Living in the time of Shakespeare

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Chris Brookes owns more costumes than clothes. She dresses the part when portraying figures in history. She takes on the persona of an Elizabethan courtier in a Jan. 17 program in Lake Geneva. Facebook/LakeGenevaLibrary photo

Literature Lady Chris Brookes will portray Lady Anne Bacon in her program “An Elizabethan Experience” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Lake Geneva Public Library.

During her costumed performance, Brookes will capture the essence of what it was like to be a Renaissance courtier and will bring to life the times of William Shakespeare and his queen, 400 years after his death.

The program is sponsored by the Friends of the Lake Geneva Public Library. Brookes will sell her DVD “Introduction to the Elizabethan Age” after her program, donating part of the proceeds to the Friends.

From the royal schoolroom to the formal presence chamber, Lady Bacon educated her son, Francis Bacon, and traveled with Queen Elizabeth.

In her portrayal of Lady Bacon, Brookes will take her audience back in time to the 12-day Yuletide celebrations at Greenwich Palace, which have just concluded.

The courtiers are flushed with the spirit of masking and mumming, feasting and frivolity. The debut of Shakespeare's play “Twelfth Night” drew the festivities to a close.

Lady Bacon will share some of the lines destined to become known the world over: “If music be the food of love, play on!”

As the Literature Lady,  Brookes owns more costumes than clothes in order to bring history and literature to life for her re-creations of figures from a variety of time periods, including the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, Victorian times and the 1860s to the 1960s.

Her love of performing started in kindergarten when she played the Troll in “Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Since then, she has performed as Lady Bacon at the Bristol Renaissance Faire and has played a variety of characters with several community theater companies.

After retiring from classroom teaching, Brookes, a Lake Geneva native, added performing, presenting and traveling to her repertoire. Currently she offers adult travel classes for graduate credit through Tools for Learning and regularly teaches for Road Scholar, a division of Elderhostel Inc. Brookes is a member of the Wisconsin Humanities Council.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free program.

For information, call 262-249-5299 or visit online at LakeGeneva.lib.wi.us.

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