Green World

Recently I had the lucky privilege to attend In Good Taste: Shakespeare at Brewery Bhavana.  This super-cool evening was all about community and connection through theatre, food, and drink.

While I’m swell at food and drink, I’m a far apple from the Shakespearian scholar tree.  Consequently, it’s easy to teach me a thing or two about the guy and his work.  So excuse me if this is old hat for you, but I was taken with the Aggregate Theatre director’s mention of the “Green World” in Shakespeare's comedies.

Whether they land there voluntarily or against their will, Shakespeare's characters are transformed through the Green World’s abundant nature, inconsistencies, and magic.  The Green World invites – maybe demands – new ways of being in the world and with others.  Consequently, the characters who visit return to their usual lives fresh and new.

I gotta get a Green World.  I prefer mine to be on the coast with a historic home and an ocean view, although I’m not opposed to a bungalow on some far-off island.  But until I can get my hands on either of those, I’m looking for some Green World in my current here and now.

Each of us deserves the gifts of a Green World.  In lieu of access to a whole new place, I’m convinced there are corner patches where we can trade the typical for the unexpected.  Whether through daily breaks in routine, meditation or the place you’ve already manifested (lucky thing), we need spaces to renew ourselves through different ways of being and knowing.  

And here is the greatest comfort:  Even if we mimic some of the Shakespearean characters’ kicking and screaming into our patches of the Green World, this generous space still holds room for us to transform and see anew.

References & Resources

Egan, G. (2006).  Green Shakespeare:  From ecopolitics to ecocriticism.  New York, NY:  Routledge.

Frye, N. (1986).  Northrop Frye on Shakespeare.  Binghamton, NY:  Vail-Ballou Press.

Learn more about Aggregate Theatre Company:  https://www.aggregatetheatre.com

Learn more about Brewery Bhavana:  https://www.facebook.com/brewerybhavana/