During Shakespeare’s time, nobles were not the only people who would attend his shows. “Groundlings” and “stinkards,” those who paid as little as a penny, would watch from the pit or outside. Karen Prior concludes, “[There is one ‘commoner’ population to whom Shakespeare can hold special significance: convicts.” There has been an influx of Shakespeare performances in “prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers” in the past few decades. Those categorized as “diehard [Shakespeareans]” may notice how his plays allure criminals. This essay will present the effect of Shakespeare on the prisoners and the adaptation of The Tempest. Laura Bates is the author of Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard. She wrote about her
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“Shakespeare language increases [intelligence.]” The creativity alone not only welcomes and tests the deep structure of “society and human condition.” Hayes makes it clear that “Shakespeare was not meant to be read, but to be heard and spoken. Since many of these prisoners come from oral rather than literate cultures, they have an affinity for the aural nature of Shakespeare’s language.” Prior to Tofteland’s program, he taught Shakespeare’s works to troubled middle school kids. It was then that he noticed the play’s charm to the “marginalized, disenfranchised, and imprisoned.” Hayes “observed these ‘kids, [who have] been told their whole lives that they are stupid and troubled, get hungry for it.’” They starved for the “intellectual, personal, and human challenges” for the oppressed that he provided for hundreds of years. Denise Battista attended the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and viewed a “showing” of Shakespeare Behind Bars (SBB) – a documentary directed by Hank Rogerson. It presents a “Shakespeare troupe” made up of twenty male prisoners confined in Luther Luckett Correctional Complex. The film showed the men performing The Tempest, which tackles issues such as “forgiveness and transformation.” The relationships between the detainees, the cause of their conviction and the topic of the play bodes …show more content…
Tofteland characterizes himself as a “'[craftsman whose work is restorative]'” and it is hence this distraction with recovery consolidated with Shakespeare's loved presentation of the human experience that seems, by all accounts, to be Tofteland's driving power in his adjustment of the plays for the
“Shakespeare language increases [intelligence.]” The creativity alone not only welcomes and tests the deep structure of “society and human condition.” Hayes makes it clear that “Shakespeare was not meant to be read, but to be heard and spoken. Since many of these prisoners come from oral rather than literate cultures, they have an affinity for the aural nature of Shakespeare’s language.” Prior to Tofteland’s program, he taught Shakespeare’s works to troubled middle school kids. It was then that he noticed the play’s charm to the “marginalized, disenfranchised, and imprisoned.” Hayes “observed these ‘kids, [who have] been told their whole lives that they are stupid and troubled, get hungry for it.’” They starved for the “intellectual, personal, and human challenges” for the oppressed that he provided for hundreds of years. Denise Battista attended the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and viewed a “showing” of Shakespeare Behind Bars (SBB) – a documentary directed by Hank Rogerson. It presents a “Shakespeare troupe” made up of twenty male prisoners confined in Luther Luckett Correctional Complex. The film showed the men performing The Tempest, which tackles issues such as “forgiveness and transformation.” The relationships between the detainees, the cause of their conviction and the topic of the play bodes …show more content…
Tofteland characterizes himself as a “'[craftsman whose work is restorative]'” and it is hence this distraction with recovery consolidated with Shakespeare's loved presentation of the human experience that seems, by all accounts, to be Tofteland's driving power in his adjustment of the plays for the