For the students who have been digging under the couch for spare change to afford an evening at the movie theater or bowling alley, the National Shakespeare Company may console those entertainment blues as the traveling company performs “The Tempest” in the Lee Hall Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. as a part of the Mississippi State University Lyceum Series. Students may attend free with student IDs.
“The National Shakespeare Company’s performance gives a good change of pace from everyday life,” senior Shaun McFarland said. “Instead of being wrapped up in school work, you could do something that’s fun and relaxing that is of cultural nature.”
According to Neely Wilbourn, graduate assistant for the Lyceum Series, the series provides an outlet of a “broad variety of cultural experiences” for MSU students, faculty and the community.
Wilbourn also said that the series brings national acts that would not normally frequent Starkville.
William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” tells the tale of Prospero, a hero of usurped royalty and practitioner of magic. He and his daughter Miranda are sent out to sea to perish; however, the two land on a small island where they meet some friendly and some unkind creatures.
It is on this palatial island that the story unfolds.
The National Shakespeare Company was founded by actress Elain Sulka and producer/director Philip Meister in 1963 at an endeavor to present the numerous works of Shakespeare that include such masterpieces as “Romeo and Juliet,” “As You Like It” and “Macbeth.”
In a year, the company travels approximately 35,000 miles and presents 100 plays to bring classical literature to the 21st century.
One-time tickets for the performance are $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and $6 for children between the ages of 3 and 12.
Season tickets may be purchased with a self addressed stamped envelope sent to the Mississippi State Lyceum Series at P.O. Box HY.
The five-member ensemble, Boston Brass, will conclude the fall semester of Lyceum Series.
According to www.msstate. edu/dept/lyceum/newticket.html, “the group’s unique, full, robust and extremely musical sound ranges from virtuosic arrangements of baroque and opera to pop and jazz.”
Performances planned for the spring semester–the Blair String Quartet, Giovanni DeChiaro, Dallas Black Dance Theater and David Dallas.