Dear —
I am in a church, and we are about to do an impromptu Shakespeare performance. I ask the other cast members, "Do you remember your lines from the scenes I gave you?" I answer for them, "Bits and pieces, like me." I tell them Jason Isaacs is going to be there and may join in. Then I see Kenneth Branagh among the group. "No, not Jason Isaacs," I say, "Kenneth Branagh. How embarrassing, and he's here and heard me say it!" I have a long beige cloak, and I will wear it for the start of this play, as Prospero.
This was the dream from which I awoke early this morning.
Sometimes these beautiful revelations come along. And this one must have been conjured because I saw Russell Brand's one man show, Our Little Lives, via live streaming yesterday evening. There, he shares what Shakespeare means to him and to all of us, and I heard new colours in the speeches I know so well, and in some I don't, such as when Brand did a speech of Aufidius from Coriolanus.
Were I to do a one-man show about what Shakespeare means to me, I would surely include his famed "All the world's a stage" speech. The opening lines are almost a panacea for the human condition...
"All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances..."
How does our perspective shift when we see this entire world as a theatre, in which everything is make-believe? How do we now regard the things that made us afraid? For example, the character of Laertes in Hamlet must be in great fear when he realizes he has been scratched by the poisoned blade he intended for Hamlet, realizes his life is over, regrets his own act of treachery. But the actor who plays him lives after the drama is over, just as he lived before it began.
Just as we shall live off-theatre, unconfined by the parameters of time and space that define this mortal play.
And how do we now regard our old battles? After the curtain closes, the two actors who played the mortal enemies of Hamlet and Laertes may celebrate together at a cast party and congratulate each other on how well each played his part.
For villains serve heroes, as antagonists serve protagonists. And all serve the plot. Villains bring forth the courage of heroes, goad them to find strengths they did not know they had.
So, villainy as service, huh? Yes. Harry needs Voldemort, Batman needs Joker, Luke Skywalker needs Darth Vader and, closest to my heart, Elijah needs Jezebel as Moses needs Pharaoh. And, dare I say it, Christ needs Satan? I have played both hero and villain, on stage as well as off. From this viewpoint, 'Good' and 'Evil' are mere playthings.
Well, that's all for today. If you'd like more on any of the above, you'll find it in Elijah, Jezebel's Lament, and A Better Eden.
"Your loves as mine to you." (To quote Shakespeare, as I often do.)
Abdiel
Website: PoetProphet.com
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