Government Affairs Blog

Brush up your Shakespeare

Commenting on the American mid-term elections and the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, several British journalists compared President Bush’s situation to a Shakespearian play.  With Robert Gates nominated as the new Secretary for Defense and James Baker’s Iraqi Study Group about to report, the scribes argued that George Bush Senior was regaining power at the expense of his son.

For those communications professionals dealing with Government who don’t have detailed knowledge of Shakespeare’s oeuvre the best way to brush up on the Bard would be to go and watch a play or two in the West End.  Sadly, that option is currently denied the London theatregoer.  Normally there is at least one major production of Shakespeare on.  Looking at the listings there are none.  Not even the long running comedy “The Complete Works of Shakespeare”.  In that production they performed the startling feat of staging the entire canon in just over an hour.

You can see Macbeth at the Wimbledon Studio Theatre and in late November for a short run you can see a Japanese version of Romeo & Juliet at the Barbican.  Next year London will see the opening of The Taming of the Shrew and The Tempest.  In Stratford-upon-Avon you can see Pericles and The Winter’s Tale.

These plays certainly deal with power and relationships.  None examine the father and son relationship in the way that Henry 1V part 1 and 2 does.  In that play Hal, the Prince, is wayward and irresponsible.  He is guided by the scoundrel Falstaff.  The King makes several attempts to groom Hal for leadership.  Eventually he accepts his responsibility, casts off his mentor and becomes King (Henry V).  If that is the play that acts as a metaphor for the Bush family it would lead to the strange casting of Rumsfeld as Falstaff. 

There are other father and sibling relationships in Shakespeare.  There is Lear who gives power to his two daughters to live, and die, to regret it.  There is Julius Caesar and Anthony.  True they are not father and son but have a familial relationship, as does the Scottish King with Macbeth.  Then there is Prospero and his daughter. 

How close any of the plays are to the current American political drama is open to discussion.  It is sad that there are currently so few opportunities to watch Shakespeare in the capital of Britain, a place that is arguably theatre’s capital and decide for yourself.