Mark Cohen, director. Shakespeare learned early on that spectacular violence made for good box office. Increasingly, however, his plays began to question the imposition of cruelty on another human being. With a suffering body sprawled center stage, Shakespeare rivets our focus on our appetite for violence in relation to the values of war, the understanding of what it means to be a man, and the impulse to self-control. Because they do not flinch from suggesting that human beings are as addicted to perpetrating violence as audiences are to watching it, the Bard's onstage depictions of murder, mayhem, war, and cruelty echo with questions about our own attitudes and propensities toward violence. Free and open to the public. Call 617.353.3390 for details. Presented by the Boston University College of Fine Arts. |
