From the Archives
“O this learning, what a thing it is!”
There’s nothing quite like hearing the Bard’s words projected from a stage, hundreds of years ebbing away as they swirl around you. Plenty have studied William Shakespeare’s plays over the centuries, but it’s only in performance that they truly come to life—even if those doing the acting are your own classmates.
On a recent visit to our archives, Andy Costello, a photography manager at BU, unearthed this March 1987 photograph of an English class studying Shakespeare with James Siemon. What you can’t see, just off camera and under the (sometimes distracted) gaze of their classmates, are one or two students reading from a play. A professor of English, Siemon has taught at CAS since 1977 and is the editor of the peer-reviewed Shakespeare Studies.
Although the small brown envelope containing the original negatives says the photo shoot happened at the Boston Playwrights Theatre for a news article, it’s scant on other information. That’s where we need your help. What can you tell us about this photo? Is that you deep in thought, chatting with a friend, or readying a piercing question—or acting tip? If you studied with Siemon, what are your memories of his classes?
Write to us and tell us. Even if you aren’t in this photo—and have never got to grips with Shakespeare’s thees and thous—but it sparks memories of your own time at BU, we’d love to hear from you.