As someone who has been involved in weird World of Wrestling while also earning a living as a Shakespearean Actor, there is nothing I enjoyed more than annoying snobby theatre types with my opinion that Shakespeare’s play would have been closer to a modern wrestling event than modern theatre.
OK, maybe there’s quite a few things I enjoy more. I planned to do a joke here, where I monotonously listed things that I enjoy, but honestly, I can’t think of anything. Maybe I need to enjoy things more. Do I not enjoy things? What is my life? Why do I even bother?
Oh dear, I've become sad.
Existential crisis aside, my argument still stands. Shakespeare was the wrestling of its time, and here’s why.
The Shakespearean audience was made up of people from all walks of life who were as much a part of the show as the performers on stage. Those in attendance would clap for the Hero, jeer at the Villain and if they didn’t like what they saw they would let the performers know. Long before Wrestling fans were interrupting Monday Night Raw by throwing a beach ball into the ring, Elizabethan audiences were throwing fruit on stage, shouting at the performers, and derailing a show mid scene.
This caused Shakespeare and his peers to approach audience interaction in a way that can be seen in wrestling today. When dealing with a potentially rowdy audience, Send in The Clowns.
In the last few months, the comedy antics of Sami Zayn have been the talk of the wrestling world. His ability to mock and make fun of the show, himself and WWE’s most powerful faction has been a breath of fresh air and has given us fans an opportunity to laugh along with the show, instead of laughing at the show.
This clever tactic engages an audience and hooks them in. They come to laugh, but they stay for the drama. Comparatively, an acting troupe in Shakespeare’s era could guarantee a successful tour or run if they had a renowned clown in their troupe. The clown would appear on stage and make fun of the show, laugh at the audience, and perform a high energy jig to break the tension in the room. They’d often do a comedic version of a scene that an audience has just seen, changing the material to the crowd's delight, adding in bawdy humour and inside jokes that knowingly wink at the audience to make it clear that we all know what’s happening on stage isn’t “real”.
Independent wrestling has provided so many matches and moments that mirror this exact motif of Elizabethan & Jacobean Theatre. An obvious example of this can be seen in Game Changer Wrestling’s 2019 event, Joey Janella’s Spring Break 3, in which we see The Invisible Man face off against Invisible Stan. A feud between two brothers who are out for blood. The punchline being that there’s no one in the ring. The audience, led by the referee, go through the motions of a wrestling match. Reacting when needed, cheering when expected and booing when warranted. It’s a match that must be seen to be believed, and it truly exemplifies how great a pro wrestling audience can be. This match both parodied professional wrestling and showed off what was so great about it all in one go. Heightening the show by allowing the audience to laugh at the show - exactly what a clown from Shakespeare's era would do.
Am I about to compare this to Macbeth? I think I am.
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's Dark Tragedies. It questions destiny, it philosophically digests the idea of guilt, it brings its audience on a journey through madness and beyond… and it also is the first recorded performance of a Knock Knock joke. Lady Macbeth famously hears a knocking that is meant to symbolise the guilt she feels for her part in the Murder of the King. This knocking is easily the most serious and disturbing part of any performance of the Scottish play. Yet, it is this very knocking that is parodied by the clownish Porter in his one scene. Shakespeare knew that his audience would digest some of his darker themes if he allowed them to laugh at them for a bit as well. A clever technique that gets the silliness and bawdiness of a drunk audience out of the way, to make way for the dramatic Main Event.
Speaking of Clowns, did Shakespeare invent dissing someone who jumps to the rival company? It might be possible.
In the mid to late 90’s Wrestling was in the middle of a war. Vince McMahon’s WWF and Ted Turner's WCW went head-to-head every Monday night in a war for ratings, and indeed for bragging rights. This was a magical time to be a wrestling fan. This ongoing war gave wrestlers a chance to play both sides in an attempt to make more money, meaning that as a fan you never knew when someone could switch sides. A wrestler who you know as a WWF wrestler could suddenly appear on WCW Nitro and visa versa. This created a lot of bad blood that often spilled out onto the live broadcast, as Commentators, Wrestlers and Announcers would bash the talent that were previously the pride of their respective companies. WWF aired videos slamming Hulk Hogan, WCW openly mocked Mick Foley and WWF even went so far as to have new wrestlers play the part of previously departed wrestlers.
In short, it was crazy, even for wrestling.
Yet, there are some who speculate that Shakespeare himself is guilty of bashing talent that jumped ship to another acting troupe.
In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare has his main character give a speech to actors in which he says,” Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines”.
To put this in context Shakespeare's favourite Clown, William Kempe, had left his company. It is not known why, but many speculate that it is down to the fact that Shakespeare and Kempe would frequently argue about how Kempe would improvise on stage or “go into business for himself…Brother”.
This, many believe, is why Shakespeare wrote the lines, “And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them; for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too”, into the very next play performed after Kempe left. Effectively, having his characters speak how he felt about Kempe after his departure.
Imagine the dirt sheet headlines. “Shakespeare’s Actors bury Kempe, weeks after leaving the Chamberlain’s Men”. William Kempe would do podcasts telling his side of the story, and fans would be divided on twitter about who was right.
Finally, I’d like to talk about how Shakespeare used violence and fights throughout his work. This, to me, is why I feel that this argument is worth exploring.
We’ve already spoken about how Shakespeare would control his audience; we’ve spoken about how he liked to control what his clown said so then why did he not control the fight scenes? Because it’s wrestling, that’s why.
In wrestling the storyline is written and laid out, the promos, or soliloquies, are written for the performer to deliver directly to the audience and the winner of the fight is known in advance, and usually serves to advance the plot.
However, often the fight itself is left to the wrestlers. That’s where they paint their pictures and make their art.
Shakespeare’s plays were no different. Look up a Shakespearean play script, even today. You’ll see the soliloquy, you’ll uncover the story through the dialogue, but when it comes to a fight, you’ll simply see two words “THEY FIGHT”. You can’t get more wrestling than that.
You’ve got an electric, often drunk audience that’s as much a part of the show as the performers, use of comedy and parody to win an audience over, the guy in charge can’t help but diss the opposition or the people that leave his company and the storyline is well laid out, but the fight is down to the artistry of the performers.
Am I talking about Shakespeare, or am I talking about Pro Wrestling?
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