Much ado about the Bard

Young Chang

Barton C. Friedberg shares an old Shakespearean adage.

The saying goes, “the function of a work of art is, as it were, to

hold the mirror up to nature.”

“And I think that’s what Shakespeare does,” Friedberg said. “He holds

the mirror up to nature and he shows us ourselves as we really are. And

if we read the plays closely, we learn so much more about the world we

inhabit and even more about ourselves.”

That said, Friedberg, the teacher of a class unofficially titled

“Reading Shakespeare” at the Balboa Performing Arts Theater, concludes

that it’s never too late to learn about yourself.

His students -- housewives, retirees, business women -- agree.

The newly-formed class, which has been meeting once a week for roughly

the past month to read Shakespeare’s works, is part of the theater’s Arts

Education Program and is run under The Divas of the Balboa Theater

fund-raising group. The theater itself is still being restored.

The first lesson was “Romeo and Juliet,” held in conjunction with the

Ahmanson Theater’s current production of the tragedy. The group will

start reading “Much Ado About Nothing” this week, to coincide with South

Coast Repertory’s staging of the piece through April 1.

“One of the reasons that we picked those two plays right off the bat

is because a lot of people were asking ‘How is the Balboa Theater gonna

fit in with other arts opportunities in the county?”’ said Michele

Roberge, executive director of the theater.

The class is currently made up of all women, but men are welcome. The

group is expected to grow, possibly with the addition of evening classes

for those who can’t attend the present meetings, which are usually held

at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesdays at a member’s home.

Friedberg’s students are not professional actors nor are theypundits.

Instead, they are people who have always wanted to learn the plays or

simply keep their minds active and fresh, the retired college professor

said.

Since the class began, the students have experienced the thrill and

deeper understanding that occurs when you study a Shakespearean play.

“We approach Shakespeare as literature,” Friedberg said. “We talk

about setting and style and language and themes . . . because the

language is so difficult.”

Student Sandra Stanger, a Newport Beach resident, is optimistic about

watching “Romeo and Juliet,” which she has now read.

“With my lack of background, I wouldn’t have had any idea what was

going on on stage,” said the former corporate manager for Honeywell. “I

would never have been able to understand the language.”

Today, she knows what “zounds” means. It’s an exclamation like

“Egad!” or “Drat!” and derives from the phrase “by God’s wounds.”

She and fellow student Joanne Matos, who works in real estate sales,

have also learned that theatergoers in Shakespeare’s time paid one cent

to stand in the middle of the audience and watch a three-hour show. For

two cents, you got a seat.

“And most people think of him as a poet or writer, but we learned

[Shakespeare] was basically a business man,” Matos said.

As a teacher, Friedberg says it’s a shame that those who never

understood the plays when learning them in school “hear the name

Shakespeare and shudder.”

“He understood all of us so well,” he said. “I don’t know how, I don’t

know why. It’s called genius.”

For Friedberg, learning about Shakespeare and his works at a late age

is, if anything, far from strange.

“If the aging process isn’t about growing wiser, then what is its

purpose?” he said. “If we don’t learn from our mistakes and all the other

things around us that permit us to learn, then shame on us.”

FYI

WHAT: Reading Shakespeare

WHEN: 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., usually Tuesdays

WHERE: Locations vary.

COST: $25 per session, $20 for Divas members.

CALL: (949) 675-5616