Rescuing the Bard

In the Folger Theatre’s world premiere of How Shakespeare Saved My Life, prolific stage and television actor Jacob-Ming-Trent not only delivers a powerful performance, but carries out a critically valuable service: His one-man show is another important manifestation of the ongoing project of rescuing Shakespeare from the canon of Dead White Males and demonstrates the Bard’s continuing relevance to the contemporary world. It continues a tradition that includes productions in Native American languages, for example, in settings reflecting their cultures or stagings that reflect African or other former colonial cultures. The play is also a welcome addition to the practice of setting Shalespeare’s plays in varying historical eras including our own time, as presented by Hollywood or, closer to home, D.C.’s own Shakespeare Theatre Company and the Folger itself, as in its presentation last year of Julius X.