Purchasing my groundling
ticket for the Shakespeare’s Globe performance of “Julius Caesar”, I prepared
myself for several hours of standing. Arriving at the Globe on Monday evening,
I discovered that standing was only one aspect of what would be a visual arts
performance from the peasant perspective—a multidimensional perspective.
Imagine the film “Inception”, where you consciously exist in a dream within a
dream within a dream. Just as those dreamland layers, a ground floor ticket
introduces the audience to an experience within an experience within an
experience.
Beside the
peasant treatment, the peasant perspective redeemed itself in one scene.
Following Caesar’s death, Brutus offered his words of console and hope for his
people. In this moment, the ambience nearly romanticized the tragedy. The
theatre created a frame of people that was unique to my personal perspective.
From where I stood, he was framed by the silhouettes of fellow peasants on the
floor and painted on a background of the wealthy in the seated booths. All eyes
were on him and his performance, and with the theatre lights illuminating his
determined face, the actor experience became real. He was Brutus; it, this
scene, was a portrait of Caesar’s notorious friend and enemy.
Following this
portrayal of colleague and murderer, one of Brutus’ co-conspirators demanded
that the crowd speak up if they disagreed with Brutus in his speech to dissuade
the people against the late Caesar. This was the point where the audience
experience became real. Nobody responded. Whether because they did not know how
to respond or felt voiceless against a figure like Brutus, the emotions must
have been quite similar to those that were experienced during Caesar’s end. The
crowd, as peasants, was forced to support the actions committed by Brutus and
his co-conspirators. The audience
remained quiet, and the performers continued.
On every level,
the groundlings existed as peasants. Feet ached and neck strained, the
groundling experience is a teleportation through the centuries that allows
theatre-enthusiasts to better understand the peasant perspective during both
Shakespeare’s time and Caesar’s.
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