The Shakespeare Club will be going on it’s annual trip to the Stratford Theatre on Oct 22. The trip will take students to Stratford, Ontario to see one of Shakespeare’s classic plays.

Shakespeare in classes is read but never truly performed like how it is intended to be. This trip is a way for students to learn about and truly see how Shakespeare is supposed to be viewed, according to club advisor and English teacher Danielle Peck.

“I believe, and the other English teachers here believe that Shakespeare is meant to be performed,” Peck said. “We read Shakespeare, we see it on the page, but that’s not necessarily how we should be ingesting it because that’s not how Shakespeare intended it. He intended it to be acted out.”

Many performances of Shakespeare can be outdated. But Shakespeare Club and the trip to Stratford allows students to see modern renditions and spins of Shakespeare. 

“It’s really fun seeing how stuff that is very, kind of outdated can be very modern at the same time,” Natalie Boehmer ‘20 said. “To be able to talk to people and go through jokes that are really hilarious but not many people know about that now of days and to see how it has affected modern trends and literature and overall life in general is interesting.”

The trip this year is taking students to see the play Othello. Students in Shakespeare class are currently reading Othello and are excited to see the differences and how it is performed.

“I’m in Shakespeare class this semester, and we are currently reading Othello in order to prepare for this field trip,” Anna Abundis ‘20 said. “I am really excited to see how this production will differ from other versions that we have seen in class or from what we have been trying to perform ourselves.”

Seeing the play is not the only part of the trip to the Stratford Theatre. The trip also allows students to be able to talk with the actors before the show, according to Boehmer.

“Usually we get there in time for bit to talk with the actors,” Boehmer said. “They go through some stuff about the play or what Shakespeare is like, so it’s interesting seeing people who have studied this since March and seeing their interpretation on this text.”

Shakespeare writing can be considered boring to some but it has a historic value. Shakespeare club and the class gives students a new view about the historic writing, according to Peck.

“We encourage the students to see Shakespeare as a living text,” Peck said. “We encourage students to get up when they are reading it, to play around with the words.”