The New York-based Fiasco Theater’s production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona currently at the Folger is just great fun.

From the moment the audience enters the theater, they are met by a frisky, spirited cast out to romance them as if a groundling watching Two Gents for the very first time; without a clue of what to expect. The six member cast flirts with the audience easily, even sitting on the edge of the stage to reduce audience defenses. Then the show is ready to begin.

Quickly from the moment some notes of music are heard, the Folger space is charged up, full of life with a come-hither casualness.

Now, I have used the title phrase “Two Gents” deliberately. The Fiasco cast and overall production gives off a sense of familiarity and unstuffiness. The Bard’s words are there. His characters and all their flaws are present too. Just that there is a friendliness to the production, rather than a rigid sense of distance. The evening felt like good friends putting on a play just for me like a special birthday present or a wedding gift for my wife and me.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona remains what Shakespeare wrote. It is centered on two male best friends forever, Valentine (Zachary Fine) and Proteus (Noah Brody). These two gentlemen from Verona have traveled to Milan to learn more about the world. This being a Shakespearean comedy, they also learn of the opposite sex as well. In Milan, they both come to fall in love with the same woman, Sylvia (Emily Young).

But, our dear Proteus has all too quickly forgotten the woman he loved in Verona; Julia (Jessie Austrian) a well brought-up coy maiden. “So, the remembrance of my former love is by a newer object quite forgotten.” Yuck, what a cad. Julia is well served by a very street smart maid named Lucetta (Emily Young, double cast) who helps her cope. There is also the usual rough-hued humor in the show in the guise of Lance (Andy Grotelueschen) , a clownish servant and his faithful, ever amusing, scene-stealing dog Crab (Zachary Fine, double-cast). There is also another man-servant Speed (Paul L. Coffey) who your reviewer will quote from later.

There is plenty of adversity: a strong-willed father (Andy Grotelueschen, double cast), a loser of a suitor (Paul L. Coffey, double cast), wayward outlaws, disguised identities and the cross-dressing of Julia to become a page-boy as she checks up on her old lover-boy Proteus. But even with a scene of a brutal nature and these words spoken by Proteus to Sylvia, “I’ll force thee yield to my desire” comes almost immediate forgiveness and shifting affections.

Somehow, true love prevails. The best male friends forever Valentine and Proteus reconcile and marriages are to take place between Valentine and Sylvia as well as inexplicably between Proteus and Julia.

Under the co-direction of Fiasco company artistic directors and founders Jessie Austrian and Ben Steinfeld the overall production is full of life and talent. In its modern setting, The Two Gentlemen of Verona production and cast come off as a close-knit family; not just a professional acting company. They give off vibes of loving what they are doing. There is a bounce in the fluid movements of each of them. The co-directors have the cast members always in sight, even when not “on stage” they sit around the edges to be seen, sometimes egging on their compatriots. The cast also brings music to the production playing guitar, lute, whistle and stringed bass at various times.

Each of the actors brings something modern and special to their characters in Two Gents. Young is simply so very frisky, yet you know she is steadfast. She is the kind of person, you go out for a drink and stay to throw darts and laugh, beer in hand. Austrian is the great sport who will do anything to try to make you smile, a kind of womanly John Belushi, but be careful, she has an easily lit fuse and hidden temper. Fine is the wing-man, always there, always trusted to get someone out of jam. He is the guy to be with when life is a mess, since he will impersonate a dog and lick your face until you cry happy tears. Grotelueschen is the one who makes sure the refrigerator is stocked with everyone’s favorite foods and then ends up driving someone home because he is just such a decent guy and under-appreciated. And Brody? Well he is the one who walks in anywhere; and everyone, male and female just stop in midair to gaze and drink him in. But, there is something about him, that causes the young women in the crowd to be on guard…yup not quite trustworthy. As for marriage, really?

Four-time Helen Hayes awardee James Kronzer’s setting for Two Gents at the Folger is spare, with a feeling like a Frank Lloyd Wright house living room. There is a wooden floor buffed to perfection, some wooden chairs and props such a dusty pink and lavender paper lanterns and the audience imagination. The lighting by Tim Cryan is gives off a summery pink tint to accentuate the cream-colored scheme for the costumes; ivory lace for the women, and suits of various shades of autumn wheat and light beige for the men.

A bit of history for the new-in-town Fiasco Theater. It is an ensemble theater company created by graduates of the Brown University/Trinity Rep M.F.A. acting program. According to Fiasco marketing materials the word “fiasco” was first used to describe commedia dell’arte performances that went wrong. The company believes “that only when artists are brave enough to risk a fiasco can they create the possibility of something special. They chose the name Fiasco to remind themselves to brave the huge leaps in the hopes of discovering huge rewards.”

Simply stated, The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a cunning delight. It gives off a fresh perspective, pacing and tone, rather than deep new insights. Makes your reviewer want to know what is next in store for the Fiasco folk, especially as they may grow and, oh gosh, that word, mature.

And finally as your reviewer often does with a Bard work, to end with this from The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Speed: If you love her, you cannot see her. Valentine: Why? Speed: Because love is blind.

Photo Gallery

Fiasco Theater singing ‘Who is Sylvia?’ Zachary Fine, Emily Young, Andy Grotelueschen, Paul L. Coffey, and Noah Brody	Proteus (Noah Brody) unknowingly hands a loving token received back to a disguised Julia (Jessie Austrian)
Emily Young (Sylvia) showers the stage with letters	Valentine (Zachary Fine, left) and Proteus (Noah Brody) awash with letters

Photos by Jeff Malet

Cast

• Julia: Jessie Austrian
• Proteus: Noah Brody
• Speed/Thurio: Paul L. Coffey
• Valentine: Zachary Fine
• Lance/Duke: Andy Grotelueschen
• Lucetta/Sylvia: Emily Young

Artistic and Design Team

• Janet Alexander Griffin; Folger Theatre Artistic Producer
• Folger Theatre Assistant Artistic Producer: Beth Emelson
• Fiasco Theater Associate Producer: Michael Francis
• Co-Director: Jessie Austrian
• Co-Director: Ben Steinfeld
• Scenic Designer: Jim Kronzer
• Costume Designer: Whitney Locher
• Lighting Designer: Tim Cryan
• Production Stage Manager: Shane Schnetzler
• Assistant Technical Director: Rebekah Sheffer
• Programs Assistant: Katharine Pitt
• Flight Choreographer: Noah Brody
• Assistant Scenic Designer: Jeremy W. Foil
• Props Designer: Travis Bell
• Wardrobe Head: Edwin Schiff
• Master Electrician: Karen Mayhew
• Light Board Operator: John Rose-Caron
• Production Assistant: James Kramer

Disclaimer: Folger Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

“I am determined to prove a villain,” declares Richard, the cunning Duke of Gloucester and soon to be a king. He is speaking directly to us as his confidants. What a curious way to try to woo us. And yet we stay with him. He is such a charming, master manipulator. We lean forward, attentive to Shakespeare’s Richard III under the confident, “this is how I see it,” direction of Robert Richmond currently at the Folger Theatre.

“If anything in this life is certain; if history has taught us anything, it’s that you can kill anyone.” That is the quote that popped into your reviewer’s mind and resonated as I was both intrigued and captivated by Drew Cortese’s portrayal of that ultimate, poster bad boy, Richard III. Ah but that quoted line is not from Richard III. It is by way of Al Pacino in “Godfather II.” It just seems so fitting given the number of deaths that transpire at Richard’s behest in Shakespeare’s history play.

Cortese is a confident, strong-willed, assertive, sinewy, cat-like, and oh so flirty Richard. He is just trying to make his mark in the discontented world he inhabits, whether summer or winter. It is the time of the War of the Roses in England of the 1400’s.

And it begins, “Now is the winter of our discontent.” Later, when I returned home, another Pacino line came into my mind’s focus. “In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women. That’s why you gotta make your own moves.” Yes, again Pacino, but this time from “Scarface.”

And isn’t Richard supposed to be scared physically and morally? Yet Cortese moves along on his path of destruction, easily strutting about the stage ready to pounce on the those he decides will become his next prey. His famous deformity is rather invisible to this reviewer. Cortese bounds about with a slight limp that is a dueling scar. It adds to his magnetism and, interest. He has no outward appearance of ugliness or scars. Or is there some much deeper scar that his appearance glosses over in this portrayal? You will decide that from your own perspective and life experience.

The story line of Richard and his dreams of becoming King of England is nicely condensed by the Folger Theatre marketing folk; “He carves a way to the throne through assassination and executions.” As time goes by, however, Richard meets a growing resistance to his march to becoming Royalty. His allies desert him. Vengeance and curses begin to take hold. Ghosts appear. His enticing confidence begins to waiver. Where once he was the master of all, increasingly he is alone. Women who were once “eye-candy” become assertive and sting like angry wasps.

Surrounding and sparring with Cortese is a strong ensemble. Many have few lines, but die well whether men, women or two children. The men are the political strategist and physical swordsmen. They serve in hopes of benefiting and surviving with their heads. The women are at the emotional center. They provide steam heat and beating hearts through words and curses.

Some highlighted performances include stage veteran Naomi Jacobson as Queen Margaret. She is the soothsayer, an Oracle of Delphi character. but with a delightfully nasty visceral attitude. She seeks out revenge on Richard for all his terrible deeds, including the murder of her own husband. “Bear with me; I am hungry for revenge” Jacobson gives us venom to savor.

Julia Motyka’s Queen Elizabeth is a tall, slim elegance fitted into a body hugging blood-red long straight gown with a black leather corset. With blond hair up, and her chiseled cheekbones she seems a cool iceberg of a presence, at least at the start. As the calamities proceed, including the murder of her two sons as ordered by Richard, she heats up. A rougher, tougher visage appears. Motyka’s eyes speak with fire even when not a word passes her lips. When Motyka asks Jacobson’s Queen Margaret “to teach me to curse” the words come as if to expose a sharp lethal weapon. When Motyka spits real spittle at Richard, he is momentarily speechless. When the two of them circle each other in Act II, as if in the boxing ring, her movements speak hatred. She has even removed a little silk jacket as if in a boxing match, so as not to get bloody. With her newly exposed fangs, this Queen Elizabeth is no longer mere eye-candy to be taken lightly and to produce heirs only.

Howard W. Overshown is Buckingham, the right-hand man who helps secure the throne for Richard. Over time, he finds himself duped. He will not receive what has been promised to him for his support of Richard’s quest. Overshown’s characterization moves from being cock-sure of his place, to slowly realizing he will pay the ultimate price for not being sufficiently subservient. A right-hand man can never speak truth to power and not pay a price; “I am thus bold to put your grace in mind, Of what you promised me.”

The set by multi Helen Hayes Award Tony Cisek and the overall technical designs of Richard III go well beyond just a first-time re-configuration of the Folger as a theater in the round. The set is minimal. Well, unless except for a black-shrouded coffin center-stage as the production opens

Where there are usually seats on the Folger floor, they have been removed, replaced with a stage area rising from off the floor. As the production progresses, we get to see perhaps nine trap doors from which actors appear, and bodies dispatched and disappear. The audience surrounds the stage area as if at a boxing match with others looking down from the balcony, leaning over the boxing ring beneath them. Richmond has his cast of characters use any and all of the Folger space, not just the central stage area, but the aisles and the balconies.

The imagination gives over to a sound design and music composed by Eric Shimelonis. The incidental organ and other instruments were also played by Shimelonis with vocals of Rebecca Sheir. The sound design includes auditory cues when Richard begins to dream of his victims or ghosts appear before him.

Lighting by Jim Hunter is often a brooding, moody grey tone with strong pinks and purples coming from the numerous trap doors on the raised set when they are opened to accept another dead body. Under effective strobe lighting, the Act II battle scenes are choreographed by Casey Dean Kaleba with clanking swords, battle axes and knives.

Mariah Hale’s costume design places the characters in distant times. The men are in dark, long great coats of leather or wool. The women are in colorful attire with Queen Elizabeth the most fashionable and sensual.

Take this opportunity to see Richard III in the unexpected setting of the Folger Theatre in the round. It has an intimacy to it. Words are not lost. Meanings easily conveyed. Take this opportunity to know a charmer who doesn’t want to kill everyone, just his enemies. Well, those he defines as his enemies, no matter the gender or age.

Allow yourself to pulled in. We do love our well-played, villains, don’t we.

Note: Over the past year, the real life Richard III has been in the news for his bones were discovered under a parking lot in Leicester, England. The real world discovery even leads to a set choice seen as the final words are spoken and the audience files out of the Folger.

Photo Gallery

Naomi Jacobson stars as Queen Margaret	Michael Sharon as Clarence
Buckingham (Howard W. Overshown, left) in counsel with Catesby (Michael Sharon)	Drew Cortese stars as King Richard
King Richard (Drew Cortese), empowered and armed

Photos by Jeff Malet

Cast

• Richard III: Drew Cortese
• Buckingham: Howard W. Overshown
• Queen Margaret: Naomi Jacobson
• Lady Anne: Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan
• Lord Stanley: Richard Sheridan Wills
• King Edward: Paul Morella
• Queen Elizabeth: Julia Motyka
• Duchess of York: Nanna Ingvarsson
• Clarence: Michael Sharon
• Rivers: Michale Gabriel Goodfriend
• Princess Elizabeth: Jenna Berk
• Lovell: Danel Flint
• Ratcliffe: Andrew Criss
• Prince Edward: Holden Brettell
• Duke of York: Remy Brettell
• Hastings/Tymel: Sean Fri

Creative and Design Team

• Director: Robert Richmond
• Scenic Designer: Tony Cisek
• Costume Designer: Mariah Hale
• Lighting Designer: Jim Hunter
• Sound Designer and Music Composition: Eric Shimelonis
• Fight Director: Casey Dean Kaleba
• fight Captain: Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan
• Resident Dramaturg: Michele Osherow
• New York Casting: Daryl Eisenberg, CSA
• Production Stage Manager: Che Wernsman
• Assistant Stage Manager: Keri Schultz
• Artistic Producer: Janet Alexander Griffen
• Assistant Artistic Producer: Beth Emelson

Disclaimer: Folger Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

We know the poetry, we know the outcomes, but still we come to see for ourselves; to be transported away into a world of lovers and loss. In bringing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to view, Helen Hayes Award-winning director Aaron Posner puts his stamp on the plague on both houses showing us a world through a glass darkly.

As Posner wrote in his director’s notes: “I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t the stark honesty and wrenching insight of the darker strains in the play that are the real reason for the enduring appeal of this tragic tale.”

This Romeo and Juliet is set in a vaguely contemporary world; a time of muddles, messiness, and no sureness as to what will follow after the worst that can happen, happens. This is not a high-gloss world of ethereal, lush beauty that floats on a cloud. Posner, his cast and the technical artisans have made a world of sinew.

The star-crossed lovers are certainly front and center. But Posner builds the tensions and conflicts into an eruption of violence and death, without a neatly tied up bow of an epilogue. Rather he has chosen a fade away into an abyss. It is a take that you will decide for yourselves whether it fits for you and your temperament, or is too much a jump off a cliff from what you remember and perhaps want.

This is not a Romeo and Juliet focused on a dewy-eyed, fresh-faced, teen-aged appearing, soft-spoken Daddy’s girl named Juliet making her break into womanhood from out of no-where. She is no waif-like, weaker vessel. There is no bare-chested, hunk of a handsome guy playing the role as a misunderstood teen rebel.

And it works; we respond to it. It works quite well with its sense of roughness pricking us into staying enraptured once again. And, overall, it has an almost adult love story essence, not just a youth infused a ride of energy and awakening.

You all know the story told through Shakespeare’s magical, exquisite language. The poetry that in your youth caused girls to swoon and boys to roll their eyes but take joy in all the male energy. Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet the Capulet; their families caught in a deadly blood feud. They meet unexpectedly, fall in love and swiftly decide to marry. A friar secretly marries them. And then comes challenges to their love and lives. Murders, banishment, fatherly commandments, proposed forced marriage, and the ultimate action of shared love.

Posner has his Juliet (Erin Weaver) an independent and forceful being . She is a woman of bearing and substance. She is far from the 14 of the text, but you will not care. When saying dialogue lines as mundane as “close the door” Weaver does not gently ask; she tells, she expects action.

Words to describe Weaver’s Juliet are spunky and feisty. She is deeply loyal to those she cares for, whether Romeo or her Nurse. She wants not the timid, arranged life of her mother. When first we meet Weaver, she is hiding out in oversized nondescript, grunge-like clothes wearing Doc Martin’s, glasses and often a knit cap. Her burgeoning femininity is hidden away. As she journeys along, her long hair flows into view. She ages into a person we would want to know for the long-term. She is not so much sensual as solid. She comes across as competent and mature in a world of power and subservience.

Goldsmith’s Romeo finds himself overshadowed by Weaver’s Juliet. She awakens something in him. Sure it is youthful sensuality, but it has depth beyond mere teenage lush and longings. Juliet is his muse and leads him into adulthood. She seems to have the steerage of his course.

Are they a pair? The glance across a room, unexpectedly finding one another in a sea of masked others, does spark. But their physical connections feel tentative rather than lustful. Yes they consummate their secret marriage, but somehow, one can sense that if there was a long-term relationship between them, she would out-grow him.

Sherri Edelen’s Nurse is a wonder of comic cackling and boisterous good humor in Act I. But when it counts in Act II, she is a loyal, protective presence to Juliet. She moves believably from a broad comic relief character into a protective knight without sword or shiny metal armor.

Paris (Joe Mallon), the suitor expected to marry Juliet, comes across as doughy, soft, and spongy. He is still living in his baby-fat without whiskers. How could he ever interest Juliet. He is a simple foil in this production. Brad Koed’s Mercutio is the requisite fiery, urgent, hot-head. He presents the famous monologue about Queen Mab, the fairy midwife who helps sleepers birth their dreams, with an at first chipper mocking tone that settles into something deeper. It is a show of deep male friendship. Tybalt (Rex Dougherty) seems lost, almost beaten down in a confrontation with Lord Capulet (Brian Dysktra) in the early goings-on.

Eric Hissom’s Friar Lawrence plays as cunning, well-spoken “smart” man thinking he has the answers to problems at hand. But he sets a fuse that doesn’t burn as planned. He, like Lord Capulet, is a man losing control. Late in Act II, as Dystra’s Lord Capulet erupts into a rage against those he no longer can order about, aiming his full wrath at with his beloved daughter Juliet even your reviewer cowered. It was a volcanic eruption of invective, the last gasp of the old.

The set by Meghan Raham is a two-story affair that becomes whatever is necessary with a minimum of constructed objects. Even the Folger Theatre aisles and balcony are used by the actors. For the Act II dénouement, the second story becomes a haunted, haunting place as the ghosts of the dead hover in near darkness above the action.

Composer Carla Kihistedt provides strong musical underpinning to the performance. In Act II, it sounds like piano black keys playing in a dark minor key. Jennifer Schriever’s often noirish lighting brings faces into a framed intimacy as the rest of the cast disappears in an almost cinematic manner.

Laree Lentz’s costume design is one of richness for the powerful adults with the younger generation set apart in less finery. Juliet is the character with the most consequential changes in costumes. But no matter the costume, she is always set apart.

Posner has chosen not to use the epilogue that many will remember, “A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head: Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished: For never was a story of more woe. Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

It will leave you to wonder; what might be next in the messy world of those remaining alive in Romeo and Juliet. Seems right to me. Go see this production with someone you care about; then chat and make your own decisions. You will be enmeshed once again.

Photo Gallery

Shannon Koob as Lady Capulet	Romeo (Michael Goldsmith) and Juliet (Erin Weaver)
Juliet (Erin Weaver) longing to see her Romeo.	Juliet (Erin Weaver) receives some much needed comfort from her Nurse (Sherri L. Edelen).

Photos by Teresa Wood

Cast

• Benvolio: Aaron Bilden
• Tybalt: Rex Daugherty
• Lord Capulet: Brian Dyskstra
• Nurse: Sherri Edelen
• Romeo: Michael Goldsmith
• Friar Lawrence: Eric Hissom
• Mercutio: Brad Koed
• Lady Capulet: Shannon Koob
• Paris: Joe Mallon
• Lord Montague: Allen McCulloght
• Friar John, Balthazar, Peter: Matthew McGee
• Lady Montague: Michele Osherow
• Juliet: Erin Weaver

Artistic Team

• Director: Aaron Posner
• Composer: Carla Kihlstedt
• Scenic Designer: Meghan Raham
• Costume Designer: Laree Lentz
• Lighting Designer: Jennifer Schriever
• Sound Designer: Christopher Baine
• Fight Director: Casey Dean Kaleba
• Resident Dramaturg: Michele Osherow
• New York Casting: Daryl Eisenberg, CSA
• Production Stage Manager: Jocelyn Henjum
• Assistant Stage Manager: Keri Schultz

Disclaimer: Folger Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

A giddy whirlwind of romance, song and dance is the production of Twelfth Night at Folger Shakespeare Theater. Music from a bygone age of glamour weaves through this story as siblings Viola (Emily Trask) and Sebastian (William Vaughan) are shipwrecked by the famous sinking of the Lusitania in the 1900s. When they are separated by the ocean, Viola assumes her brother must be dead.

In mourning, Viola sees a possibility of what she could become in the figure of a noblewoman named Olivia, (played by Rachel Pickup), who has shut herself off from life and happiness because of a beloved sibling’s death. Viola decides to mourn in her own way, and enters the employ of the Count Orsino (Michael Brusasco) disguised as a man. As she plays the role of her master’s right hand page, and delivers letters to the lady Olivia on his behalf, she sees the pain and pleasure of unrequited love, and begins to fall head over heels herself.

Meanwhile, her brother, Sebastian, has washed up on a remote part of the coastline and is making his way towards the city, with a loyal friend (Antonio, played by Chris Genebach) who is a wanted man. Antonio, however, promises to risk being caught so that Sebastian might have a chance to find his fortune and place in life again. As the siblings circle each other, never realizing the other is there, mistaken identities and similar conundrums arise, all story threads which must be sorted before all can be made well.

This particular production took a leap into the world of music to set the stage for the play. Each song is from the early 1900s, and picked to underscore and score the tone of the play. The actors and pianist were marvelously harmonious, and the song choices were lively and entertaining. In addition, a few of the actors played instruments during the show very skillfully, such as Miss Trask, who played the cello during one of the scene changes.

The set was grandiose and very much resembled parts of an upper class luxury liner. While this was in its way a little odd, considering that the play was set after the shipwreck, not before, it was beautifully done, The set included a large stained glass installation suspended from the ceiling, as well as a grand staircase and a wrought iron grand piano. The scene changes were appropriately minimal, and required only the positioning of two chairs and a bench. However, due to the songs, scene changes often took longer than it would had they just moved the minimal set dressing by itself.

The acting was amazingly cohesive, with various characters and side characters stealing the show in turns. Of particular note was the spirited and transformative performance of Richard Sheridan Willis as Malvolio, a servant to the lady Olivia. He went through a marvelous range of emotions, and dominated the stage every time he stepped out onto it. Emily Trask as Viola was a fair hand at changing her every movement to a convincing representation of a male persona, and because of that her gender deception felt very real. One could believe that the character was supposed to be a man, and she was just as real in both her masculine and feminine personas as one could wish.

Requited love, heartache and redemption tie the story together at the end of the show. Overall, the energy and veracity of the cast as they showcased their wide range of talents and passions makes it a show worth seeing.

Director’s Note

Twelfth Night is such a deliciously romantic, funny, and moving story. After the masculine and aggressive war play of Henry V, we have relished the opportunity to create a world that is so elegant and whimsical. It is a charming play about love in its many forms: unconditional love, unrequited love, self-love, compassionate love, and true love. Each character in the play seeks love in one way or another. Some are successful in their quest, and some are not.

The historical traditions of Twelfth Night, the last celebration of the Christmas holidays, including the Lord of Misrule, role and gender reversal, and the topsy-turvy nature of servants becoming the masters, would have been understood by Shakespeare’s audience. This leads us to ask: what and where is Illyria today?

The creative team and I set about finding a world in which the moral, ethical, and social status of the play would come to life, and we landed somewhere at the beginning of the 1900s. The play conjures a world that cannot move forward without a catalyst, a world where change had to take place, a world that, despite how hard characters may resist, could not avoid the ebb and flow of fate or of time.

We began discussing geographical sites known for their ship wrecks and coastlines that remain remote, mystical, and dangerous. Our research drew me towards the sinking of the Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland in May 1915. The notion of the class distinction onboard a luxury cruise liner, the right of passage of crossing the Atlantic, and the enforced equality of the passengers on board a ship that was sinking all begin to solidify in our thoughts.

And placing the story in this time allows us to explore the musical highlights of the popular tunes and the classical composers of the day. Music, which is a fundamental ingredient to this story, has given us a springboard to dive to the emotional depths of the play and allow this multi talented cast an opportunity to sing, dance, and play musical instruments in the true nature of an ensemble.

With all this in mind, I began to think about the subtitle of the play, What You Will, and I thought perhaps at in this love-seeking, love-needing world that might be better thought of as: What You Wish.

Our Illyria is a place where fantasy and reality collide, but class distinction and gender blur, and love is a currency that everyone seeks. It is, like all great Shakespeare plays, ambiguous, and we hope that you will take from it what you wish.

-Robert Richmond

Photo Gallery

Feste (Louis Butelli) greets Viola (Emily Trask) in the land of Illyria	Emily Trask stars as Viola, here disguised as the young man Cesario
Malvolio (Richard Sheridan Willis) and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (James Konicek)	The cast of Twelfth Night dances as Feste (Louis Butelli) plays his ukulele
Maria (Tonya Beckman) and Sir Toby Belch (Craig Wallace) having a bit of fun	Sir Andrew Aguecheek (James Konicek), Viola (Emily Trask), Feste (Louis Butelli) and Sir Toby Belch (Craig Wallace)
Sebastian (William Vaughan) being wooed by Olivia (Rachel Pickup)	Duke Orsino (Michael Brusasco), Viola (Emily Trask), Sebastian (William Vaughan) and Olivia (Rachel Pickup)

Photos by Scott Suchman

Cast

• Maria: Tonya Beckman
• Orsino: Michael Brusasco
• Feste: Louis Butelli
• Antonio: Chris Genebach
• Sir Andrew Aguecheek: James Konicek
• Valentine: Joshua Morgan
• Olivia: Rachel Pickup
• Viola: Emily Trask
• Sebastian: William Vaughan
• Sir Toby Belch: Craig Wallace
• Malvolio: Richard Sheridan Willis

Artistic Team

• Director: Robert Richmond
• Scenic Designer: Tony Cisek
• Costume Designer: Mariah Hale
• Lighting Designer: Andrew Griffin
• Sound Designer: Matthew M. Nielson
• Fight Director: Casey Kaleba
• Resident Dramaturg: Michele Osherow
• Production Stage Manager: Che Wernsman
• New York Casting: Daryl Eisenberg, CSA

Disclaimer: Folger Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

The dramatized history of Henry V makes for a triumphant play, especially when performed as honestly and skillfully as Folger Shakespeare Theatre has done. The characters seemed somehow more real and less theatrical as their stories came to life. The play begins with a declaration of war against an injurious France. The men of the British Isles gird up their loins for battle, and reveal very human emotions in doing so. A man kisses his wife goodbye and gives her a token to keep around her neck, a boy hugs his mother and marches out with tears on his cheeks, the drums of war sound and a violin plays.

The King, Henry, played by Zach Appelman, takes the biggest emotional leap of the play. The charge against the enemy, the leap into war, takes its toll on the young crown, as he weighs the glory of the kingdom against the lives of the men he may be leading to their deaths. This king is compassionate, thoughtful, and ages over the course of the play into a more confident figure.

Meanwhile, his men are a motley crew, that provide most of the comedy of the play, without resorting to mere comic relief. Their stories are real, funny, truthful and poignant. The supporting cast was truly the support that the play rested on. Each individual tale became the framework of the narrative. Of special note was Katie deBuys, playing a boy barely of age that became caught up in war, as well as the princess of France, Katherine. Both parts were portrayed so skillfully that the contrast was absolutely remarkable. The boy was grubby and confused, the princess intelligent and witty.

The staging of the play was on a set dizzyingly full of aged wooden beams, which moved at angles to open and close the environment for different scenes’ needs. All the beams were lowered into a veritable maze for the final battle, bringing the story into close quarters with the pained and tired men of the King’s forces.

Costumes were both extravagant and deftly period, taking every pain to be functional and realistic. The show became so realistic and intense as the characters hit every high and every low of the story, that one of the deaths that takes place in the play brought the story into reality somewhat. As the character was hung on a gallows, and literally dangled from a rope, the lights came up in the audience for intermission. The audience however remained frozen and silent, watching as the actors sadly lifted the still body out of the noose and carried him away. It wasn’t until the actors were gone that the audience finally came to life, so entranced had they been with the cruel reality implied by the special effect.

Together, the elements of the play were inviting, bringing the watcher easily into the story without concern for language barriers. The final element that brought the play together was the music. A lone musician, taking up a violin or once a penny whistle, narrated the story through song, music and tone. The proud, shining moment of England’s military history, brought deftly to life by The Folger players, was a triumphant representation of humanity overcoming adversity.

Director’s Note

Shakespeare’s Henry V is one of the most compelling plays in the classical canon and remains as relevant, potent, and morally up lifting today as it did to the Elizabethan audiences. From the Laurence Olivier 1944 film, full of triumph and jingoistic national pride, to Kenneth Branagh’s darker 1989 version, made on the heels of the Falkland war, the play never fails to speak to each generation.

In 2012 alone there were four major productions of the play, ranging from as far afield as the Globe in London, Stratford Festival in Ontario, Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, and Playmakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In preparation for this production I was very lucky to have seen most of them.

What is it about this play that makes it so engaging? For the creative team and myself, it is the meta-theatrical device of Shakespeare’s Chorus and his frank request that the audience collectively must use their imaginations. Without this necessary ingredient, the great epic story will not come to life. Imagination became the springboard for our production as we determined to transport the story from present day to the courts in England and France, to the epic battles and sieges of 1415, all done with a very open hand. We ask you to imagine these events, share in the experience, and never forget you are complicit in the action.

Here then, upon an open scaffold, dressed in Elizabethan clothes, 13 actors will present this play about struggle, victory, and unification, while exploring the humanity that sits beneath the surface of this play. For between the fabulous rhetoric and pageantry is a complex story full of subtlety. It is the story of a young man’s rite of passage, a story of a nation dealing with the effects of War, a story that focuses on a nation unifying behind leadership for the greater good. It deals with the human cost of war on all levels of society and touches poignant themes—nation building, patriotism, and war crimes.

Henry V is a young man capable of greatness, but brutal in effect. He seeks guidance with his personal and moral obligations, and his duties and responsibilities as a king. Perhaps, at this point moment in Washington, a play about leadership could serve as a barometer by which we can form an opinion as to where our society sits and what we should, or should not, become in the future? It may allow us to identify with the isolation leadership can produce, its burdens, and the desire to guard those who follow. Henry V is able to unify to English, the Welsh, the Irish, and the Scots, make peace with France, and put an end to ideological polarity. It was a remarkable achievement in 1415.

Above all, we hope that you will enjoy this production and that you will “Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts.”

–Robert Richmond

Photo Gallery

(left to right) Catherine Flye, James Keegan, Katie deBuys, and Louis Butelli in mourning	Zach Appelman stars as the young king, Henry V
Exeter (Chris Genebach) reports to King Henry (Zach Appelman	King Henry (Zach Appelman, top) leads his men in the Battle of Agincourt
Zach Appelman (Henry) and Katie deBuys (Katherine of France) speaking the same language	Bardolph (Louis Butelli, center) is sentenced for stealing

Photos by Scott Suchman

Cast

• Henry V: Zach Appelman
• Bardolph/Bishop of Ely/Williams: Louis Butelli
• Nym/Westmoreland/Burgandy: Michael John Casey
• Grey/King of France/Salisbury: Edward Christian
• Katherine of France/Boy: Katie deBuys
• Mistress Quickly/Alice/Bates: Catherine Flye
• MacMorris/Exeter: Chris Genebach
• Pistol: James Keegan
• Scroop/Constable of France: Pomme Koch
• Fluellen/Bishop of Canterbury: Cameron Pow
• Dauphin/Cambridge: Andrew Schwartz
• Chorus/Montjoy/Governor of Harfleur/Jamy/Erpingham: Richard Sheridan Willis
• Musician/Gower: Jessica Witchger

Artistic Team

• Director: Robert Richmond
• Scenic Designer: Tony Cisek
• Costume Designer: Mariah Hale
• Lighting Designer: Andrew Griffin
• Sound Designer: Michael Rasbury
• Fight Director: Casey Kaleba
• Resident Dramaturg: Michele Osherow
• Production Stage Manager: Che Wernsman
• Assistant Technical Director: Rebekah Sheffer
• Casting Assistant: Teresa Wood
• Assistant Director: Daniel Bumgardner
• Assistant to the Director: Andrew Dahreddine
• Dialects: Gary Logan
• Assistant Stage Manager: Alicia Sells
• Production Assistant: James Kramer
• Fight Captain: Chris Genebach
• Dramaturg Assistant: Jessica Clark
• Prop Master: Becca Dieffenbach
• Assistant Set Designer: Daniel Da Cruz Pinha
• Scenic Assistant: Hannah Crowell
• Scenery Construction: Bella Faccia, Inc.
• Costume Assistant/Wardrobe Head: Adalia Vera Tonneyck
• Costume Assistant: Sara Jane Palmer
• Wardrobe: Sylvia Fuhrken
• Wig Designer: Heather Fleming
• Stitcher: Rose Barber
• Assistant Lighting Designer: Zachary Dalton
• Master Electrician: Aaron Waxman
• Light Board Operator: John Rose-Caron
• Sound Head: Matthew M. Nielson
• Sound Board Operator: Brandon Roe

Disclaimer: Folger Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Whatever its deeper meanings, Folger Theatre’s The Conference of the Birds, in a stage version by Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carriere and directed by Aaron Posner, is a downright brilliant piece of theater. The key words are intricacy and precision. The main elements: Erika Chong Shuch’s choreography for the ensemble cast, involving a significant degree of coordinated group movement, unison breathing, hand gestures, and occasional bits of tumbling; Jennifer Schriever’s spectacularly detailed and varied lighting design; Tom Teasley’s music on multiple instruments. Each movement by the ensemble is perfectly, instantaneously timed with corresponding light cues and individual notes in Teasley’s music. The evening is one of virtuosic execution of a carefully conceived plan for presenting the story.

The story, based on a 12th century Sufi poem written by Farid Uddi Attar, is a mythic quest, deep in Joseph Campbell territory. Led by the Hoopoe (Patty Gallagher), the 10-strong ensemble, representing all the other birds, debate how to deal with their uncertainties and dissatisfactions by seeking their true king, Simorgh. The “conference” of the title takes place in the first act. The Hoopoe tries to persuade the other birds to begin the quest. Many of the other birds demur. The Parrot (Robert Barry Fleming) is comfortable in his cage; the Duck (Katie deBuys) is reluctant to leave the comfortable water in her pond; the Falcon (Jay Dunn) wishes to remain with his king; the Sparrow (Britt Duff) is too timid to take a dangerous journey, etc. The Hoopoe responds primarily by telling stories. To the Falcon, for example, she recounts a series of stories in which kings arbitrarily kill their devotees. Ultimately the Hoopoe – the narrator as well as the leader of the flock – succeeds in persuading the others to leave their fears and comforts behind and undertake the journey.

As befits a mythic quest, the journey is long and arduous, involving a wide desert and seven valleys (representing various emotional and existential states — quest, love, unity, astonishment, etc.) through which the birds must pass, each with its own challenges and its own meanings to decipher. Many fall short: the 30 that succeed learn that Simorgh is not a separate being (no Wizard at the end of these birds’ Yellow Brick Road), but within themselves (indeed, “Simorgh” is a Persian pun for “30 birds”). As one commentator put it, “By annihilating themselves gloriously in the [Simorgh] they find themselves in joy, learn the secrets, and receive immortality. So long as you do not realize your nothingness and do not renounce your self-pride, vanity, and self-love, you will not reach the heights of immortality. Attar concluded the epilog with the admonition that if you wish to find the ocean of your soul, then die to all your old life and then keep silent.”

In keeping with the superb stagecraft of the production, the burlap curtains that are a key part of Meghan Rahm’s set design part at the play’s conclusion to reveal a mirror in which the birds see themselves. Given the allegorical nature of the work – these are human emotions and a human spiritual quest we are dealing with, after all — Olivera Gajic’s costume design makes no attempt to make the cast look like birds. The subdued palate emphasizing greys, browns, and greens never calls attention to itself (save one disco queen-like costume for a peacock) and perfectly complements the movement and lighting of the production.

The members of the ensemble cast do it all – move, speak clearly and in character, sing on some occasions – and most of all do it in perfect harmony with one another. Regardless of how much Sufi mysticism of a millennium ago may or may not resonate with a Washington audience of today, the presentation of Attar’s story at the Folger can only inspire admiration.

Director’s Note

If you’re not a theatre geek, perhaps you don’t know about Peter Brook, but Peter Brook — the co-adaptor and instigator of this play — is perhaps one of the most innovative and influential theatre artists of the last 60 years. I first read Peter Brook’s theatrical manifesto, “The Empty Space,” in high school. I was just getting serious about theater and I really appreciated the clarity, insight, and inspiration. It called for theater to be “Immediate, Rough, and Holy,” which I utterly loved. It held up Shakespeare (whom I already loved) as the greatest example. And it warned of “Deadly Theatre,” which I already knew I really wanted to avoid…

I then read as much as I could by and about Brook, which led me to The Conference of the Birds. I’ve loved it ever since. I love its beauty and wisdom. It is abstract and provocative. I didn’t fully understand it when I first read it, and I still don’t… but at the same time, it continues to grow and evolve for me. It has always spoken to me, whatever is going on in my life.

Exploring this play — delving into any “wisdom literature”, perhaps — means dealing with what our cast has already come to call “the real stuff” — the big, complex, core questions of our lives. “The real stuff” is usually messy and confusing, however, so most of us don’t give it permission to rise to the surface very often. But one wonderful thing that plays can do is help us take a moment out of our busy lives to explore our “real stuff” in new and different ways…

The story is simple. Led by an urgent and insistent Hoopoe, an assortment of birds leave their quotidian lives on a quest to find their true King, the Simorgh. It is based on an extraordinary Persian poem written nearly 1000 years ago to illuminate the soul of Sufism. What I think I love about it the most is that what you take away from it depends largely on what you willing to bring to it. If you’re willing to bring your “real stuff” to the table — well, then there’s no telling what kind of journey you might take along with this assortment of odd and esoteric birds.

And speaking of bringing “real stuff” to the table… I would like to take a moment to thank this extraordinary cast for their courage, imagination, and generosity. This production is a true collaborative effort, and the cast, staff, creative team, artists and assistants are all playing a huge role in figuring out how best to tell this story, at this moment, in this space… to you.

This production is dedicated to Peter Brook. His passion, insight, and wisdom everyone who makes theater — or sees it — would be much poorer. It is also dedicated to all theater artists, here and everywhere, who toil in the creative fields to bring forth a worthwhile harvest. It is a great job, but it is not an easy one, and I am always moved and amazed by the tremendous passion and sheer creative energy that theater artists muster — and share — every single day.

Thank you so much for being here. Now sit up, lean forward, get ready to look outward and inward, and prepare yourself for the flight ahead. Who knows where we’ll end up…

Photo Gallery

Jens Rasmussen and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart share a passionate moment	The cast takes flight
The birds of the world cross the desert in search of their king	Musician Tom Teasley performs on traditional instruments
Katie deBuys and Jens Rasmussen in silent sorrow	The cast
An aerial view of the birds in flight	Jay Dunn, Robert Barry Fleming, and Britt Duff

Photos by Scott Suchman

Cast

• Duck: Katie deBuys
• Sparrow: Britt Duff
• Peacock: Jessica Frances Dukes
• Falcon: Jay Dunn
• Parrot: Robert Barry Fleming
• Hoopoe: Patty Gallagher
• Partridge: Tara Giordano
• Dove: Celeste Jones
• Magpie: Jens Rasmussen
• Nightingale: Annapurna Sriram
• Heron: Tiffany Rachelle Stewart
• Musician: Tom Teasley

Production Staff

• Director: Aaron Posner
• Assistant Director: Marie Sproul
• Assistant to the Director: Robert Lutfy
• Original Music/Sound Design: Tom Teasley
• Elisheba Ittoop; Associate Sound Designer
• Sound Head: Matthew M. Nielson
• Sound Board Operator: Brandon Roe
• Scenic Designer: Meghan Raham
• Scenic Assistant: Brooke Robbins
• Scenery Construction: Bella Facia, Inc.
• Costume Designer: Olivera Gajic
• Costume Assistant/Wardrobe Head: Adalia Vera Tonneyck
• Costume Assistant/Sticher: Ananda Keator
• Lighting Designer: Jennifer Schriever
• Choreographer: Erika Chong Shuch
• Dance Captain: Jens Rasmussen
• Master Electrician: Aaron Waxman
• Light Board Operator: John Rose-Caron
• Resident Dramaturg: Michele Osherow
• Dramaturg Assistant: Annalisa Dias-Mandoly
• Production Stage Manager: Amanda Michaels
• Production Assistant: James Kramer
• Assistant Stage Manager: Alicia Sells
• Assistant Technical Director: Rebekah Sheffer
• Prop Master: Samina Vieth
• Casting Assistant: Theresa Wood
• Promotional Photography: James Kegley
• Production Photography: Scott Suchman
• Promotional Video: Heather Daniels, Mark Fastoso, and APTV
• Open Captioning: C2
• The Nightingale Song: Annapurna Sriram
• The Valley of Love Song: Britt Duff

Disclaimer: Folger Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

The melancholy Dane? Not in the Globe Theatre’s touring production of Hamlet, currently playing at the Folger Theater. Michael Benz’s Hamlet has scarcely an echo of the ambivalent, indecisive, reflective, brooding character frequently played by actors undertaking the role. This Hamlet is a fast-talking, nearly manic whirlwind, full of nervous energy and constant movement. The dynamism of the Benz’s performance compensates, at least in part, for whatever nuances get left in the dust.

Benz’s Hamlet doesn’t waver, but rather moves excitedly from one thing to the next. The scene in which Hamlet comes upon Claudius appearing to pray, for example, has little in the way of agonized frustration at a lost opportunity for revenge. Rather, Hamlet seems almost giddy with enthusiasm about the opportunity to kill Claudius later, in situation that would result in not only his enemy’s death but in his condemnation to hell.

This is a pared-down Hamlet, using eight actors, with everyone except Benz performing between two and five roles. The quick changes, accomplished generally with small costume bits, contribute to the rapid flow of the production, which incorporates elements of farce to a much greater extent than most versions of the play. The actors not involved in a scene frequently sit upstage, ready for their next entrance, sometimes playing musical instruments to accompany the action.

Christopher Saul plays Polonius as the traditional comic windbag, and does so effectively; his First Gravedigger has perhaps too much in common with his Polonius characterization, missing out on some of the intelligence and sharpness of his repartee with Hamlet. Dickon Tyrell does better at differentiating his characters. As Claudius, he is a calculating master of spin and manipulation; his Ghost is more direct, and less spectral, than many interpretations of the role. He has a particularly nice moment as he raises his hand to almost comfort Gertrude.

Unlike many actors playing Gertrude, Miranda Foster avoids imposing an explanation of her character’s actions (e.g., that she is passionately in love with Claudius; that she sees Claudius as a road to maintaining power; that, at a time when even aristocratic women are relatively powerless, she must be ruled by whoever is king). Gertrude’s motives remain as opaque to the audience as they do to Hamlet.

Carlyss Peer does a credible and touching job with Ophelia’s mad scene, though her rather healthy and robust demeanor before her father’s death — this is not one of your wan, pre-Raphaelite Ophelias — does little to prepare for her rapid disintegration. Tom Lawrence is as warm, supportive, and rational as one could ask of a Horatio. Laertes is a role that can sometimes get lost, but Matthew Romain does the most transparent, understandable and ultimately sympathetic portrayal of the character I can recall seeing (he is also a good fiddler).

All the actors are excellent technically, and the diction is crystal clear, even at the speeds at which lines are often delivered. Not a word is lost. This production is a good reminder that, notwithstanding the local vogue for “silent” Shakespeare, the power and glory of Shakespeare resides principally in his words and actors’ interpretations of them.

Fittingly for an actor-centered, fast-paced production, the design concept is minimalist, with some planks, stools, and a hand-drawn curtain making do for a set. The costumes have mostly a subdued, neutral palette (Ophelia’s orange and red dress being the major exception), useful as actors switch quickly from one character to another. The swordplay and other fight choreography in the final scene are well designed and performed.

Before the show begins, cast members meander about the stage and into the house, chatting up people in the audience. There is a bit of music and dance as the company introduces itself. Perhaps in a way intended to parallel this opening, the show closes on a bizarre note. After the final scene, with all the major characters lying dead on the stage, Ophelia re-enters and raises up the actors from the floor, following which the entire cast performs what can only be described as a cheery folk dance, quite thoroughly dispelling the mood of tragedy the cast has worked hard to create. The rest, it seems, is not silence at all, but rather something fun one might see at a Renaissance Faire.

Photo Gallery

Michael Benz as Hamlet and Carylss Peer as Ophelia	Michael Benz as Hamlet

Photos by Fiona Moorhead

Cast

• Michael Benz: Hamlet
• Peter Bray: Rosencrantz/Marcellus/Fortinbras/Osric
• Miranda Foster: Gertrude/Second Player/Player Queen/Second Gravedigger
• Tom Lawrence: Horatio/Reynaldo/Captain
• Carlyss Peer: Ophelia/Voltemand
• Matthew Romain: Laertes/Bernardo/Guildenstern/Lucianus
• Christopher Saul: Polonius/Francisco/Player/First Gravedigger/Priest
• Dikon Tyrell: Claudius/Ghost/First Player/Player King

Production Staff

• Composer/Arranger: Bill Barclay
• Globe Associate-Text: Giles Block
• Director: Bill Buckhurst
• Assistant Text Work: Ng Choon Ping
• Assistant Director: Alison Convey
• Director and Artistic Director: Dominic Dromgoole
• Set and Costume Designer: Jonathan Fensom
• Globe Associate-Movement: Glynn MacDonald
• Fight Director: Kevin McCurdy
• Voice and Dialect: Martin McKellan
• Lighting Designer/Production Manager: Paul Russell
• Assistant Choreographer: Chloe Stephens
• Choreographer: Sian Williams

Disclaimer: Folger Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

• Hamlet, September 2012 Schedule
• The Conference of the Birds, October – November 2012 Schedule
• Henry V, January – March 2013 Schedule
• Twelfth Night, April – June 2013 Schedule

Schedule is subject to change due to performance rights conflicts or other issues.

The Taming of the Shrew is a loaded canon of a play; shoot it in the right direction, and you can bring down the house. The Wild West saloon themed iteration currently playing at DC’s Folger Theater was an absolute powder keg, and it blew the audience away with its energetic, fast-paced hilarity. The staging was brilliant and vibrant, and the characters on it were a sight to behold. The director, Aaron Posner, took the theme of gender in a world revolving around money and punched it up a notch, cross-casting two main characters memorably and successfully. The story begins with a mother (instead of a father) forbidding anyone in town to court the younger, more desirable sister Bianca (played by Sarah Mollo-Christenson) before a husband can be found for her quarrelsome daughter, Kate (played by Kate Eastwood Norris). The change to make a matriarchal Baptista (played by Sarah Marshall) shows a caring side of the character, as well as a willingness to get whatever needs to be done accomplished.

The other gender switch in this production is a manservant named Tranio who becomes a female aid (played by Holly Twyford). This seemingly small change adds pathos as she served her master lovingly, and created hilarity when she is ordered to take his place and dress as a man. But instead of just playing the character for laughs, Twyford elevated the character to be genuinely convincing as a man, swagger, posturing and all, which gave the moments of femininity all the more punch.

Then there was Petruchio (played by Cody Nickell), who swaggered through the saloon doors with every ounce of manliness, pride and self-confidence intact. A full beard and low slung belt with prominently placed pistol only completed the vision of an unspoiled male specimen of the Old West. When he proclaimed he could tame the wild, pants wearing, gun-toting Kate, everyone believed it. And without even laying a finger on her, their first encounter was an unmistakable win for Petruchio, as he proclaims “upon Sunday is the wedding-day!”

Kate held her own, pulling out all the big guns in her arsenal and attempting to take him apart and break him like she had broken all the other men. Her frustration and surprise when none of this works was a very genuine moment, and made her a sympathetic, real person. She’s a fierce woman who finds out her “lances are but straws” and the pathos builds as she struggles to find a new source of power.

For all his bluster, as the second act reached a crescendo, Petruchio showed his strength a different way. Everything he takes away from Kate, everything he demands she do now that she is his, he gives back in a stronger and gentler way. The clothing he demanded she not wear is replaced quietly with a beautiful dress with a side slung skirt so as to allow her to wear shining boots and a pair of pants underneath. Her mad reaching to control the world around her through force becomes a game that two can play to rule the rest. Kate’s famous (or infamous) final speech completely takes Petruchio off guard, as Norris passionately confesses it as a love story, where she has been made whole by his love, and decides to cast aside bickering in exchange for a life she never could have imagined, one of peace. Thus the end of the play becomes a triumph, as it should be, and a happy agreement for all involved, as comedies should end.

The cast as a whole supported and upheld the energy and excitement needed to bring the audience a truly happy ending. The suitors vying for the younger daughters affections were hilarious and pompous, the servants were conniving and boisterous. Petruchio’s servant Grumio (played by Danny Scheie) was a flaming fool who fancied himself a mannered fop, taking any opportunity to steal the scene and run off with the audience. Very few moments felt slow, most of those regrettably were with the youngest daughter, Bianca, whose unfocused portrayal seemed to halt the momentum of the action in most cases.

The production took the trope of the quintessential Wild West and made it more real. A folk singer, Cliff Eberhardt, was brought in to write and perform original songs for the part of the Blind Balladeer. The temptation would be to use this new character as a narrator, but this production utilized him better as a bridge with the audience to enhance the emotion of the action. The songs made the Old West seem more real, a place where real stories became legend in song because they were honest and worthy of being sung about in the first place.

Ultimately, that was the success of the production. They took the story, made it funnier, more entertaining, more creative, and completely more real and believable.

Directors Notes

If it is not clear from the set in front of you (assuming you are reading this as you wait eagerly for our play to begin, we are situating our production of The Taming of the Shrew loosely in some kind of a saloon in some version of the Old West, circa 1880. Of course it is not exactly that, it is our own imagined world, but it is closer to that than anything else.

Any scant resemblance to the HBO series Deadwood is anything but accidental. It was while watching that remarkable show that it occurred to me to set our Shrew in a world of roughly the same hue and energy. It turns out, I soon discovered, that this is not a terribly original idea, as it has been done a number of times, in many variations and permutations. In fact, in New York right now another Shrew is also set in some variation of the Old West.

Why is this? What makes the Old West a helpful or logical setting for this complex little comedy? Hopefully in a few hours you’ll be able to answer that for your friends, family, and neighbors as you e-mail them and dell them to turn tail and haul on down to the Folger. But here, perhaps, is a bit of ammo for the conversation…

The mythological “Old West” was a place where power and money ruled. And law was still…flexible. There was a sense of possibility and limitless potential, hence, it attracted an interested kind of individual. We can imagine it as an exciting, dynamic, invigorating environment. Rules were continually being rewritten. That was certainly true of women’s roles as well (which is why we have made some gender-bending choices that I think will make the whole story even more complex). It is a place that seems to catch our collective imaginations. The Wild West of gunslingers, shootouts, stampeded, and cowboys is deep in our national psyche.

I find a lot of that wonderful, mythic, rough-and-tumble spirit in this play. Therefore connecting the two worlds seems like helpful and logical choice. Also, it just seemed like a really, really fun and provocative place to set this charged, fascinating and somewhat fraught story.

It’s been my privilege to direct here at the Folger every year for the past eleven years. I remain grateful and honored to be trusted with this wonderful space and with you- the Folger’s excellent, insightful, exacting audience. We have been fortunate to once again assemble some extraordinary artists to help me tell this story. This gang in particular is even more…effervescent than most. I hope you enjoy their performance at least half as much as I enjoyed them every day in rehearsal. The accumulated wisdom, experience, skill and just plain talent is an inspiration.

Thanks for coming. Enjoy the show.

–Aaron Posner

Photo Gallery

Cliff Eberhardt as The Blind Balladeer	Baptista (Sarah Marshall) agrees to give Petruchio (Cody Nickell) her eldest daughter’s hand in marriage
Katherine (Kate Eastwood Norris) confronts Petruchio (Cody Nickell)	Bianca (Sarah Mollo-Christensen) with suitors Hortensio (Marcus Kyd, foreground) and Lucentio (Thomas Keegan, in window)
Holly Twyford as Tranio and Craig Wallace as Gremio	Danny Scheie, Cody Nickell, and Kate Eastwood Norris
Kate Eastwood Norris as Katherine and Cody Nickell as Petruchio

Photos by Carol Pratt and Jeff Malet

Cast

• The Widow/The Haberdasher/Peter: Katy Carkuff
• The Pedant/The Bartender/Nathaniel: Edward Christian
• Curtis/The Tailor: Rex Daugherty
• The Blind Balladeer: Cliff Eberhardt
• Vincentio/The Priest/Walter : Dave Gamble
• Biondello/Rafe: James Gardiner
• Lucentio: Thomas Keegan
• Hortensio: Marcus Kyd
• Baptista: Sarah Marshall
• Bianca/Sugarsop : Sarah Mollo-Christensen
• Petruchio: Cody Nickell
• Katherine: Kate Eastwood Norris
• Grumio: Danny Scheie
• Tranio: Holly Twyford
• Gremio: Craig Wallace

Artistic Team

• Director: Aaron Posner
• Scenic Design: Tony Cisek
• Costume Design: Helen Q Huang
• Lighting Design: Jennifer Schriever
• Original Music/Musician: Cliff Eberhardt
• Sound Design: Christopher Baine
• Resident Dramaturg: Michele Osherow
• Production Stage Manager: Tim Burt

Disclaimer: Folger Theatre provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.

Two worthy productions of Othello opened last weekend, one a mounting of the Shakespeare play, in all its verbal glory, by the Folger Theatre, and the other as part of Synetic Theater’s “Silent Shakespeare Festival.” The latter, a revival of Synetic’s multiple Helen Hayes Award-winning 2010 production, is presented in the company’s trademark wordless (though given the pervasive, and sometimes overbearing, musical score, hardly “silent”) style.

Both approaches are highly successful, but it must be emphasized that they are very different kinds of art. In a program note, Synetic director Paata Tsikurishvili asserts that “For me, Shakespeare’s plays are written in a universal language.” Well, actually, they are written in English, and adaptations of Shakespeare plays in mediums that do not involve performers speaking the words he wrote can be valid, even triumphant, works, but they are not performances of Shakespeare plays. Kurasowa’s Throne of Blood, Verdi’s Otello, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bernstein and Sondheim’s West Side Story, comic Broadway pieces like Kiss Me Kate, and ballets like Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet are examples that come readily to mind.

Tsikurishvili’s Othello, a spectacular movement/multimedia piece based on the characters and plotline of the Shakespeare play, falls into this honorable category. It is almost impossible to overstate the energy and virtuosity of Synetic’s performers, whose movement veers seamlessly from romantic dance to stage combat to comedy to acrobatics to sudden violence.

The stagecraft is equally impressive. The costumes, mostly done in red, white, and black, not only look good but flow beautifully with the show’s movement. The set features a group of tall, movable triangles, the arrangement of which cuts the upstage visual space into additional triangular forms. The triangle motif is carried over into some set dressing pieces (like a game board) and even into the costuming (triangular wedges in some of the male performers’ headpieces). Much of the lighting consists of conical light shapes that carry forward a solid geometry suggestive of the set’s triangles. With the exception of one over-the-top special on Desdemona’s handkerchief (itself seemingly the size of a small tablecloth), the lighting works well with the mood and action of the performance. At several points, with the stage lights dark, performers use what appear to be powerful LED flashlights to illuminate others’ faces, the harsh blue-white light adding to the mood of the scenes.

Synetic’s take on the central character of its piece, the villain Iago, also follows the triangular theme of the physical production, itself perhaps a reference to the love/hate triangle of Othello, Desdemona, and Iago. Played simultaneously by three performers (Phillip Fletcher, Irina Tsikurishvili, and Alex Mills), Iago has much in him of the mythical trickster, working his evil as if by magic. The other characters’ fatal trust in Iago’s honesty, so important in the Shakespeare play, is deemphasized in this concept.

The Folger’s Iago (Ian Merrill Peakes) is a smiling, good-humored con man, skillfully confiding in the audience, with evident enjoyment, his plans for ruining Othello and others. Iago’s intimate relationship with the audience, making it almost complicit in his schemes, is a key element in the play, an element lacking in the Synetic’s treatment of the character. The currency of Peakes’ Iago is the trust his charm and seemingly candid nature engender in his marks. He is a kind of Bernie Madoff figure who steals the hearts and lives of others rather than their money.

One of the interesting aspects of Iago’s character, highlighted in Peakes’ performance, is that, as successful as he is in manipulating others, he is far less successful, and his confident demeanor slips, when he must take direct action himself, as in his murders of Rodriego and Emilia and his attack on Cassio. He is better at planning than improvisation.

Othello is a career soldier. Synetic’s Othello, Roger Payano, is physically imposing, with a convincing military bearing. He does excellent stage combat and generally conveys a relatively still dignity amidst the constant movement of the production. In concert with the technical production, he has a particularly effective moment as he strives to keep separated two of the triangular set pieces, bearing video images of Cassio and Desdemona (taken and edited by IagoX3), as he imagines their supposed affair. As a depiction of a character in turmoil, this moment is notably more effective than its counterpart in the Folger production, in which Owiso Odera resorts to somewhat histrionic line delivery. Odera’s physicality in the role – many bends and dips and abrupt hand and head movements – does not much resemble that of a military man, undercutting the power of the character that makes his fall more poignant. Odera’s strongest scenes are his last two, as he prepares to kill Desdemona and learns that he has been gulled, making his decision for suicide with great dignity.

The concept underlying the Folger production is to set the action during the Crusades, such that Othello’s “otherness” is as much a matter of religion (while a Christian, he comes from a Muslim society) as race. This concept makes sense as one reads the program notes, though its difference from other versions of the play is less striking on stage. Nonetheless, Othello’s otherness is a key element of the production, particularly as motivation for Iago’s animosity toward him. By contrast, Othello’s otherness is largely lost as a factor in the Synetic production. True, Payano is an African-American actor dressed in black, and the audience brings its knowledge of American racism to any production of Othello, but for all the difference it makes to the apparent motivations of the other characters, Othello’s race is almost a neutral factor in the production.

Desdemona is often overshadowed in productions of the play, but Janie Brookshire’s performance makes sure that doesn’t happen in the Folger version. Her Desdemona is not simply an innocent victim, but a vibrant young woman in love who, to the end, does not allow Othello’s abuse to break her spirit. Her costuming in a blue dress through most of the show is a welcome change from the more usual all-white motif, underlining her full humanity in contrast to her being presented as an abstraction of purity. Salma Shaw’s Desdemona in the Synetic show, who is costumed all in symbolic white, finds it more difficult to escape being an abstract object of male possession and jealousy, though her vertical death scene is far more arresting visually than Folger’s more traditional strangulation on the bed.

Among Synetic’s supporting cast, Vato Tsikurishvili makes an impression playing Roderigo as a youngish doofus with a droopy flower. In the Folger show, Louis Butelli plays the same role as an old fool who appears all too eager to be deceived. His almost willful gullibility makes his comedy a bit too annoyingly forced. The Folger’s Emilia (Karen Peakes) has a memorable comic scene, just before Desdemona’s murder, in which she comments on relations between men and women in a way that could fit into The Taming of the Shrew without undue difficulty. Peakes portrays vividly Emila’s outrage when she discovers her husband’s perfidy and her courage as she denounces him.

The Folger’s production emphasizes the comedy inherent in the script, not only in the supporting characters but particularly in Iago, especially before intermission. The twists and betrayals that move the plot forward do not differ greatly from the kind of setups that lead to happier endings when the playwright desires (e.g., the Don John/Claudio/Hero plot in Much Ado About Nothing). There is some comic relief in the Synetic production as well, much of it coming as the result of an acting style in some sequences that is reminiscent of classic silent movie comedies.

The Synetic production includes a prologue, not part of Shakespeare’s script (though deriving in part from some references in the play’s early scenes), depicting a backstory for Othello, Desdemona, and Iago. The prologue provides an occasion for an extended stage combat sequence in which Othello, having escaped being a galley slave, impresses the Venetian powers that be with his bravery and military prowess. It also provides an opportunity to see Othello and Desdemona falling in love, not long after Othello’s unnamed other lover has died in the galleys, and to see Iago’s growing jealousy of the praise Othello receives. Adding this prologue is an interesting and, to some degree, rewarding choice, though one that underlines that we are seeing Tsikurishvili’s Othello rather than Shakespeare’s.

The technical aspects of the Folger production are strong throughout, particularly the sumptuous, colorful Middle Eastern-influenced setting of the Cyprus scenes. (The Middle Eastern motif is emphasized by the nice choice of making Zehra Fazal’s Bianca a belly dancer.) The lighting is effective in setting the moods of various scenes, and the sound design – albeit with the volume cranked to near-painful levels at some points – likewise ably complements the action. Director Robert Richmond sets a considerable amount of the play’s action, including some of the stage combat, in the center aisle, creating – along with Iago’s seduction of the audience – a feeling of intimacy in the production.

For all the differences between their approaches to Othello, the two directors make an almost identical choice of how to conclude the play, focusing – as does its beginning – on Iago. It’s a memorable image to end two memorable productions.

Othello by Synetic Theater – Director’s Note

Growing up behind the Iron Curtain in the former Soviet Union, I often dreamed of performing and producing American theater. My career as an artist led me from the Republic of Georgia around Europe and finally to the United States. And over the last ten years, my wife Irina and I have dedicated our lives to building a company in our Nation’s capital that combines all our passions and fuses multiple art forms: Synetic Theater.

Since Synetic’s inception, we have worked with “the art of silence.” Our debut production, Hamlet…the rest is silence, was our first effort to take the words from one of the most iconic works of drama in history and tell the story with a different vocabulary. Far from being a mere twist on Shakespeare, however, this production heralded the start of our exploration of a new form of theater. Since that first piece, we have produced six additional original “Silent Shakespeare” productions, which have been key to our overwhelming success and recognition, as these productions have received incredible critical and audience acclaim as well as garnered 45 Helen Hayes Nominations and 16 awards.

Newcomers to Synetic may think there is contradiction inherent in all of our acclaimed wordless Shakespeare adaptations: how is it that these timeless works can be performed without the essential text? For me, Shakespeare’s plays are written in a universal language, having been translated and adapted for audiences around the globe. And in fact, the text serves as a basis in all our work: it provides us not only with the story but incredible imagery, archetypes and metaphor, all of which are heightened to create an immersive stage experience that we feel “in our bones.”

I chose [Othello and two other] productions to showcase our incredible range and fusion of techniques that we have incorporated over the years – such as balancing tragedy with comedic elements, integrating fight choreography into dance sequences, using multi-media to enhance the visual experience, utilizing a highly-trained company of actors to create the atmosphere and set, all the while set to a dramatic soundscape – and to lay the foundation for a touring company.

Othello is a deeply psychological play and allows us to play freely in the surreal and abstract work, in which Iago is literally fractured by jealously, envy and ambition, in which Othello’s own dark thoughts and imagination are brought to life in on-stage projections, and in which, when seen in the right light, the most beautiful gesture can bring about the greatest tragedy.

As always, I give my thanks to my faithful actors, designers, and production and administrative staff, who have generously committed to this unique program. Thanks also to our audiences, Board of Directors, donors, volunteers and the D. C. theater community as a whole for their continued generosity and support in spreading the word about our programs.

Enjoy the “unquiet silence” of Synetic!

Othello by Folger Theater – Director’s Notes

Othello is a play that has always fascinated me, not just for its superb writing, but also because of the complete delight an audience experiences in being so complicit in the action. Other than Iago, not one of Shakespeare’s characters–with the possible exception of Prince Hamlet and Richard III–takes us so deeply into his confidence, explains his rationale, and then sets about a course of villainous actions that we are made aware of before the victims experience them. Why do we not leap from our seats and cry out for Iago to stop? Why do we not inform the innocent of the ambush that has been set for them? Why do we sit and delight in this macabre, charming, and ruthless man’s success?

The dark, physiological, and exotic nature of the play made me think hard about this production’s setting. To a Jacobean audience, Venice represented a cultured world where law and strong Christian beliefs were upheld. By contrast, Cyprus might have suggested the complete opposite: a Mediterranean island of the “other,” of barbarism and evil forces. I looked for a world where Venetians, Cypriots, Turks, and Moors might co-exist–a time when conflict and mistrust between people was abundant, where racial divides were defined by religion. It became clear that the world I was looking for was the Christian Crusades of the 13th century and that Othello might take place on Cyprus during a holy war, with the Knights Templar fighting the Muslims.

Learning that Cyprus was in fact a very strategic point for many of the Crusades and that in 1202 Venice was the rendezvous for the fourth Crusade, I felt that the period and style would suit this production very well. Within this context the references in the text to witchcraft and the black arts–allegedly used by Othello to woo Desdemona–became very potent. It also made sense of how he justifies her murder as a “sacrifice,” a necessary purification. I could imagine the powerful religious insignia on the clothes of this period, the chivalry of the Knights Templar, and the determination of an iconoclastic central character to affect and destroy the noblest, most virtuous, and most stoic of this time.

So why might we side with or be drawn to Iago when we know many of his reasons to be false? Might we share some commonality with him? Certainly we still live in a world of hate crimes and racial profiling. We often choose to fear and remain ignorant of those whose faith may differ from our own–Christian, Muslim, or otherwise. Resentment can still be felt when an “outsider” is accepted and embraced by the ruling hierarchy. Might there be a little part of Iago in us all? Perhaps, when we laugh at, or with, this pernicious villain, we recognize a bigotry that lies deep with in us.

I hope you’ll enjoy Othello.

Synetic Theater – Othello – Photo Gallery

Salma Shaw as Desdemona and Roger Payano as Othello	Philip Fletcher, Irina Tsikurishvili, and Alex Mill as Iago
Scott Brown as Cassio, Roger Payano as Othello, and Philip Fletcher, Irina Tsikurishvili, and Alex Mill as Iago	Scott Brown as Cassio and Vato Tsikurishvili as Roderigo

Photos by Graeme B. Shaw

Folger Theatre – Othello – Photo Gallery

(Center) Janie Brookshire as Desdemona and Owiso Odera as Othello with the cast of Shakespeare’s Othello	Owiso Odera as Othello and Ian Merrill Peakes as Iago
Janie Brookshire as Desdemona	Owiso Odera in the title role of Shakespeare’s Othello

Photos by Carol Pratt

Synetic Theater – Othello – Cast

• Othello: Roger Payano
• Desdemona: Salma Shaw
• Cassio: Scott Brown
• Iago: Philip Fletcher
• Iago: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Iago: Alex Mills
• Emilia: Irina Koval
• Roderigo: Vato Tsikurishvili
• Bianca: Sarah Taurchini
• Duke: Peter Pereyra
• Brabantio: Hector Reynoso
• Ensemble: Irina Kavasdze
• Ensemble: Brittany O’Grady
• Ensemble: JB Tadena
• Ensemble: Dallas Tolentino

Synetic Theater – Othello – Production Staff

• Director: Paata Tsikurishvili
• Choreographer: Irina Tsikurishvili
• Set and Costume Design: Anastasiaa R. Simes
• Lighting Design: Andrew F. Griffin
• Original Music: Konsantine Lortkipanidze
• Sound Design: Krakli Kavsadze and Konstantine Lortkipanidze
• Stage Manager: Erin Baxter
• Design Assistant: Elizabeth Ennis
• Assistant Lighting Designer: Brittany Diliberto
• Assistant Stage Manager: Marley Monk
• Assistant Stage Manager: Amanda Rhodes
• Production Intern: Scott Tusing
• Photographer: Graeme B. Shaw
• Videographer: Clint Herring
• Graphic Designer: Aram Asarian
• Additional Music: Giya Kancheli:
• Technical Director: Phil Charlwood
• Production Supervisor: Erin Baxter
• Associate Production Manager: Jonathan Weinberg
• Lighting Supervisor: Andrew F. Griffin
• Master Electrician: Aaron Waxman
• Wardrobe: Crystal Fergusson
• Programmer: Ryan Logue
• Costume Construction: Irina Evans, Yuliya Kolesnik, Christel Stevens, Elvina Verzhichinskaya

Folger Theatre – Othello – Cast

• Iago: Ian Merrill Peakes
• Roderigo: Louis Butelli
• Othello: Owiso Odera
• Brabantio: Jeff Allin
• Cassio: Thomas Keegan
• The Duke/Gratiano: Todd Scofield
• Lodovico: Joe Guzman
• Desdemona: Janie Brookshire
• Montano: Chris Genebach
• Emilia: Karen Peakes
• Bianca: Zehra Fazal

Folger Theatre – Othello – Production Staff

• Director: Robert Richmond
• Artistic Producer: Janet Alexander Griffin
• Assistant Artistic Producer: Beth Emelson
• General Manager: Giuseppe DeBartolo
• Theatre Production Manager: Charles Flye
• Composer: Anthony Cochrane
• Scenic Design: Tony Cisek
• Costume Design: William Ivey Long
• Lighting Design: Andrew F. Griffin
• Sound Design: Matthew M. Nielson
• Fight Choreographer: Casey Dean Kaleba
• Resident Dramaturg: Michele Osherow
• Production Stage Manager: Che Wernsman
• Assistant Technical Director: Rebekah Scheffer
• Casting Assistant: Lisa Forrest
• Assistant Director: Sasha Bratt
• Assistant Stage Manager: Eric Arnold
• Production Assistant: Kirsten Parker
• Dramaturg Assistants: Allison Buccca, Alex Calvin
• Voice Coach: Gary Logan
• Scenic Design Assistant/Prop Master: Daniel da Cruz Pinha
• Scenery Construction: Bella Faccia
• Drapery Fabrication: Rosebrand
• Scenic Charge: Mariana Fernandez
• Prop Assistant: Melissa Wunder
• Associate Costume Designer: Mariah Hale
• WIL Studio Director: Donald Sanders
• Costume Assistant/Wardrobe Head: Sara Jane Palmer
• Wig Designer: Heather Fleming
• Master Electrician: Amber Meade
• Electricians: Brian Allard, Karen Bilotti, Garth Dolan, Reuven Goren
• Light Board Operator: Karen Bilotti
• Sound Head: Matthew M. Nielson
• Sound Board Operator: Brandon Roe
• Promotional Photography: James Kegley
• Production Photography: Carol Pratt
• Promotional Video: Mark Fastoso, Heather Daniels
• Archival Recording: WAPAVA
• Open Captioning: C2 Inc.

Disclaimer: Synetic Theater and Folger Theatre each provided two complimentary media tickets to ShowBizRadio for this review.