This week’s profile is on Julia Pugliese, a sophomore English and Secondary Education Major and Creative Writing Minor. Over winter break, Julia spent time in England taking a Winter Term class – British Theatre. Her trip went from December 27th to January 17th. While there, she read seven plays: The Rover, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, This House, Two Noble Kinsmen, Much Ado about Nothing, Love’s Labours Lost, and The Tempest. After reading each play, the students would then see them performed live in a British theater.
Additionally, the students had scheduled time every day to visit different British monuments. They went to the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Hampton Court Palace, Windsor Castle, The Houses of Parliament, the Globe Theatre and beyond. They also went to Stratford-upon-Avon for five days to visit places like Shakespeare’s birthplace, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, and the Royal Shakespeare Company where they participated in acting workshops as well as saw plays performed there at nighttime. Though the class was largely based around Shakespeare, (they even went on a walking tour around London to see a bunch of places he had regularly gone to when he was alive!) there was a lot more to see beyond that. They visited places of royalty, of importance, and filled with British history. They were led throughout their journey by a guide named Greer. “She was twenty-three, with pink and green hair and a huge smile to greet us always,” Pugliese said.
The course was led by Dr. Steele and Dr. Steinberg. There were 16 students, including Julia. Not every student was an English major, in fact, a good amount weren’t. There were students ranging in age from sophomores to seniors, so the student body on the trip was diverse.
“As an English major, I have always worked a lot with Shakespeare. Despite this, I still feel disassociated from his work,” Pugliese said. “This class made him become a real person, not just a guy who writes long-winded plays.” Julia said the plays came to life before her, as she understood the jests and double meanings when had the ability to see the grins on the actors’ faces. “I was transported—I couldn’t believe I hadn’t picked up on certain quips, hadn’t seen the connection earlier between certain characters,” she said. “Shakespeare is always difficult—but by seeing the plays as well as getting the background of the history of England during the time he wrote them, and through seeing the influences of his life, I began to get a clearer picture of Shakespeare and his literature.” Julia said she developed a newfound respect and admiration for him, “as I imagined the bustling streets of London and him strolling along in his puffy pants with his feather pen ready.”
Julia’s favorite part of the trip was the RSC workshop. During this workshop, there was a member of the RSC who went through some of the plays with the group, talking about lines and what they had seen in the live production. Then the woman gave the students the scripts and has them act out the scenes with a different set of instructions. Julia explained that one character would move while the other would stand still. They would scream the words, then act it out by whispering the words. They did an exercise where they crumpled a piece of paper and whoever had the paper in their hand would be the speaker. When it came time in the script for another person to speak, they could either hand the paper over, throw it at them, or wait for them to take it.
“It showed the power dynamic through characters that I hadn’t noticed before,” Pugliese said. She explained that certain characters were snatching the paper while others were refusing it when it was being handed to them. “It taught me that there is so much a director can do with a production. Power struggles I hadn’t noticed in the written play were apparent in the production, as the words came to life in facials and body language,” Pugliese said. This allowed Julia to think about how much artistic license a director has—how much is too much? Is there a such thing as too much? Which aspects of the live production could change the meaning of the play?
“Originally, I had gone into this class excited to learn about Shakespeare and literature. I came out of this class with a newfound knowledge and curiosity about drama in particular. I also have a broader concept of British culture and world culture. There were so many things that was done differently in England than in the United States. Rather than assuming everything we do is right, I started seeing things I wished we did differently, as well as things that would only work for England,” Julia said. “Culture is meant to be unique, and it is incredible to see the different way of life that exists in England. I’d love to go back!”
Photographs courtesy of Julia Pugliese