{"id":604,"date":"2020-01-18T20:17:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T02:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/datadc\/?p=604"},"modified":"2020-03-20T21:01:49","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T02:01:49","slug":"what-light-from-yonder-sitcom-breaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/datadc\/2020\/01\/18\/what-light-from-yonder-sitcom-breaks\/","title":{"rendered":"What light through yonder sitcom breaks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“There is not anything of human trial<\/em><\/p>\n

That ever love deplored or sorrow knew<\/em><\/p>\n

No glad fulfillment\u00a0and no sad denial<\/em><\/p>\n

Beyond the pictured truth that Shakespeare drew.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

-William Winter, inscription on wall of the Great Hall at the Folger Library<\/p>\n

As the daughter of a Shakespeare professor, I have developed a sizable soft spot for the Bard, so I was especially excited about our visit to the Folger Theater<\/a>.\u00a0 However, as in any play, the scene must be set before the action can begin, so here is a brief history of the institution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Great Hall of the Folger Library<\/p><\/div>\n

The theater is a part of the Folger Shakespeare Library<\/a>, the largest collection of Shakespeare related texts and object in the world.The library was founded in 1932 by Emily Jordan Folger and her husband Henry Clay Folger. The couple shared a love of Shakespeare. Emily Folger earned her master\u2019s degree in Shakespearian literature from Vassar College in 1896. She recalls her husband saying <\/span>\u201cthe poet is one of our best sources, one of the wells from which we Americans draw our national thought, our faith and our hope.\u201d The relationship between the playwright and American identity continues to be an important factor in the library\u2019s work. <\/span>Henry Folger died in 1930 but left plans for the library in his will as a \u201cgift to the American people.\u201d Emily Folger contributed $3 million of her assets to get the project off the ground.<\/span> A central feature of the library building is an Elizabethan style theater. It was designed as a composite of multiple Elizabethan theaters, such as the Fortune Playhouse and the Globe, in order to give visitors a general impression of theaters during the era. A <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i> review from 1932 reads “[The Folger boasts] a reconstruction of an Elizabethan playhouse stunningly contrived to stage plays with the old atmosphere but with all modern appliances.” After spending an evening in the theater watching the Merry Wives of Windsor<\/em>, I can\u2019t help but agree with the <\/span>Times\u2019<\/span><\/i> assessment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Elizabethan style tiered balconies and carved woodwork provided ample ambiance.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The front of the theater was transformed into the set of a 1970s sitcom.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Interestingly, the theater was not primarily used for plays until the 1970s. Other than a 1949 production of <\/span>Julius Caesar<\/span><\/i>, the stage mostly hosted lectures and speakers throughout its first decades. In 1970, the woodwork was fireproofed, and the theater received licensure to put on commercial productions. Since then, the Folger has staged more than half the plays in Shakespeare\u2019s First Folio, in addition to works by other early modern playwrights. They also perform Shakespeare-related plays like Tom Stoppard\u2019s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead<\/a> <\/em>and Melissa Arctic<\/a><\/em>, a 2004 retelling of the Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em> set in Minnesota.<\/span> Live theater is admittedly not the focus at the Folger. It is just one of a myriad of ways the institution works to preserve and promote the legacy and works of Shakespeare. Their website lists three action statements<\/a> as the guiding force of their efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n