It's Summertime and There Is Bard Aplenty

Maura Clement, Valeri Mudek, Nance Williamson, Gabra Zackman, Kate Eastman Katie Hartke in the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival production of "The Comedy of Errors." Photo by William Marsh

BY TAMARA BECK

WHAT would summer in the theater be without the Bard? Fortunately, no one has to consider such an eventuality, for there is “Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot” and then some.

While “Shakespeare in the Park” (“Measure for Measure” and “All’s Well That Ends Well”) recently shuttered in the Delacorte Theater in Manhattan’s Central Park, The Drilling Company’s “Hamlet” is on through 13 Aug. in downtown Manhattan in a parking lot – yes, a parking lot – at the corner of Ludlow and Broome streets. Like its park counterpart, it is free.

North of the city, on the grounds of an estate at Boscobel, New York, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is offering its version of “Hamlet” along with “The Comedy of Errors” in repertory with the distinctly non-Shakespearean “Around the World in 80 Days” through 4 Sept.

Amanda Dillard as Ophelia and Alessandro Colla as Hamlet in the Drilling Company’s “Shakespeare In The Park(ing) Lot” production of “Hamlet.” Photo by Lee Wexler.

Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of such disparate interests as the Lincoln Center Festival, Park Avenue Armory and Ohio State University, the Royal Shakespeare Company has been in New York performing five Shakespeare plays for the last few weeks (through 14 Aug.).

To stage “As You Like It,” “Julius Caesar,” “King Lear,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Winter’s Tale,” the world’s premier Shakespearean company has brought to bear an ensemble of 44 actors, its artistic teams, as well as a specially constructed full-scale replica of its home at Stratford-upon-Avon, inside the cavernous walls of the armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall. The rare visit commemorates the RSC’s 50th anniversary.(See a video at http://www.bit.ly/qU8RUJ and http://www.bit.ly/pmSwLk)

Visit http://http://www.hvshakespeare.org/ to learn more about the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; http://www.shakespeareintheparkinglot.com/ to learn more about The Drilling Company’s “Hamlet” and http://http://www.blogger.com/www.bit.ly/nlkb6E to learn more about the Royal Shakespeare Company's visit at the Lincoln Center Festival.

Rising Mercury Also Attracts Elements on the Fringes
Christine Campbell and Greg Horton in "Chasing Heaven," one of the plays in FringeNYC. Photo by Dixie Sheridan.

GOING right up to the edge and sometimes over it decidedly can be exciting. Such excitement awaits in the intense concentration of hip, nouvelle theatrical experience provided by summer fringe festivals.

The festivals are short in duration and long on events, bringing a wide range of companies and theater styles to sites all over their city’s maps. They cover subject matter – including the ususal suspects of politics/race/religion/sexuality/the healthcare system, plus comedy, dance and standup – from just about every corner of life.

There is plenty of avant-garde theater in New York City, as witnessed by the many local acts on display at East to Edinburgh, which wrapped on 31 July. East to Edinburgh is a preview of sorts of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Also celebrating the offbeat in theater is the 16-day New York International Fringe Festival (or FringeNYC.)

What do Edinburgh fringe audiences have to look forward to through 29 Aug? Quite a bit, actually (around 1,300 performaces), including “Naked in a Fishbowl.” The improvised sitcom, based on a weekly Web show, addresses topics that range from sex and stuffed chicken to cheating spouses. The talent behind it is a group of women on stage weekly at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York. (See video at http://www.nakedinafishbowl.com/index.php/site/episodes/).

"GI Joe Jared," starring Billy Weimer, Kerry Fitzgibbons and Tiffany May McRae, plays both East to Edinburgh and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Photo from Awe Creative Group.

“Naked in a Fishbowl” and the 14 other works in East to Edinburgh, including several others from New York-based companies/artists, are also in Edinburgh fringe. All make the cut because the 64-year-old festival, which is credited with coining the term fringe to mean theater outside of the mainstream, is famously democratic. As its Web site puts it, all are welcome who have “a story to tell and a venue willing to host them.”

Hence, prize-winning poet Alexandra Zelman-Doring has a space where audiences can witness two actors improvise an argument about the meaning of theater in “To Hold An Apple.” And attempting to tear down the theater’s fourth wall in an absurdist interactive way, while also questioning the role of audience and presenter is the raison d’être of “rogerandtom” from Personal Space Theatrics.

An experimental mix of video, sound and live performance is the notion behind Quattro Gatti Theatre Company’s “Radio Deluxembourg.” While the sci-fi rock ’n' roll comedy was welcome into the bosom of Edinburgh fringe, its producers had to resort to fundraising to get the production across the pond, proving that an open-door policy does not mean that all and sundry can actually participate. (See video at http://www.harmswayinc.net/RD/RADIO_DELUXEMBOURG/Home.html).

New Mexico-based The Arden Players are performing “God’s Fool” at Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Photo from The Arden Players.

Unlike the Edinburgh fringe, FringeNYC is not democratic; there is a juried application procedure. Audiences can take in choreographer Carlos A. Cruz Velazquez’s stories about loneliness, loss, and laughter in “..unwanted” knowing that it had to weather a vetting process. (See video at http://www.vimeo.com/25103509)

The choreographer's dance piece is one of more than 1,000 performances from more than 200 companies from around the world that will be staged at various venues in downtown Manhattan during FringeNYC’s run through 28 Aug.

Be on guard, too, for murder and mayhem in “The Eternal Husband,” by Nat Cassidy based on a novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Visit http://www.edfringe.com/ to learn more about Edinburgh Festival Fringe; http://www.fringenyc.org/ to learn more about FringeNYC, and
http://www.59e59.org/ to learn out more about “East To Edinburgh.

Hamming It Up Big Time in 'Wittenberg'

Scott Greer as Faustus, Sean McNall as Hamlet and Chris Mixon as Martin Luther in "Wittenberg." Photos by Sam Hough.

BY TAMARA BECK

IT is 1517, the height of the Renaissance.

Dr. John Faustus (Scott Greer), who has not yet sold his soul to gain empirical knowledge, and the Rev. Martin Luther (Chris Mixon), whose dictates will soon establish the Protestant Reformation, are vying for the allegiance of young Prince Hamlet (Sean McNall), a student at the University of Wittenberg.

Playwright David Davalos uses William Shakespeare’s well-worn conceit about Hamlet’s indecisiveness to set up his comedy, “Wittenberg.” The Prince is on the fence. Should he follow the teachings of Dr. Faustus (reason) or those of Martin Luther (faith)?

Under the direction of J.R. Sullivan, the Pearl Theatre Company production at City Center Stage II through 17 April, makes hay of this amusing if esoteric material. The flimsy premise underpinning “Wittenberg” allows DD to cleverly reference Christopher Marlowe’s “The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus” along with Shakespeare’s “Hamlet" and Luther’s “The Ninety-Five Theses.”

“Wittenberg” is a play that debates religion and philosophy using historically or histrionically recognizable characters. In the comedy, DD slyly co-opts lines from its source materials. For instance, “To believe, or not to believe,” Dr. Faustus tells Hamlet. “That is the question?,” Hamlet responds.

Prince Hamlet (Sean McNall) has difficult personal choices to make in "Wittenberg."

Anachronisms abound:
– Faustus sings the blues at a beer hall during Oktoberfest;
– When Hamlet first enters, dressed as a 16th century nobleman and student, he is wearing earbuds;
– As The Eternal Feminine, Joey Parsons plays varying females, all of them out of joint with the times. She is Helena, a former nun, and Faustus’ ladylove, dressed as a flight attendant. At the beer hall where Faustus sings, she is also a waitress. She is a dead ringer for the St. Pauli Girl.

SG has a fine voice and he straddles contemporary views and Faustus' 16th century wisdoms with ease and charm. SN throws himself bodily into a portrayal of this moody and sometimes haunted Hamlet. But since he will be king, he doesn’t really have to make a choice of his course of study. As Luther, CM has very little of the fun. For the most part he plays the straight man to SG’s comic turns.

“Wittenberg” fails to convince that the dichotomy of choice and orthodoxy, doubt and belief, are central issues in our lives or even in the lives of its central characters. After all, Luther, to Faustus’ delight, winds up questioning the dogma of the church in Rome. Faustus, on the otherhand, falls victim to the humbug expressed in the lyrics of the pop tune, “Que Sera Sera,” albeit parodied to fit the setting and circumstances of “Wittenberg.”

Faustus (Scott Greer) has a sidebar with The Eternal Feminine (Joey Parsons) in "Wittenberg."

The first act of “Wittenberg” posits paradoxes, pitting the soul against the intellect. Faustus’ mantra is “Question everything.” Luther is defined by his complete obeisance to the scriptures. In Act II, it flounders then sinks into a sea of glib, modernist facts.

Ultimately, “Wittenberg” is a shallow comedy about deep ideas.

Visit http://www.pearltheatre.org/ to learn more about “Wittenberg.”

Encore for Shakespeare in the Park Rep

“LAST year’s experiment in rep was a brilliant success,” The Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis announced recently, “allowing us to create an acting company of unparalleled depth and ability, and giving us two wonderful productions, “The Merchant of Venice” and “The Winter’s Tale.”

The Public continues its “experiment” this year with a repertory program for its 2011 edition of Shakespeare in the Park. “Measure for Measure” and “All’s Well That Ends Well,” two lesser known of William Shakespeare’s works, sometimes said to be his “problem plays,” since they are comedies with dark moods and subject matter. They run from 6 June to 30 July and will be staged at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the home of Shakespeare in the Park. While the performances are free and open to the public, tickets are required.

Daniel Sullivan helms the production of “All’s Well That Ends Well.” “Measure for Measure” will be directed by David Esbjornson.

Shakespeare in the Park returns to the Delacorte Theater this summer in repertory with “Measure for Measure” and “All’s Well That Ends Well.” Photo by Joseph Moran.

The cast for the productions includes a large number of well-known actors. Among them are Broadway veteran, two-time Tony Award-winner and inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame, John Cullum playing Escalus in “Measure for Measure” and the King of France in “All’s Well That Ends Well.” JC, who is well-known for his role on television’s “Northern Exposure, was seen recently in the Broadway production of “The Scottsboro Boys” (http://www.vevlynspen.com/2010/11/scottsboro-boys-puts-on-happy-face.html)

Andre Holland, currently appearing in “The Whipping Man” at the Manhattan Theater Club, will play Claudio in “Measure for Measure” and take on the role of Bertram in “All’s Well That Ends Well.” (http://www.vevlynspen.com/2011/03/in-whipping-man-also-freeing-hurts.html)

Reg Rogers, recently Jacques Cornet's half-brother, Zeus-Marie Pinceposse, in “A Free Man of Color,” is Lucio in “Measure for Measure” and Parolles in “All’s Well That Ends Well.” (http://www.vevlynspen.com/2010/11/free-man-of-color-banished-children-of.html)

Michael Hayden, who has appeared on Broadway in numerous plays, including “Judgment at Nuremberg,” “Festen” and musicals like “Carousel,” will play Angelo in “Measure for Measure” and the Second Brother Dumaine in “All’s Well That Ends Well.”

A veteran of The Public Theater, as well as Broadway (“Caroline or Change,” “Radio Golf,” “Merrily We Roll Along” to name a few), Tonya Pinkins will appear as Mistress Overdone in “Measure for Measure” and the Countess in “All’s Well That Ends Well.”

Anne Parisse, who has first-rate credits for performances in, among others, “Clybourne Park,” “Becky Shaw” and “The Credeaux Canvas,” will be Mariana in “Measure for Measure” and Helena in “All’s Well That Ends Well.”

Visit www.shakespeareinthepark.org to learn about Shakespeare in the Park. – By Tamara Beck