Theater department offers chance to study in Europe

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Theater department offers chance to study in Europe

Instead of only reading about Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre or Commedia dell’Arte, Hillsdale College students will have the chance to experience British, French, and Italian theater live this summer.

Hillsdale’s theater department is providing the opportunity for students, faculty, and alumni to travel to Europe with a special offering of History of Theater II, one of the options for the upper level literature core requirement. Theater department chairman George Angell began planning the trip, after looking for an opportunity to provide something meaningful to Hillsdale College before his retirement.

“The idea is to use theater to look at Renaissance history, culture, and religion,” Angell said. “We will visit a lot of the principal sites Theater 215 talks about.”

Participants will have backstage tours of theaters, view multiple productions, and visit important historical sites and museums in London, Paris, and Rome.

The class departs from Detroit Metro Airport on June 4, the beginning of the second summer session, and returns June 18. The cost of the tour is approximately $5,800, which includes airfare. The trip is open to 20 participants. Interested students, faculty, and alumni should contact Angell with questions or to reserve a spot.

Beginning in London, travelers will go on backstage tours at two of the most important English theaters and visit the Albert and Victoria Museum and Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was born. Participants will see performances in the Globe Theatre, a show by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, and a medieval biblical drama in York.

Paris features more backstage theater tours and a trip to the Louvre and Versailles. From there, students will travel to Rome to see the Vatican and other significant historical sites. They will attend a performance of an opera or Commedia dell’Arte.

Although the theater department has travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland, it has never planned a trip of this magnitude, Angell said.

Junior Glynis Gilio said she is considering attending the trip.

“I would love to see the monuments and buildings that we cover in Theater History II in real life,” Gilio said. “It would really enrich the learning experience within this course.”

Senior Dani Morey has seen “Henry IV” parts I and II and “Richard III” at the Globe, which she referred to as a “sacred space.”

“It was so cool,” Morey said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had another theater experience where I was that close to the action. I was ducking to avoid the swords.”

Morey said the experience reflects that of seeing a play in Shakespeare’s day in that the use of scenery appears minimalist to the modern audience.

“For a Shakespeare lover, it’s a beautiful experience,” Morey said. “I would go every day, if I lived there.”

Although Angell said he has visited many of the sites on the itinerary, this will be his first time visiting the Opera Bastille and Opera Garnier in France as well as seeing a play in the Globe.

“I’m quite looking forward to that,” Angell said.