait, and One World benefitted by having a group of enthusiastic resident scholars to prepare the audience for the show. "It turned out to be an excellent service learning opportunity that, I think, represented well the kind of students we have at AUK.", said Dr. Lambert

"ONE WORLD" is an organization with "multi-cultural artists, performers and designers creating a work of art to present a professional performance" to their audience. They "introduce and sponsor new multi-cultural artistic talent in the entertainment industry. All nationalities are in harmony creating a work of art." Most of their actors are international youth, who teach local actors their skills in acting.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 10th April 2013

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2013