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“Worlds Elsewhere. Journeys Around Shakespeare’s Globe” – a must read for every Shakespeare admirer

Kate Shchurouskaja

Photo by Sarah Lee

In this article I would like to speak about the book of a British writer, researcher and a talented journalist Andrew Dickson. His book is called “Worlds Elsewhere. Journeys Around Shakespeare’s Globe”. I started reading it in spring. To tell the truth, receiving this book was an unexpected surprise, and I will explain why. Last February I attended Andrew Dickson’s lecture that was held at our university. And frankly speaking, I was really impressed. It is always great to see a person so passionate about what he is doing. After this event I decided to buy this book and find out some more information about Shakespeare. So, you can imagine my reaction when I received it from London as a gift. I was very happy.

But let’s return to the book. It is about Shakespeare’s impact on people and cultures all around the world. It consists of five parts.

The first one tells us about Shakespeare’s influence in Poland and Germany. It appears that if you come to Poland, Gdańsk, in particular, you would find an exact copy of the “The Globe” there. Why? In Shakespeare’s times his troupe went on tour to Europe, during which they also visited Gdańsk where they built a copy of “The Globe” for them to perform. So, the explanation is quite simple isn’t it? Nowadays this theatre is rebuilt, and it’s a must-see in Poland for every true Shakespeare fan.

Germany has a special relationship with the bard. This nation considers him German. People here usually say that the British are not paying adequate attention to Shakespeare. Another example of how important Shakespeare is to the German people is the oldest Shakespeare’s society in the world that was established in Germany. An interesting thing is that there are more performances of Shakespeare’s plays in Germany than in Britain. Besides, the world’s famous German speaking authors and musicians (for example, Mozart and Goethe) were obsessed with the playwright. Some scholars say that Mozart used the plot of “The Tempest” for his “Magical Flute”. This is incredible because no other writer in the world had such an influence on other nations, famous people and their masterpieces. And I think it is because Shakespeare described human nature which hasn’t changed throughout the years. That is why any nation can use his plays. And I think the last and the darkest thing connected with Shakespeare’s influence in Germany is the Nazis period. His plays were the ones not to be burnt, as the Minister of Propaganda was fond of them. The Nazis thought that they would be able to resurrect Shakespeare and make him the member of their party. Nonsense! It appears that the most popular play was “Hamlet”, and the main character was not the one that we all know. He was firm and confident.

So, let’s finish up with Germany and move to the USA, to which the second part of the book is dedicated. The first thing to mention is that the world’s Shakespeare archive is situated not in Britain but in the USA. It is The Folger Shakespeare Library. It was founded in 1930s by an oil baron Henry Folger and his wife Emily. On the outside it looks like an ordinary modern building, but when you get inside it seems that you’ve travelled across time and space and found yourself in an Oxford college. This library contains 83 copies of Shakespeare’s first folio. So this place is a must-see for every Shakespeare admirer.

Also, Shakespeare’s plays were very popular during the times of Gold Rush, “Richard III” in particular. And there are some mining companies named after the bard. What is more, there are maps with different American cities named after Shakespeare and his characters. Amazing!

Right now, let’s move on to India. I knew that Shakespeare was popular in this country, because it is a former British colony, so every well-educated person is familiar with his name, but I couldn’t imagine that his plays could be used for shooting films. Almost every Bollywood movie is based on Shakespeare’s plays. For example such films as “Omkara” (“Othello”) and “Angoor” (“The Comedy of Errors”). “Hamlet” is also very popular. The most famous movie was shot in 1954. Indian film and theatre directors are fond of staging Shakespeare because he was definitely a man of all time.

But for me, the most interesting part of the book was the one connected with South Africa. I did not know that people there were familiar with Shakespeare, that his plays had a great impact on their political life and that there was a person named Solomon Plaatje, who translated lots of Shakespeare’s plays. During the Apartheid, when people were put in prison, the only hope for them was Shakespeare because his plays helped them to relief pain, to keep sane and to change something in their state structure. I also read that there is one special school founded by a Russian woman who went to South Africa in order to work there. She is trying to cultivate love to Shakespeare in her pupils. They have their own theatre and they usually participate in a theatre festival held in South Africa. Despite the fact that most of them are very young, they all have their own opinions about Shakespeare and his plays. They think that Shakespeare’s ideas coincide with their own. It is great when children are interested in art.

And last but not least is the part connected with China. The Chinese are very concerned about Shakespeare. He is some kind of a brand there. His picture is placed on notebooks and other things. They are learning to read Shakespeare’s plays in original, but of course they also have translations. One of the most famous plays staged in China is “The Taming of the Shrew”. A huge amount of people attend it. But of course, as it usually happens, there were some problems connected with the bard’s plays. During the Cultural Revolution that took place from 1966 to 1976, directors were banned from staging and the actors were banned from performing Shakespeare’s plays. But nowadays the situation has changed. There are conferences and festivals held in the honor of the bard.

And now I would like to write a few words about the author of this incredible book. To my mind, Andrew Dickson is a very talented author and a good narrator. He has his own style, and he puts a deep sense in each word and each sentence. He is also good at describing people. He makes an exact portrait of a man or woman with every tiny detail, which helps understand the character of a person.

I have also enjoyed the sceneries described in the book. Those beautiful German streets, exotic Indian and South African landscapes and, of course, incredible Chinese cities. I haven’t been to all these countries, but this book allowed me to imagine that I was travelling together with the narrator, and in my personal opinion, when a reader goes deeply into the book and forgets about what is going on, it is a sign of a good work.