Patrick Stewart to talk Shakespeare at UCLA

By Kenny Chang
Daily Bruin Reporter

Everyone knows who he is. If he’s not in big-budgeted,
mutant-based summer blockbusters, he can be found leading the
Enterprise on voyages through the final frontier ““ space. He
has performed on Broadway in the Arthur Miller play “The Ride
Down Mount Morgan,” and also in countless Shakespearean
roles. All this, and now he’s coming to UCLA.

Patrick Stewart, well-known for his role as Capt. Jean-Luc
Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and
Professor X from last summer’s hit “X-Men,” will
be speaking at Korn Convocation Hall today at 4:30 p.m.

Don’t expect him to talk about creatures from outer space,
though. He is presenting a program titled “Shylock:
Shakespeare’s Alien” that is a half performance and
half lecture on the many interpretations of Shylock and the various
audience reactions.

The program is a mixture of performance and lecture, focusing on
the character of Shylock in the “Merchant of
Venice.”

“Arguably, the most controversial and contentious
character in Shakespeare, he appears in a play which has many times
been labeled as anti-Semitic, and indeed, as I understand, there
are some colleges in the United States where the play is not taught
for that reason ““ it’s not a view that I share,”
Stewart said.

Stewart originally got the idea for these sorts of
lecture/performances early in his television career when he had
just started the long-running series “Star Trek: The Next
Generation.”

“Once I realized that that series was going to be a
success, and not, as I was told, going to end after one or two
years, I became nervous that I was going to lose touch with my
stage background and my theater muscles would atrophy. And I heard
of cases where actors who had stayed in front of a camera for too
long lost their nerves when live performance was concerned. So I
developed for myself a whole series of solo shows, one-man shows,
of which this was one of them.”

This show was based on an essay Stewart wrote which appeared in
book of essays by actors about Shakespearean roles.

Appointed as a Regents Lecturer earlier this year, Stewart was
nominated by the Department of Medieval and Renaissance
studies.

“Each year, any department or center has a choice of
putting in nominations for Regents Lecturer and I decided I wanted
to get a Renaissance actor,” said Andy Kelly, director of the
Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. “So I was
thinking of various possible people that we might get, and we were
sure that Patrick Stewart is very professorial, and that he also
lives here locally and will actually be shooting a movie for the
next four months.”

“So, we got a date for him in the fall to give one of his
signature pieces, and then he’s going to be coming back to
perhaps visit a couple of Shakespeare classes and have an open
conversation with one of our professors.”

Therefore, Stewart begins his role as Regents Lecturer and his
series of programs at UCLA with this performance, which details the
complexities of the character of Shylock and its different
interpretations.

“In presenting this piece, I am attempting to illustrate,
not only how the role works in performance, but also to attempt to
try to show a more diverse and complex character than the two
stereotypical interpretations that are usually seen ““ one
being the bloodthirsty, violent, murderous Jew, and the other being
the persecuted, tormented, long-suffering, ridiculed member of a
minority race,” Stewart said.

Stewart is known for his great interpretations of Shakespearean
characters, has won several awards, and even has his own star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

With this portrayal and lecture on Shylock, there is apparently
a lot to learn from Stewart for anybody willing to listen ““
be it students, faculty, alumni or donors.

The intention of this program is for those who come to gain a
better understanding and appreciation as an actor who has actually
performed the part details and explains for listeners the
interpretations of that piece of work.

“I think first of all, students will get a great
appreciation of Shakespeare,” said Caleb Na, Operations
Manager for the Center of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and
also the organizer for the event.

“One thing that I hear over and over is that he can read
the same lines from the “˜Merchant of Venice’ and
it’s exactly the same wording, but depending on how he reads
it, he gives such a different portrayal of Shylock,” he
added. “So basically one thing that they can come away with
is a greater appreciation of Shakespeare and how the actors can
influence how Shylock is portrayed, and not just Shylock, but any
character.”

LECTURE: “Shylock: Shakespeare’s
Alien” is today at 4:30 p.m. in Korn Convocation Hall, at the
Anderson School at
UCLA. Admission is free, and given on a first come, first served
basis. With reports from Christopher Cobb, Daily Bruin
Contributor.