Professor Peters Makes Shakespeare Accessible, Modern

Tuesday, November 08, 2016
GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- Because of the extensive length of the original Shakespearean text, adaptations were made by Peters to assure the play was performed under a few hours and presented in a way that still made cohesive sense. “You’re losing a heart or a lung here, it’s not a minor operation,” Peters said. “You begin kind of stitching things together, maybe putting things slightly out of sequence, maybe assigning part of a speech to another character and gradually try to make those cuts seamless so that the story keeps developing.” “The Winter’s Tale” is sometimes described as a “problem play” because it is neither a tragedy nor a comedy. “It’s all about truth, reconciliation, redemption and seeing hope in the midst of something that at first glance seems totally hopeless,” Peters said. Peters teaches acting, directing, playwriting and Shakespeare in performance at SF State. In addition to adapting the original text for this production, he also served as Shakespeare consultant.
Feed