The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre

Congratulations to our Sonneteers!

2012-02-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

Two amazing sonnets have been chosen as the winner of our contest! We have posted them below for all to enjoy!

Doubts and Wishes
By Bud Koenemund (The Mad Sonneteer)
For Kymberly Hollander, Il mio respiro

Oh, Cupid; why must you make me captive
To those hot twins of passion: love and hate?
Shall my heart burn e'en as my mind misgives?
Will my wit to madness be subjugate?
Archer, aim thy arrows some other way,
Lest I be shipwrecked on rocks of regret;
Left alone to drown beneath waves of pain.
Thou seest I dread thy infection, yet,
If music be the food of love, I pray
Thee, direct a symphony for the ears.
Bestow thy gift on my heart that it may
Kindle a new flame to wither all fear.
Grant thou a hand to hold, and lips to kiss;
A soul with whom to share eternal bliss.

For Robert By Anat Eshel

How could I express my love for thee, dear?
I could bake a cake, serenade a song,
Buy thee a German film, and kiss your ear.
Or! I could write thee a love sonnet- long.
T’would start with these romantic lines on scroll:
“Our love can survive the worst of shipwrecks
Whilst we dance to’the music of our twin souls.
You’re my world, when in the world we're just specs.”
Oh! But alas, it t’will never occur!
For I am but a terrible writer.
Writing this sonnet may have been an err,
But rest assured, my love for you is bright'r.
Is my writing comparable to'the Bard’s?
Tis not, but I love you with all my hearts.

Learn About Original Pronounciation

2012-02-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

We found this excellent video from Open University about The Globe's efforts to create an authentic experience.

Take a look!

Sonnets, Shakespeare Style

2012-01-26T09:49:00.000-08:00

We are bringing in the new year with prizes - for our most lyrical patrons.

Remember those free season tickets and the Kill Shakespeare swag we gave away last year? Secretly jealous of the handsome gentleman who won them? Well, here’s chance number two! Once again, we’re giving away:

Two (2) free tickets to our 15th Anniversary Season featuring Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus
A t-shirt from the Colin McCreery and Anthony Del Col graphic novel Kill Shakespeare
To win, write a Shakespearean sonnet for your sweetheart with these guidelines:

Step 1) Write a Shakespearean Sonnet. (Not sure how? No problem. Read the guidelines here or check out this video on YouTube.)

Step 2) Address it to your sweetheart, and make sure it includes the words Shipwreck, Twins and Music.

Step 3) Submit it to our Facebook by Valentine’s Day. While you’re at it, send it to your sweetheart. They’ll be impressed.

This contest ends February 14th at 11:59 pm. The Philadelphia Shakespeare staff will read over the submissions, pick their favorite, and contact you for your FREE tickets and t-shirt. The winner will be announced Friday, February 17, 2012. Make sure to wear your new shirt to the shows!

Congratulations to the Best Shakespeare Mo!

2011-12-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

Movember has come to a close. The month-long fundraising initiative boasted 854,120 registered participants and raised $108,681,136 for men's health!

The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre charged our audience to submit their best Shakespeare Mo and we have a winner!

Congratulations to Kevin Denison Kohler Jr. for winning our Movember contest!

Did you participate in and enjoy this contest? Please email your questions and comments to rebecca@phillyshakespeare.org and check back soon for more information.

Show Us Your Mo!

2011-11-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

The Theatre is joining forces with The Movember Foundation to support the awareness for prostate cancer and men’s health.

We are giving away:

Two (2) free tickets to our 15th Anniversary Season featuring
Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus
A t-shirt from the Colin McCreery and Anthony Del Col graphic
novel Kill Shakespeare.

To win, simply show us your best Shakespeare inspired moustache.

Step 1) Grow your Mo. Visit the Movember website for details.
Step 2) Shape it like Shakespeare's. Note: there are several styles.

Step 3) Upload your photo to our Facebook Wall; tag yourself and anyone else who is in the photo. Feel free to write a 1-2 sentence caption.

The contest ends December 10, 2011 at 11:59 pm. The Philadelphia Shakespeare staff will then choose their favorite photo and contact you for your FREE tickets and t-shirt. The winner will be announced December 15, 2011.

Good luck and have fun!

Excellent Interpretations

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare scholar Natalia Razak takes a look at the Folio in, "a 4-part series exploring the reasons why actors use the earliest rather than the latest editions of Shakespeare’s plays."

Modern editions of Shakespeare are full of nifty things – definitions of arcane words, translations of outdated phrases, notations by editors, introductions and essays by very smart people. If you’re in the classroom or curled up in your bed reading Shakespeare (which we all do, right?), then by all means pick up the Arden edition and enjoy. But if you want to perform Shakespeare, then you have no need of definitions and notations (that’s what dictionaries and the internet are for). You need a roadmap for making interpretive choices; you have to delve into the text and find not just understanding and comprehension but the human experience as well. You have to make it yours. This is by no means an easy feat, even if the plays in question hadn’t been written 400 years ago. Thankfully, Shakespeare gave us a map: the verse.

READ MORE HERE!

The Great ANONYMOUS Debate

2011-10-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

Was Shakespeare a fraud? Roland Emmerich seems to pose that question in his new film, ANONYMOUS (Sony Pictures) that opens Friday, October 28, 2011.

There seem to be several arguments surrounding this topic, many in Shakespeare's favor. However we have been hardpressed to find anyone who can attest to the fact that Edward de Vere is the true author of the classic plays that we have come to love. Despite there being little evidence, ANONYMOUS is claiming just that.

Was Edward de Vere (or someone else) the true brilliance behind the plays, or is William Shakespeare still due the credit of writing these remarkable works?

What do you think?

Congratulations to our Photo Contest Winner

2011-10-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

After heavy debate, the staff at Philly Shakespeare has chosen the Romeo and Juliet act V, scene iii photo of apples and oranges. We also enjoyed that Juliet was bleeding orange juice (Blood Orange anyone?) and that Romeo is the fabled poisoned apple. Well done Giana Marinelli, a student in Temple's Shakespeare in Movies class!

Did you participate in and enjoy this contest? Please email your questions and comments to rebecca@phillyshakespeare.org and check back soon for more information.

9/11 and Titus Andronicus: Remembering - Article in Foreign Policy

2011-09-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

"It was Sept. 13, 2001, and I was 21 years old. Two days earlier, I had walked into Kastan's Shakespeare class before the attacks began and walked out after the second tower had already fallen. Columbia canceled classes for two days. I spent my time at the daily student newspaper, the Spectator, where I was managing editor. On Thursday morning, the first class back was Shakespeare.

"'I will not make a political statement today,' Kastan continued. 'But I will say this: This play we will discuss today is about revenge -- and what demanding revenge can do to a person. I only hope that the people who will be making decisions on how to respond to Tuesday's attacks read Titus Andronicus.'"

Reading Shakespeare in Kandahar - By Nick Schifrin | Foreign Policy

Fringe Photo Contest!

2011-08-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons!

A natural perspective, that is and is not!

-Twelfth Night

The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre is launching our 15th Anniversary Season by giving away a Season Subscription!

Here is all that you have to do to win a 6-Ticket Bard Card that you can use for any Twelfth Night or Titus Andronicus performance:

Step 1) Stage a photograph of a specific scene, quote, or theme in your favorite Shakespeare Play.

Step 2) Upload your photo to our Facebook Wall; tag yourself and anyone else who is in the photo. Feel free to write a 1-2 sentence caption.

The contest ends September 30, 2011 at 11:59 pm. The Philadelphia Shakespeare staff will then choose their favorite photo and contact you for your FREE Bard Card. The winner will be announced October 7, 2011.

Here is an example of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/q8lens/505160118/

Good luck and have fun!

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

-Cymbeline

"Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast."

2011-06-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

It's Friday and you want some fun news.

This summer our Classical Acting Academy is going to bring you a lot of fun with The Comedy of Errors.

One of Shakespeare’s earliest and most vibrant comedies, The Comedy of Errors is a whirlwind adventure of mistaken identities that ends in the reconciliation of a family that has been torn apart by a shipwreck.

That said, we are really going to take you for a ride!

Our Classical Acting Academy is full of wonderful, bright, and extremely talented individuals. They will soon embark on an immersion experience in classical acting techniques and performance. Over a period of eight weeks, actors work with Director Rosemary Hay, text and acting coaches and a combat director in a professional setting, allowing them the unique opportunity to be with professionals who are working in the field. Actors have the chance to be considered for the mainstage spring productions.

2011 Classical Acting Academy Cast:

Keith Wallace Antipholus of Ephesus

Aaron Lofton Antipholus of Syracuse

Robin Stift Dromio of Syracuse

Daniel Harward Dromio of Ephesus

Rose Fairley Adriana

James Lepone Egeon

Amy- Helene Carlson Luciana

Judy Feingold Courtesan/ Abbess

Mary Decarlo Duchess

Anat Eshel Luce

Caleb Wimble Dr. Pinch/ Balthasar

Jason Singer Angelo

Sara Group Waitress

Joining this wonderful cast, our crew:

Gary Gogol
Production Manager

Ken Jordan
Company Manager
Lighting Designer

Janelle Caso
Stage Manager

Sara Prince
Assistant Stage Manager

Rosey Hay
Director

Brey Ann Barrett
Assistant Director

Paul Winnick
Sound Designer

Jill Keys
Costume Designer

Andi Sharavsky
Props Designer

Heather Lucas
Props/Electrics/Set

Also, one more little treat!

Ken Jordan, the Lighting Designer, has shared paintings with us that will give you a sense of what this show will look like!

What do you think?

Curtains....

2011-05-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, there you have it. The 2010/11 Season of The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre. We made you laugh and dance with As You Like It. We opened up your mind with a female Hamlet. We offered our stage to the artistic community with our Classical Cabaret Series. Broke box office records with our free Classical Acting Academy show of Henry V. Not to mention brought our touring production of Hamlet to no less than 14 schools! Readings, symposiums, connoisseur series, and reading groups! Scholar-in-Residence, teaching artist residencies, learning, growing, discovering.

We hope you enjoyed this season and would like to thank you all for your continued support!

Thank you.

But it doesn't stop. Nope.

We are already hard at work creating a new and exciting season for you. This one's a doozy.

Welcome to our 15th Anniversary Season.

Ready. Set. Go.

Directors Carmen Khan and Aaron Cromie conducting auditions:

Places!

2011-04-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Here we are! Opening Night of two complete shows in repertory. One is arguably the greatest play of all time, mysterious, and multi-layered, allows the audience to tap into their humanity. The other, in contrast, vibrant, lyrical, and poignant, provides a whimsical escape.

Join us for discussion forums after the shows!

Hamlet - April 17th
As You Like It - April 24th

Thank you for all of your support this season! Enjoy the shows!

New Video!!

2011-04-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

How do we put on two shows at the same time, you ask? Well, watch this video and see how we change the set from the Denmark castle of Elsinore to Duke Frederick's court in France. Our fabulous crew – comprised of Stage Manager - Cherie Tay (member of Actors' Equity Association), Assistant Stage Manager - Meredith Sonnen, Company Manager - Ken Jordan, and Production Assistant - Joseph Fox –

work hard to change aspects of the David Gordon's set to create a completely different environment for the audience. Two plays, one set, infinite possibilities.

WATCH:

We're Likin' As You Like It

2011-03-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

Even though Hamlet is up and running, our crew has not stopped creating. Rehearsals for As You Like It are continuing and becoming more creative each rehearsal! We want you to be creative as well. We want you to send us a picture of one of your favorite childhood toys and tell us why you liked it! We will pick our favorites and add them to our next Blog!

Send Us Your Memories: rebecca@phillyshakespeare.org

An Interview with our Hamlet

2011-03-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Interview: Female Hamlet Mary Tuomanen

The actress on gender, how Hamlet’s a bit of a misogynist, and manning up

by Emily Guendelsberger March 21, 2011

Actress Mary Tuomanen has played Shakespearean characters of dubious gender with The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre—lately, the androgynous fairy Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and cross-dressing Rosalind from As You Like It. She’s continuing on to the most famous role in theater in the PST’s production of Hamlet, which opened Friday and runs in repertory with As You Like It through May 14; Tuomanen will be the first woman to take the lead role in the city since legendary stage actress Charlotte Cushman in 1861. The A.V. Club talked with her about manning up, why female Hamlets are more controversial today than they were in the 19th century, and how the Prince of Denmark’s dick behavior actually makes it easier to relate.
A.V. Club: Hamlet’s one of the most famous roles in drama. Did you ever expect to play him?
Mary Tuomanen: Never. I’ve always admired Charlotte Cushman, Sarah Bernhardt, but it never occurred to me that I would play the role. My introduction to theater was through Shakespeare; I used to have audio tapes of Kenneth Branagh, Romeo And Juliet, and Hamlet, and I was so excited just sitting around listening to him speak. Hamlet is one of the first plays I ever fell in love with, but it never occurred to me that I would ever play the role.
AVC: Have you been any other characters in the play?
MT: No, but I did audition first for the role of Ophelia; then [director] Carmen [Khan] had the funny idea of having me read for Hamlet. It was out of the blue; I had one day to prepare, then I came in and read for Hamlet, and that was that.
No, wait—in high school I did play Rosencrantz, in this overly sexy dress—this very sexed-out Rosencrantz. It was pretty funny.
AVC: You mentioned Kenneth Branagh—do you have any other favorite Hamlets?
MT: There was a production at Trinity Repertory in 2006; it was the only perfect production of Hamlet I’ve ever seen. It was this man named Stephen Thorne, and he performed Hamlet in Providence, Rhode Island. It was utterly inspiring; it will always be my favorite Hamlet, I think.
He portrayed a Hamlet whose best friend was the audience—he was this modern man trapped in a crazy revenge fantasy, and he would look out at the audience in the middle of a scene, like, “Do you see this guy? What’s going on? What’s happening to me?” (Laughs.) You felt so bad for him! It was so funny, there was such warmth and humor and desperation in his performance. It’s the only Hamlet where I wept—outrageously—at the end.
AVC: Did you draw from Thorne, or any other Hamlets?
MT: As soon as I knew I had the role, I tried to stay away from other people’s performances so that they wouldn’t influence mine, so that it would be utterly mine. The advice I keep getting from older actors who have played Hamlet is, “Make it you, he’s you.” But Stephen Thorne’s performance cannot help but be an influence, because it was the first time I looked at Hamlet and said, “That’s me.”
AVC: My next question was going to be if you’d drawn from any particular female Hamlets, and I guess you haven’t. This is disappointing, because in doing research for this interview, I came across this Turkish Hamlet from 1978 with a woman in the lead, and, well, it is totally insane, and I was hoping to discuss it.
MT: No, but that sounds awesome! I should check it out after this!
AVC: I’ll email it to you—it is out of control.
MT: Thank you!
You know, I’m a theater person, I go to the theater all the time, but I’ve never seen a female Hamlet. It’s much rarer than you’d think, especially because there’s this great legacy of Bernhardt and Cushman. Bizarrely, I think doing it now is more provocative than it was, at least in the United States.
AVC: Why do you say that?
MT: With gay civil rights in the news, it’s more salacious to have a woman kissing a woman onstage, even if she’s playing a man. Especially in something as traditional as Shakespeare.
AVC: So back in the day of Bernhardt, gay rights were so far from people’s minds that it wasn’t seen as sexual? Like, the idea of two women wanting to have sex with each other was too preposterous to cross people’s minds, even when there were women kissing onstage?
MT: The term lesbian (even though Charlotte Cushman was a lesbian herself) wasn’t a common term. It existed, but it wasn’t very… loud in popular culture. So you could get away with more things with a wink, because everything was a wink, everything was in shadow. Now everything’s out on the table, and America actually has to deal with a population of people who are demanding civil rights, and I think that changes the climate around productions like this.
AVC: You’re also playing Rosalind in As You Like It, who spends much of the play disguised as a page. What are the differences between playing a woman pretending to be a man and just playing a man?
MT: “How good of an actor is this character?” With Rosalind, you have to be very aware that she’s having fun, and the moments where she forgets herself are the moments where she becomes more feminine. The baseline is the softness of someone who has always lived at court, who has always had pretty dresses. In Carmen’s production, the girls at court hang out in an attic full of girly toys, they live in this hyper-feminized world.
So she’s definitely trying on a role. The swagger is a little more swagger-y, and the punch on the shoulder has a little too much thrust in it; she’s trying slightly harder. Which is really fun to play with.
AVC: So in this production, if you’re standing still and not speaking, what in the makeup and costuming is marking you as male?
MT: They have me in a really, really nice suit. It’s modern dress. It’s a women’s suit, but it’s cut in a way that makes me look pretty legitimately masculine. And I have a tie. [Laughs.]
There’s a lot to be done with my hair, because it’s very easy for me to look like a little boy, and Hamlet needs to be a little more than boyish. The transformation of my hair over the course of the play has been fun; we tried slicking it back, and I had a part, and I looked like I was from Hogwarts… (Laughs.) But it turns out the crazier I get, the more I pull at my hair and make it explode and look bizarre, the more I look like Hamlet. As we go through the production, it’s becoming less important that I look like a man and more that I look like Hamlet.
AVC: The director said that she wants to show how universal the character of Hamlet is, how it’s about being human rather than male or female. What are some things that you find universal about the character?
MT: Definitely the complex relationships of children and their fathers, what it means to make your father proud—it’s so universal, and so intense. Especially now that women are expected to succeed in similar ways as men; if I go over to a classroom at Wharton business school, I’ll see people of all genders.
And also the problem of a thinking person, a sensitive person, living in the world and seeing how horrible people are to one another and saying, “Yeah, I’ll continue to live,” and justifying that. I think everyone has periods like that.
AVC: There are a lot more female Hamlets than there are female King Lears, for example; in part because Hamlet seems to be regarded by a lot of people as sort of feminine to begin with. I guess because he’s all full of feelings and stuff?
MT: [Laughs.] Apparently only girls do that.
AVC: But I remember reading this for the first time in high school and thinking he was a total dick to women.
MT: Right?
AVC: He uses a lot of words that suggest he doesn’t like women very much—like “whore,” or getting mad at himself for crying like a woman. How do you feel about saying those things?
MT: I think you’re absolutely right—there’s a virulent strain of misogyny in the character of Hamlet. But I actually really, really related to it. When you’ve gone through childhood not particularly thinking about your gender, then you hit puberty and all of a sudden you’re constrained to this role, it can be very, very frustrating. Especially if you grew up a tomboy, and you don’t want to suddenly be different from your male friends. It’s thrust upon you, and it’s difficult to deal with.
So that rage I felt against my own gender was really easy to put into Hamlet. He catches himself crying, he catches himself whining, he catches himself being an absolute coward—like, I man up all the time. I don’t want to act sensitive; I don’t want to cry in front of people. I think that pressure exists all the time, especially as women go into fields of business, et cetera; there’s pressure to man up.
AVC: So now you’re under more literal pressure to man up; what do you do with your voice and body language to appear more masculine onstage, and were there any characters or real people that you drew from?
MT: [Laughs.] I have a lot of male friends, and I’ve been told I have that playful, talking-among-boys manner with them anyway. In the scenes with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, it was really easy to access. Another nice thing is that my real-life dear, dear friend is playing Horatio, so all of that affection is easy to access, too. As far as studying particular men, I feel like my manner is already pretty androgynous in life.
My mother tried to raise me pretty non-gender-specifically; she didn’t get me girly toys, and I think that affected my bearing as I grew up. In Paris, I went to a world where gender roles are very clear and so fixed; my female friends were very precise with their femininity. And it was fun to live in that culture for a while, to wake up and put on a dress, to experiment with that costume. As I’ve grown up, it’s been more of a quest for my feminine side than my masculine side, I guess.

Presenting: Hamlet

2011-03-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

So, here we are. This is where it all comes together. The sound, the props, the rehearsing, the script- all combining to produce an experience that allows the audience to join us on a journey through the human spirit. Our preview performances of Hamlet begin this evening and we invite all of you to join us for the coming weeks. Below are some gorgeous production photos to offer a sneak peek at what is in store.

With a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no!

2011-03-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

Music is filling the air here at The Theatre! Actors are singing, dancing and rejoicing. Sound Designer, Fabian Obispo is creating a fabulous musical atmosphere. Music Directors John Jarboe and Kate Raines, pictured below (along with Eric Wunsch), rehearsing exciting songs for the productions.

Meet Louise Grafton's Properties!

2011-03-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

Louise Grafton has been making props for more years than she cares to admit. The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre is thrilled to have Louise crafting props for Hamlet and As You Like It. Here is a sneak peek at some of the amazing pieces that you will see!

Come, where is this young gallant that is so desirous to lie with his mother earth?

2011-02-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

Orlando and Charles. Hamlet and Laertes. Fight! This week our rehearsals have started to get exciting. Sword fighting and wrestling. Our fight choreographer, Mike Cosenza, has been working with our actors to design epic fight scenes. Take a look!

Dan Higbee shouldering Mike Cosenza

Jason Greenfield* prepares to attack

Mary Tuomanen understand the point

Jason Greenfield* and Dan Higbee try a maneuver


Mary Tuomanen and Mike Cosenza duel

*Members of Actors' Equity Association

The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre Presents Hamlet and As You Like It

2011-02-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

Rehearsals have begun and we are swinging into high gear. Artistic/Executive Director Carmen Khan is working with the actors, designers, and staff to craft an amazing season. Below are some pictures of the first rehearsal. The Theatre will be giving a behind the scenes peek at what we do to bring Shakespeare to you. Enjoy!

Mary Tuomanen and Jason Greenfield*

Stage Manager Cherie Tay*

John Little*, Ames Adamson*, and Terry Gleeson

Johnny Smith and Kate Raines
are reading along

Mary Tuomanen is Hamlet and Rosalind

John Jarboe as Horatio and Amiens

Mary Tuomanen

Victoria Rose Bonito as Ophelia and Celia

John Jarboe


Ames Adamson, John Little, John Jarboe, Dan Higbee, Victoria Rose Bonito

Amanda Grove, Mary Tuomanen, and Jason Greenfield*

*Members of Actors' Equity Association

Revenge Tragedies not by Shakespeare

2010-11-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

While this is a Shakespeare blog and Shakespeare is undoubtedly the focus, there were many other wonderful playwrights and plays from the 16th and 17th centuries. This year, the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater will present Hamlet, so I thought I'd list some of my other favorite revenge tragedies of the period.

As anyone who came to the lecture two weeks ago knows, I love Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. What's not to love about a play where Revenge and a ghost watch the entire action, where the revenge takes place in a play within a play where each character speaks a different language, and where the main character bites out his own tongue?

Another weird and wonderful play of the period is The Revenger's Tragedy by Thomas Middleton. The world of the play is deeply cynical, but the language is beautiful and Vindice (the main character) is fascinating--what Hamlet would have been like if he'd brooded on revenge for years instead of days. This is the only play of the period for which there is a good film version.

The Duchess of Malfi Homepage calls it "one of the greatest achievements of English Renaissance drama" and I agree. The Duchess is the equal to Shakespeare's Cleopatra in the richness and majesty of her character, the love between her and Antonio is, hands down, the most moving portrait of married love created in the period, and the psychological tension is almost unbearable.

Finally, I have to mention the fabulously named 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, about which I have only one thing to say: Romeo and Juliet with incest. Okay, I'll say one other thing. You will actually find yourself rooting for the brother and sister/lovers. Really.

While it would be wonderful if we could see these plays acted, they all read very well (especially 'Tis Pity She's a Whore) and all the plays are available in reasonably priced, well footnoted editions. So if you're looking for something to while away the long winter nights, any of these plays would go wonderfully with the dark and cold of late November!

Queen Elizabeth

2010-11-16T17:15:00.000-08:00

For most of his life, Shakespeare would have celebrated November 17th as a national holiday, marking the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne. It is hard to overstate the importance of Elizabeth's reign, to England or to Shakespeare, and there are many wonderful biographies of her, so there is no need to go into details about her life, but the anniversary of her accession seemed like a good time to pause and consider a few salient points.

The first point, often overlooked, is simply that Elizabeth didn't die. After the six year reign of her brother, Edward VI, and the five year reign of her sister, Mary I, the simple fact that Elizabeth lived and ruled until 1603 (almost half a century) provided England with much needed stability.It could have ended very differently--Elizabeth was struck with smallpox in 1563, just five years into her reign, and came near death. If that had happened, there would likely have been civil war, with no clear claimant to the throne and Catholics and Protestants each supporting their own candidate. With the clarity of hindsight, we look back and see the Elizabethan era as one of stability and continuity--Merry Old England the way it should be. In reality, it was, for many decades, a period of uncertainty, politically, religiously, internationally and even economically. It was not until after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, in 1588, that the Elizabethan Era can really be said to have arrived (and even then, fear of Catholic spies and invasions, and concern over who would succeed Elizabeth remained)

The second point develops from the uncertainty described above. It seems undeniable that one of the reasons the theater of this period was so incredibly rich is because of Elizabeth. When Shakespeare, and the other early playwrights--Marlowe, Kyd, Heywood and so on--were writing, they had constantly before them a living paradox. Elizabeth as she famously put it, had "the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but..the heart and stomach of a king." She was an unmarried woman in a patriarchal culture, yet she was more powerful than any man. She was the Virgin Queen who was a huge flirt and constantly dangled her marriage as a prize to be won (or bought). She was constantly second guessing and changing her mind, driving her council to distraction, but on certain things she was immovable. And she was incredibly skilled in how she presented herself, in language, in costume and in action. The greatest playwrights of the day grew up in her shadow, absorbed her lessons, and created a theater of complex characters that have never been equaled on any stage.

So everyone who loves Shakespeare, who has ever admired Cleopatra, Juliet, Rosalind, or even Lady Macbeth, raise a glass in honor of Queen Elizabeth I this November 17th. She helped make all those characters possible!

A Tale of Two Macbeths

2010-10-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

Last year The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater (PST) presented a production of Macbeth. This fall, Wilma Theater is doing their own version. Both productions were excellent in terms of acting and directing, but completely different. This is one of the things I love best about Shakespeare--unlike Beckett or Shaw, directors and actors can play with the Shakespearean text and provide radically different experiences for their audiences. So I thought I'd compare a few key moments in the two productions. One note: the night I attended the Wilma's production Ed Swidey played Macbeth. His performance was quite extraordinary, but since most people will not see him, I won't comment on or compare the Macbeths.

The Supernatural: PST had a much reduced cast overall, so instead of three witches they had one, Mary Tuomanen in a shapeless black robe, with a veil over her face and a rattling staff. In contrast the Wilma's production (which was all in modern dress) featured witches dressed as homeless women, in rags and bruised faces.

The PST used a light hand with the supernatural elements--Banquo's ghost was not on stage and the apparitions were represented by flashpaper bursts. Instead, the focus was on Macbeth's reactions, and Ron Heneghan was more than up to the task of creating the visions for the audience through his voice and body. The one special effect PST did use was one not called for in the play--the basin of water the Macbeths (and eventually others) used to wash their hands in had a second, hidden, bowl of stage blood, so that people could variously be seen as purified or corrupted.

Theater companies often go overboard with the special effects in Macbeth but the Wilma managed to be elaborate and innovative. Instead of Macbeth traveling to see the witches, they swarmed into the castle on the heel of the banquet scene, tossing dishes to the floor and turning the soup tureen into their cauldron. When Macbeth appeared, they dragged him to the upper level and the apparitions appeared below, each actor clad in black but with a blacklight mask so that they appeared to be floating heads. The effect, especially with the addition of multiple overlapping voices, was quite powerful.

Music: Here I have to give the nod to the PST--the use of live music and exotic instruments created an entire world for the audience and made the performance much more powerful and intimate since the actors provided the soundscape. The Wilma's music was generally effective, although the mass like song that greeted Duncan's entrance at the opening of 1.4 seemed excessive. At no point, however, was it as powerful as that produced by the PST.

The Macbeths' relationship: Here is a place where the two companies overlapped a great deal. In both productions the deep affection between husband and wife was obvious in the early scenes, and Lady Macbeth's devotion to her husband's career was clear. Both productions showed the first cracks in their relationship early on, even before Banquo's death, and both productions demonstrated the loss of love through physical separation of the actors at the end of the banquet scene.

Both productions received high praise from those I went with--in one case a number of colleagues who, while academics, were not English professors and in the other an Introduction to Shakespeare class. In both cases, everyone commented how much seeing the play added to the understanding and enjoyment of reading it. It's perhaps an obvious point (being made on a theater company's blog) but Shakespeare wrote his plays to be seen and heard, not read, and they really come alive best with a talented company of actors. Even films are second best to a live performance, so everyone should see as much live theater as possible (not that I'm biased).

Favorite Shakespeare Films

2010-10-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

Out of the overwhelming number of Shakespearean films and adaptations, which are the best? This is, of course, a highly personal and idiosyncratic list, but I hope it spurs discussion and additions to Netflicks cues!

1. Ran (adaptation of King Lear): Kurosawa also directed an adaptation of Macbeth (Throne of Blood) that is better known, but I'm choosing this one because of the staggeringly beautiful cinematography, the amazing battle scene and the depth of emotion Kurosawa creates.

2. Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, . As a Shakespeare scholar I'm supposed to prefer the Olivier version, but I absolutely think this one is better. I think Branagh's attempt to make a post-Vietnam, post-Falkland Islands, dark version of the play, and the fact that Henry still ends up admirable and heroic, exactly catches the complexity of Shakespeare's original (Norman's article "Rabbits, Ducks and Henry V" admirably explores how the play is both a heroic epic and a cynical expose, depending on where the viewer looks). Emma Thompson is adorable as Princess Katherine and Brian Blessed is having way too much fun. This is the film that rescued Shakespeare from the perception of being box office poison and created the 90s boom of Shakespeare films. Plus, it has the St. Crispian's Day speech.

3. Orson Welles' Othello. This highly personal, deeply interpretive view of the play does suffer from Welles playing Othello in blackface, but I still marvel at the surreal direction. This clip from the final scene demonstrates this--much of it is just Othello's face, emerging from the darkness, and there is no shot of him killing himself, just bodies falling. Mirror and reflections abound and this is one of the few films that I think finds a visual language as rich and complex as Shakespeare's textual one.

4. Michael Almereyda's Hamlet. Like Welles, Almeryda finds a visual language and symbolism that works with instead of against Shakespeare's text. The film is not just a modernized version of the play we all know too well; it's a thoughtful investigation on how media influences our reactions to events, even personal ones. Everyone is always watching, filming, reviewing and editing their experiences, unable to simply live them. Brilliant.

5. Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. Okay, this is a sentimental pick! More than 50% of the verse is cut. It's hokey. It's got a ridiculous love song. No one can speak the lines. But it's so pretty! Everyone is beautiful, Italy is beautiful, the costumes are beautiful, and sometimes you just need to sit back and soak up some pure and unalloyed schmaltz. And if you're only up for five minutes of schmaltz, this Youtube video gives you all of the pretty and non of the mangling of Shakespeare's language.

So those are my top 5. Today at least. What are yours?

Some thoughts on Macbeth

2010-10-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was at Fairleigh Dickinson University taking part in a day long colloquium on Macbeth. There were four talks given and I thought I would summarize and highlight some of the most interesting points.

The first paper, by Arthur Kinney, grappled with the question of why Macbeth remains appealing to audiences as a character, despite his murders. Kinney's argument is that Macbeth has more interiority than almost any of Shakespeare's characters--we the audience know what Macbeth thinks, his doubts, hopes and struggles, and this bonds us to him.

I gave the second talk, and argued that the Weird Sisters (side note: did you realize that these characters are never called witches in the play?) embody a kind of ambiguous fluidity that is opposed to the masculine world of Macbeth, where everything is ordered, structured and clearly labeled (even murder). After all, the Weird Sisters win in the end--everything they prophesied comes true and they are never called to account.

The third talk, by Steve Mentz was, to my mind, the most fascinating. He is engaged in the newest form of literary criticism--ecocriticism. This is a way of examining works of art through the lens of humanity's engagement with the natural world. Mentz argued that there is a "green world" of forests, a world of stability that is supportive of humanity (think of Birnam Wood) and a "blue world" of water, a world of instability that is either hostile to or simply inhospitable for humans. When he first started speaking, I wasn't sold, but by the end I was. I had no idea how many metaphors of water there were in Macbeth, from the "two spent swimmers" in 1.2 to Macbeth's request that the Doctor "sound the waters" of Scotland. Very impressive.

The final speaker, Iska Alter, spoke about the movie Scotland PA which is a wonderful adaptation of Macbeth. If you haven't seen it, it is well worth watching--Shakespeare's play is set in the 1970s in a fast food restaurant. The witches are dope smoking hippies and Macduff is a vegetarian police detective. In case you haven't see the movie, here's the trailer to whet your appetite!

In all, it was a wonderful colloquium that gave me some new thoughts about Macbeth and also made me remember the fantastic performance The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater did last year. The Wilma has a production of the Scottish play running now and I'm going to see it this Friday, so I'll be able to write up a comparative review soon.

Shakespeare in Five Minutes

2010-10-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

Just for fun: an almost wordless, five minute run down of all of Shakespeare's works? Can't be done? Watch and see:

Welcome

2010-10-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater blog!

Our goal in starting this blog is to provide Shakespeare lovers with behind the scenes information on upcoming productions and events, fun and informative posts about Shakespeare and his times, and links to all things Shakespeare.

You'll see posts from a variety of people--scholars, directors, and actors. We hope this blog enriches your experience with Shakespeare and the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater. Please let us know what you think or what topics you'd like to see covered.

Hamlet a woman?!

2010-09-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hamlet is one of the greatest roles in theater history and so it is unsurprising that women as well as men would dream of playing the prince. What may be surprising to some, however, is how longstanding the tradition of women playing Hamlet is and how much the casting of a woman can bring to both the play and the audience.

Shakespeare, of course, was entirely familiar with cross-gender casting since all of his female parts were played by boys. And in several places, most notably As You Like It and Twelfth Night, he created at least the idea of the opposite, as the heroines in each case spend most of the play “disguised” as boys. In the comedies, at least, Shakespeare seems to have encouraged his audience to play with and blur gender.

The tragedies do not often offer the same kind of blurring that the comedies do—although in plays like Macbeth and Othello the tragedy seems to grow out of the protagonist’s inability to escape from “being a man.” Hamlet, however, is different, and scholars from the early 19^th century on have noted that the character of Hamlet crosses many boundaries—medieval/modern, hero/coward, and male/female. In fact, in 1881, Edward P. Vining wrote The Mystery of Hamlet, in which he argued that Shakespeare had meant Hamlet to be a woman, stating “The charms of Hamlet's mind are essentially feminine in their nature.” Delacriox painted Hamlet with feminine characteristics and Asta Nielson produced and starred in a silent film that provided backstory to explain why a princess would have been raised as a boy. Each time there have been political struggles for women’s rights, female Hamlets have taken the stage—in England, in America, in Asia and Eastern Europe, from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.

When a director casts a female actor as Hamlet, there are two choices for that actor—to play the character as male or to reimagine the role as “Princess Hamlet.” Neither is the better choice but they each offer actors and audiences a different experience. The former brings into sharp focus questions of Hamlet’s universality, as well as the play’s treatment of grief, love and revenge, without drastically changing the relationships within the play. The latter choice forces a more overt and feminist reconsideration of gender roles in terms of politics and violence, as well as a necessary change in many of the relationships (Ophelia and Hamlet, for example). In Nielson’s movie, for example, Ophelia clearly goes mad because her love is (to her, inexplicably) unrequited, while the disguised Hamlet pines for Horatio. Only on her deathbed is she able to reveal both her gender and her love to her friend.