They say love is electric, but, at times, it's technology that gets in the way of connection.
That's what Hope Alexander wants to say with her take on Shakespeare’s classic play, “As You Like It.” The play will be performed by the Kenan Theatre Company starting tonight.
Alexander is a professional actor and director and is excited about directing “As You Like It,” which, after over 50 years of acting, remains her favorite of the plays she's performed in. Through this quirky Shakespearean comedy, Alexander intends to teach audiences about intimacy and learning how to love.
“One of the themes the director is exploring with the show is our dependence on technology,” said Rachel Davis, a senior dramatic art major and student producer. “And how that separates us from each other in our modern world.”
The virtual world of cell phones, selfies and texting is represented in the cold world of the court, run by Queen Fredericka, who banishes her sister Senora to the forest in order to steal the throne. Their daughters, Celia and Rosalind, are as close as sisters. When Queen Fredericka banishes Rosalind, suspicious that she's stealing attention away from her own daughter, the daughters escape together to the forest.
The forest represents a world free of electricity, cell towers and other distractions from one-on-one communication. It is here that Rosalind, dressed as a man, teaches her suitor, Orlando, how to love. Now able to connect as humans instead of through technology, several of the characters in Rosalind’s band fall in love.
“We’re living in a virtual world, and what’s happening is that really touching each other in any kind of truly intimate or fundamental way is going away,” Alexander said. “We have a faux intimacy instead of a real intimacy.”
Alexander designed the world of the court to be a cold, unfeeling place where people are glued to their tablets and smartphones, unable to truly connect to each other. When Shakespeare’s characters are banished to the forest, they lack internet or cell reception and must learn to rediscover the human connection they had been missing.
“We’re hoping people will walk out thinking about how the use of technology affects their life and their social relationships,” Davis said.
