Naomi Lawrence

Name

Naomi Lawrence

What is your job title?

Lead Secondary Practitioner

What kind of things does your job typically entail?

My role is to engage secondary students in Shakespeare studies. That might mean going into a school to work on a piece of text or to discuss Shakespeare’s life and times, welcoming groups to Stratford to experience our historic buildings and see Shakespeare’s world for themselves, or working with teachers on ways to bring Shakespeare to life in the classroom.

Why do you think learning about Shakespeare and his work is important to us today?

Shakespeare is everywhere. Whether you love his work, hate it, or don’t (yet!) understand a single thing he says, you can’t deny the impact that he has had. I think its important for us to try to understand why his words have lasted so long, why they still resonate with people from all over the world today, and what they mean to you.

Learning more about his life, the people that helped him on his way, and his journey from small town Stratford boy to historical icon is a good reminder that we should all dare to dream.

What is your favourite Shakespeare related experience- at SBT or elsewhere?

Working on Shakespeare with young people and seeing them connect with the text in their own ways is always a joy. I have had many particularly exciting Shakespeare experiences with groups where not all the participants spoke English. A multi-lingual, mixed media A Midsummer Night’s Dream - using physical theatre, puppetry, music, and students own writing as well as the original text - with a fantastic youth group in Hong Kong was a particular highlight.

Getting to play Helena in an open-air production of the same play in central Hong Kong, with an audience of over 1000 people braving the heat, storming the stage, and roaring with laughter as the sun set around us was pretty special too!

What are the challenges, do you think, in bringing Shakespeare to life for contemporary audiences?

I think lots of people come to Shakespeare with the preconception that it is hard, stuffy, boring, or elitist, and don’t feel welcome in his world. Our challenge is to open the doors to that world as wide as possible, and to encourage everyone to step in and find their own connections with Shakespeare and his works. It might sound like a cliché, but there really is something there for everyone if you look hard enough.

Finally- what is your favourite joke? Doesn’t have to be Shakespearean…

My dog’s got no nose.

How does he smell?

Terrible.