Last week, seniors who take English on campus at McIntosh were offered the opportunity to see a live production of a Renaissance play performed at the Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta.

Departing the school at 8:30 in the morning, dozens of seniors traveled to Atlanta to watch the production of William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear. Albeit from a variety of classes, including AP Literature and Composition, British Literature, and Dramatic Writing, students generally enjoyed seeing the visual representation of the play.

“Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be watched,” said senior Robert Palla. “[…] viewing the dramatic tragedy in person allows the amplification of the emotion.”

Palla found this to hold particularly true with the scenes involving character complexities. Palla says that he gained “a newfound interpretation of Edmund” and “from his soliloquies to the tone portrayed by his actor, I was finally able to see Edmund in a new light.”

Beyond the thematic depth, Palla comments that a live-viewing is generally enjoyable, especially “the sword-fight [that] was surprisingly intense and realistic.”

Senior Courtney Salter articulated similar views as to the importance of truly feeling Shakespeare. In live performances, “you really get to experience what the playwright was trying to portray.” This additional insight allowed Salter to “further understand the meaning of the play.”

Andrea Lakly, who brought her two AP Lit classes to the production and generally organized the field trip, also shared her opinion that “the Shakespeare Tavern gives our students the opportunity to see how exciting and fun Shakespeare can really be.”

Lakly said that “I have done a lot of taking kids to the Shakespeare Tavern” and recounted her experiences with Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Tempest, King Lear, and hopefully more to come.