QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
- What do you think “the whole world is a play house” means? What does it mean to you?
- The motto of the Globe Theatre was “Totus mundus agit histrionem”, which translates to “the whole world is a play house”. A similar phrase, "All the world's a stage" was said by William Shakespeare in one of his comedy plays, As You Like It. I think it means that every aspect of life can be captured in a story. That each part of life has significance and worth in telling a story. Also that it’s not about the setting, lights, or costumes and makeup, but rather a nicely written story and talented actors to create an effective performance.
- Do you enjoy comedies, tragedies, or histories more? Why?
- I enjoy tragedies most because it captures the perspective of human struggle, and it allows people to see an extreme scenario of human conflict. I do love comedies and histories too, because I think there is always something everyone can connect to, however I find I am most commonly drawn to tragedy stories.
- What intrigues you most about Shakespearean theater? What questions do you still have about Shakespeare?
- I am stunned by how renowned and influential Shakespeare is still today. The fact that his works are timeless and still relevant to our time is completely impressive. I am also amazed at how popular theatre and the arts were back in that time. I realize that the Renaissance was a time of intellectual and political rebirth, especially in the fine arts, but I still find it difficult to imagine this as a core part of the culture back in the day. I am very fascinated by how he expressed new ideas by neologizing, in other words inventing new words or phrases or deriving them from other languages. I continue to wonder how people understood him if he created too many new words and phrases.
- Which of Shakespeare’s influences to you connect to most?
- I connect to Shakespeare’s influence to the evolution of the English language. Neologism is very fascinating to me and it was unknowingly a huge part of my daily life and culture. Constantly our language is changing to fit the needs of our modern day expression. For example the word “friend” used to be only known as a noun, but now due to social media playing a big role in our society is now widely known also as a verb. Learning about how Shakespeare use neologism has made me more aware of the silly words or phrases our brain makes up to express more specific ideas.
- Why did you choose the product that you did?
- I chose to create a ballpoint pen for the people of Elizabethan England because the writing implements they used back then were quills, which are a rather difficult utensil to master. Although many laborers were illiterate, many gentlemen were literate and with literature becoming of huge importance in the Renaissance, more people began to write. Before the printing press was invented, scribes had to copy down the original version of a book by hand. Imagine copying the bible down several times by hand. Quills were hard to use because the way to write with a quill was a whole other art on its own, called calligraphy. Calligraphists had to learn how to control the thickness of their letters and avoid the ink from spilling or bleeding across the parchment. So we gave the people of the Renaissance the ballpoint pen so they don't have to worry about the ink spilling or letters being to thick in their writing.
- Is there one aspect of Shakespeare’s theater you wish we had today? Why or why not?
- I wish that theatre was as big of a deal as it was back during the Renaissance. Nowadays plays are only known to be seen by the upper class of society. I wish that theatre was as interactive and cheap as it was at the Globe Theatre. Now that there are other forms of storytelling, such as motion pictures, plays have become almost obsolete except in the higher class of scholars and intellectuals.