News From the Festival
Company Spotlight: Miller Tai and Amanda Wiley
Miller Tai, Actor
Have you ever worked at the Festival before? If so, for how many years and in what roles/capacity?
Yes, in 2013: Anything Goes, Luke/Swing, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Forester
Where’s your home base?
Los Angeles
What’s your education/training background?
BFA in Acting from Oklahoma City University.
What brought you to your field and what keeps you doing your craft?
I stumbled into it in high school, and then worked as an apprentice at Music Theatre of Wichita. Then I realized how much fun it was. What keeps me doing it is the fact that I’m happiest when I’m performing, both when I’m onstage and off.
How will you spend your time off while here?
Enjoying the company of some of these amazing people that have been brought here from all walks of life. Also, getting to enjoy the beauty and wonder that is Utah. I get to take time to be a human and get the chance to read, go see a movie, or catch up on all the Netflix.
What does the Festival Experience mean to you?
I had one of the best summers back in 2013. Not only was I working, but I was also getting the chance to really live in the art of it all. It was exciting and thrilling, and I’m grateful for it.
Do you have a favorite memory of working in the Adams Theatre?
During Love’s Labour’s Lost, one of my duties was to hang lanterns from the balcony to the stage. I was partnered with Betsy Mugavero, and every time we did it, it was an interesting experience, usually one that ended up in a tangled mess.
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
Besides getting to eat everything that I want with no regrets…probably teleportation. Or flight. Or super speed.
If you had a time machine, where would you like to visit?
The future. So I can find out if I get to keep my hair.
Amanda Wiley, Lead Assistant Company Manager
Have you ever worked at the Festival before?
Yes, this is my second year working with the festival.
Where’s your home base?
Fairmont, West Virginia
What’s your education/training background?
I have a BA in theatre from Fairmount State University as well as an MFA in Theatre Design and Technology from University of Missouri Kansas City.
What brought you to your field and what keeps you doing your craft?
I was told in high school that I should work as a stage manager because I was able to organize and keep things running smoothly. Standing backstage and watching the performance and hearing the reaction of the audience is what has kept me working on my craft. I have learned over the years that it is more enjoyable to see others happy and enjoy their craft. This has lead me to start working in Company Management.
How will you spend your time off while here?
What free time?
What does the Festival Experience mean to you?
The Festival Experience is working with the community of Cedar City to present Shakespeare to those who wouldn’t normally come and see a show. The Festival brings culture, while the city brings a family atmosphere. The city makes you feel welcomed and they want the Festival here because it brings people who have never been to this area.
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
Psychokinesis. It would be extremely helpful to be able to move items without much effort in order to make other’s lives more efficient. How awesome would it be to be able to move vacuum a room while having to do the dishes. Would get so many tasks completed!
If you had a time machine, where would you like to visit?
The future. I would like to see how we evolve and what technologies we create to either improve or worsen life.
Playing Batty
The Festival rounds out the fall season with Stephen Dietz’s adaption of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Before Twilight and True Blood, there was Dracula!
Tyler Pierce (Dracula) extends his stay from the summer season, where he appeared in King Lear and Henry IV, Part 2*. Chris Mixon (Renfield) was last here in 2007 in* Art*. We chatted with them to learn more about the play and this production.*
What are your thoughts about the play?
Tyler: It’s such a great story for the stage because it’s simple – it’s basically a chase story. You know as an audience that Dracula is evil. You know he’s not a good person. You come in knowing that. Each specific production is watching “how are they going to get him”. That’s what makes each production unique. This particular script does a really good job of theatricalizing “how are we going to get him.”
Talk about the characters.
Tyler: All of the characters are really archetypal. All of the themes are very broad and very grand. The idea of the castle, of a society that has burnt itself to the ground and needing literal fresh blood and nationalism and pride of home also comes into play. At its heart it’s a love story: Mina being the main love interest, between Harker and Mina and also between Dracula and Mina.
Chris: My role is terrific because he’s so torn. How am I going to be this crazy? How am I going to do my crazy? There usually is a reason why people are crazy and what justifies their obsessions. It’s a real journey. It’s a melodrama so there’s not much subtext. That’s a benefit. What you say is exactly what you mean and feel. We follow the road map of his degeneration.
Tyler: It’s interesting because the women in the show could be played in a way that is helpless. But these two actors (Kelly Rogers and Jamie Ann Romero) are really strong so there’s no danger of their appearing helpless. They are creating strong characterizations on stage. The women as a pair make a perfect foil for the kind of decadence that Dracula is.
Other thoughts about this production?
Chris: I’m thrilled to be working with Jesse Berger (the director). He’s a real actor’s director. He’s patient. He’s excited to be doing it. He will honor the play and playwright and the style. It’s going to be what the playwright envisioned.
Tyler: When you’re telling a story that people know, it’s not about surprising them. We’re trying to make this ride as enjoyable as possible because you’ve been on it before. I hope people come and are willing to enjoy the ride.
You can learn more about the play and the cast at http://www.bard.org/plays/2015/dracula. Tickets are available online at www.bard.org or by calling 800-PLAYTIX.
Cross Over
With the curtain down on the summer season, David Ivers, co-artistic director, gave us a preview of what to expect during the cross-over weeks and the upcoming fall season.
Charley’s Aunt continues on the weekends until the fall season opens, with two new plays: Dracula and Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Here are David’s thoughts:
“For people coming back to the fall and wondering about seeing Charley’s Aunt again…in watching the show, it’s just grown so much. It’s still as fresh as it was when it opened and there are new elements that the cast has brought to it that I’ve been lucky enough, because of the openness of the stage manager and the cast, to come in and watch and approve. It’s been really nice to have it be a living process.
“I don’t watch it a lot but I do go in and watch glimpses of it. And I can tell you that it’s every bit if not more fresh than when it opened. There’s added inventiveness in the performances. For those people who were here early on, we’ve ironed out all the scenic shifts. Now we’ve down to our standard intermission times.
“I think also that it lives differently in contrast to Dracula and Two Gents than it does in contrast to South Pacific and Amadeus. Dracula and Two Gents both deal with struggles that have to do with young love triumphing and so does Charley’s Aunt. They’re all presented from different periods and different points of view.
“Seeing these three together is a very different experience than seeing all three of the plays in the Randall right now (summer season).
“The fall season has a lot of just pure entertainment punch. They provide fun and entertainment. Dracula is thrilling – there’s a bit of blockbuster to it. Two Gents has it all – romance, comedy, conflict and Jake the dog. “
Charley’s Aunt continues weekends on September 11, 12, 19. Dracula and Two Gents open in previews September 24 and 25 and then all three plays run through October 31. You can learn more about the fall season and purchase tickets at www.bard.org. We’ll soon have rehearsal photos and actor blogs, so be sure to check back.
Festival Bids Farewell to Adams Theatre and Shines a Spotlight to the Future
Utah Shakespeare Festival Founder Fred C. Adams prepares to blow out the last candle representing the Adams Shakespearean Theatre.
CEDAR CITY, UT (Sept. 7, 2015) — The Utah Shakespeare Festival dimmed the lights in the Adams Shakespearean Theatre for the final time Saturday night and lit a new light in the under-construction Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre. It was end of an era and definitely the beginning of another.
The celebration of the Adams Theatre, which was completed in 1977 and is now suffering from the effects of weather and age, actually began Thursday night at the final performance of the 2015 production of The Taming of the Shrew. Afterward, R. Scott Phillips, Festival managing director, and Founder Fred C. Adams paid tribute to Grace and Obert C. Tanner who provided substantial funding to build the theatre, which was named after Mrs. Tanner’s parents: Thomas and Luella R. Adams. Then, the actors from that evening’s performance took the stage and recited lines from each of the comedies produced in the Adams Theatre in the past 38 years, blowing out a candle to represent the dimming of the lights in the old theatre.
The Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre, under construction, will be the new home of the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2016.
Friday night was much the same with Phillips and Artistic Director David Ivers honoring the late Douglas N. Cook, who provided the original sketches for the theatre and was later producing artistic director for many years. This was followed by the actors from King Lear reciting lines from the tragedies which have graced the iconic stage and again blowing out candles until the stage was dark.
But it was Saturday night when the torch was passed. Phillips honored the architect who designed the theatre at no charge, Max Anderson; and Artistic Director Brian Vaughn paid tribute to the theatre which has long been one of the world’s most authentic Elizabeth theatres, Shakespeare’s “wooden O,” followed by the actors from Henry IV Part Two reciting lines from all the histories from the Adams Theater’s past.
This time, one candle was not blown out but was handed to Festival Founder Fred C. Adams to lovingly carry across the street to the Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre, part of the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts which will be completed in time for the 2016 Festival season. The evening’s playgoers and guests followed him to the construction site, where the new building was bathed in light. Then, as Philips invited them to “share with us your lights as we illuminate this new performance space,” a spotlight shone straight up into the night sky from what will be the new stage in July 2016, symbolic of a bright future for a new theatre and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
“I am going to miss that wonderful space with all its memories," said Ivers after the ceremonies. “But I am looking forward to a new era at the Utah Shakespeare Festival!”
“The Adams Theatre as been the iconic landmark and artistic home for the Utah Shakespeare Festival for many years,” concluded Phillips. “Moving to the new Engelstad Theatre will be a difficult transition for us to make from our charming and trusted home, but we are anxiously awaiting the opportunities that the new space will provide.”
Comments from Facebook on “Farewell to the Adams”
Patrick Page: I’m thinking of you this weekend and sending much love. What a glorious legacy you have created. The Adams Theatre is more than just a space. As Othello says “There’s magic in the web of it.”
Leslie Calvert: “Thank you USF for another amazing season! Thank you for a beautiful way to carry the past into the future. I have so many wonderful memories of the years of attendance and those from the final 3 nights at the Adams are among the top. I look forward to the next season and the new theater in just over 300 days. Thank you for what you do for live theater, you are a gem!”
Ron Ranson: “Those years were GREAT times with the most terrific theatre people. Long Live Utah Shakes.”
**Alice Sproul:**Love this place and the memories I have of it. It will be missed
Kathleen McCall-Thompson: “The Adams holds a very special place in my heart! Beautiful, spirited theatre! farewell!”
Treva Smotony Fendrick: “I’m going to miss that theatre. but the new one will have bathrooms!!! woohoo!!!”
P. J. Rockwell: “So many memories flood my mind with the closing of the Adams Memorial Theatre at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, only a sonnet seems right:”
SONNET 189
(dedicated to Fred C. Adams)
Now rest your weary wood in mirth’s delight,
set down thy tragic mem’ries with a dance,
transfixed as ev’ry patron, ev’ry night,
as thousands whispered “Oh!’ as in a trance.
From humble roots like your famed Greenshow tree,
you’ve grown, matured, and passed the torch along,
with childlike wonder watched as words set free,
yet captured too, your heart ingrained in song.
So let the night enlivened say thy grace,
in quiet echoes of applauses past,
and show your spirit Peace as ’twere a face
so many shared as audience and cast.
Before you greet your fate think on but this,
to be remembered’s not to be remiss.
We’re all in this together.
Blog # 6 A Heartfelt Farewell
I never wanted to be an actor. Strange as it may sound as a young man I never had that burning desire to declaim publicly or make faces or whatever my completely void-of-theatre being thought acting was. As a matter of fact I wanted to go to college to be a forest ranger. Had vagaries been different, I would probably be forest rangering along some wooded ridge looking down at this strange ‘wooden O’ called the Adams Theater, wondering what raucous goings-on are happening there? I still have some longing to be a ranger, and I really can’t describe what it feels like to look up at the hills and wonder what might have been…and Southern Utah is hill gazing heaven. Though that arboreal dreaming still resides in me, there has developed and grown a hunger that supersedes love of flora and fauna. Vicissitudes brought me to acting and instead of beginning with, I have arrived at an all-consuming passion for every aspect of Theatre. And to be here, this season, the last that the magnificent Adams Theater will serve the Utah Shakespeare Festival is an honor, and a thrill and an overwhelming whirl of emotions. And I’ve only been here one season. I can’t imagine what it must feel like for those that have been coming for years, or acting for years, or part of the festival stretching way back, even to its beginning.
Henry IV part two is the perfect show to go out on. There is a sense in part two of a paradigm shift in the world. A sadness hangs over the play. It is a unique Shakespeare play in that he peopled it with an old Henry, an old Falstaff, an old Northumberland, Shallow and Silence. And, as Shallow muses, mortality hangs heavy. We are seeing the passing of a grand, glorious Merry Olde epoch, with a new vibrancy, a new king, a new England set to emerge. One scholar wisely noted that Henry IV part two is not really a sequel to part one, but actually the obverse, or other side of the coin. The triumph of part one breeds the melancholy of part two. And just as that melancholy in turn births the greatness of Henry V, so, will next year bring new adventures and wonders at the Engelstad Shakespeare Theater rising across the street, at the heart of the new Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts. The great whirligig of time assures it.
It is hard, standing on this stage, not to think of all the actors who have come before. When I arrived here in May I knew only one person in the whole company, and now I have many, many new friends. I always marvel how we all have countless connections and mutual colleagues in this grand stream of theatre.
It takes me back to a time, sitting as a very young actor in the first day of rehearsal for a dozens-of-years-ago King Lear. We were in a circle and the director had us introduce ourselves and say a little something. When our very renowned King Lear spoke, he mentioned that as a young actor himself he had played the Fool to Orson Welles’ Lear. As a huge fan of Orson Welles this thrilled me, and as the others introduced themselves my mind was lost in thinking “Wow, I’m working with someone who worked with Orson Welles!” Then I idly mused; “I wonder how far back I can trace my ‘worked with’ lineage? I know that Orson Welles worked with John Gielgud and Gielgud must have worked with…someone!” I was captivated. What other great actors could I connect myself with? There must be a word for ‘desperate curiosity’ for that now consumed me and I had to find out, merely for intellectual gratification. The first chance I had I raced to a library to start looking into this. And in that pre-internet time finding information was mostly leg work, going to libraries and looking up anything that may give me a clue.
I started with our King Lear. Just to be exact I wanted to corroborate every connection, but after months of intermittent searching I could find no connection between him and Orson Welles. I chalked it up to lack of proper records, knowing that Orson Welles, Orson Welles-like, kept coming back to Lear again and again, and I couldn’t imagine this actor would make up being Welles’ Fool. Unable to verify even my very first connection I gave up, retiring my fervid curiosity. Well, some years later, sitting yet again at the first day of a Shakespeare rehearsal, this time for the Scottish Play, on Broadway, we were going around introducing ourselves, and I remembered that our director, Terry Hands, the brilliant, very affable former head of the Royal Shakespeare Company had directed a Much Ado and Cyrano that I saw, starring an amazing Derek Jacobi. Well, Godzilla-like, my insatiable curiosity reawakened, and zealously I descended on the Performing Arts library at Lincoln Center to see who worked with Derek Jacobi. It turns out he was Cassius to Laurence Olivier’s Othello…wow! I don’t know if this was now a hobby, an obsession or a total waste of time, but something propelled me to spend hours and hours, which turned into years and years, because, pre WWW days I had to pore through old cast lists, theatrical compendiums and countless biographies in actual, hard-bound, card-catalogued books. While performing at regional theaters I libraried it in Louisville, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Chicago, San Diego, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Azusa, Anaheim and Cucamonga! Each connection came slowly but I traced myself to Edith Evans and Ellen Terry and Sarah Siddons and Edmund Kean, and my ‘worked with’ trail led to the great David Garrick! Then I wondered “…Could I get all the way back to the Sweet Swan of Avon himself?” It was a challenge because the theaters were shuttered shortly after Shakespeare’s death (Oliver Cromwell was no theatre fan) and didn’t open again until the Restoration. Then, after years of researching, with the help of William Davenant, who spanned the gap, I could finally say confidently, I have worked with someone who worked with someone who worked with someone who…worked with someone who worked with William Shakespeare! I have shook the hand that through 16 degrees of separation shook the hand that penned Falstaff. So when I reach up and touch a piece of the Adams, as my pre-entrance superstition, I feel a small part of a giant whole. I think of all the actors who have played here…and played anywhere. We are all in this together
As I pack to leave beautiful Utah, I’m struck that I’m not packing any tools. An actor has tools, but they are all within. An actor’s tool box is himself. And they are pretty vintage tools at that; old-fashioned things like: Comportment, Honesty, Hard Work, Collaboration, Individuality, Imagination, Tenacity, Creativity, Courage, Devotion, Curiosity, Respect, Grace, and Gratitude. Gratitude is the tool of the moment. It is with the deepest gratitude I thank everyone who has ever come to Utah Shakes, audiences, the staff, volunteers, crew, patrons, management…those that dream and do, making The Utah Shakespeare Festival, with its amazing audiences, one of the best places I have ever worked. And especially to my fellow actors; I thank you for sharing and joy and being a part of this grand, grand thing. I will never forget this summer and this place.
And finally, farewell Falstaff…you have been a good friend, and it has been glorious playing you. I hope to play you again but if I don’t, I trust you will still be challenging actors and tickling audiences for…well, forever. You can walk along any wooded ridge above virtually any town or city, look down and pick out the theater. Even the ruins of past civilizations usually have a theater. Theatre isn’t going anywhere…and though the Utah Shakespeare Festival is moving across the street, it is in great hands and will continue to grow and wow and be a vital part of what we humans all share…life.
Company Spotlight: Michael J Barnes and Brian Swanson
Michael J Barnes, Voice & Text Coach
Have you ever worked at the Festival before?
I worked here in the 2003 and 2004 seasons as a Voice & Text Coach for the Randall shows.
Where’s your home base?
I live in Royal Oak, Michigan and am a professor at Wayne State University
What’s your education/training background?
BFA in Performance - University of Oklahoma
MFA in Theatre Voice Coaching and Training - the National Theatre Conservatory
Post-Grad studies - Cambridge University
Certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework
What brought you to your field and what keeps you doing your craft?
I think that often people who choose voice coaching as a field do it because they had a moment in their performance career where things didn’t work quite right. I had a moment early in my life, in college, when I was performing a rock musical and strained my voice, having to be put on steroids. That caused me to become interested in learning how to use it properly and expanded out into speech, dialects, and text work.
I love the fact that I have found a way to express myself as an artist that helps others expand their artistic expression. Also, there is a part of me that is a bit of a science nerd. Voice and speech coaching lets me combine that part of myself with my artistic side.
How will you spend your time off while here?
I will absolutely explore the gorgeous terrain of Southern Utah. The many national and state parks around the area provide a sense of grounding and re-connecting with the wonder that is our planet. Those days off, I will be hopefully climbing as many mountains as I can.
What does the Festival Experience mean to you?
USF provides an environment that really allows people to express themselves and grow as artists. The full time staff here help everyone feel welcome so that they end up having a sense of family. This allows everyone to feel free to take risks and, ultimately, create really good theatre. I’ve made some long-lasting friendships at USF that have become very important in my life. It’s also connected me to artists that I’ve chosen to re-connect with later in life. It truly becomes a community and I appreciate it.
Do you have a favorite memory of working in the Adams Theatre?
This is my first season to work in the Adams Theatre, so I’m building my memories. I’m excited that I get to be a part of The**Taming of the Shrew, with Fred Adams directing in the Adams Theatre’s final season.
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
Wow, that’s a real tough one. I can’t say that this is an idea of a “traditional” super power–like Superman or the X-men, but I think it would be some type of mental ability where I could (OK, this may be a bit like Dr. X) understand people’s thoughts and ultimately influence them to treat others with respect and empathy, to ultimately help others.
If you had a time machine, where would you like to visit?
Another tough one, there are so many eras throughout history that I’d like to peak in on. I guess, if I have to choose one, I would like to go back to ancient Egypt as I’ve always had a fascination with that era. I have to put in the caveat that I wouldn’t want to be a slave during the era, though. I wouldn’t have to be royalty, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be lugging those massive stones up a pyramid. I would love to see those massive monuments being erected and coming to life, understand the people who chose to build them, and really unravel the secrets in how they were built.
Brian Swanson, Adams Technical Director
Have you ever worked at the Festival before? If so, for how many years and in what roles/capacity?
Yes, This is my fifth year with the festival. 3 years as Randall Technical Director and now my 2nd year as Adams Technical Director.
Where’s your home base?
Cedar City
What’s your education/training background?
MFA- Yale School of Drama
BA- Iowa State
What brought you to your field and what keeps you doing your craft?
The process of creation and developing new and better ways to do things. This job is always new in interesting ways.
How will you spend your time off while here?
Family, Hiking, Camping
What does the Festival Experience mean to you?
The Festival Experience means that you are coming together with a group of artists to create work that will impact many others in various ways as they come to see the productions.
Do you have a favorite memory of working in the Adams Theatre?
I remember shoveling off the Adams Theatre stage during the Mother’s Day snowstorm in 2014. We had just finished laying the main floor for the season and didn’t want it to be soaked clear through before sealers and paint got to it. So there I am at about 6am in the morning by myself shoveling off the 12 inches of snow on the tarp. The snow was blowing and the trees all around where cracking but there was a beauty standing there working watching the snow fall on what in a short 6 weeks would be the start of previews for an audience in much warmer weather.
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
The ability to pause time for everyone but me.
If you had a time machine, where would you like to visit?
I would travel back to the birth of our nation.
A Curious Case of Casting
Blog # 5 The Great Shakespeare Mystery
There is one intriguing moment in the original Henry IV part two, often cut from modern productions (replaced in ours by a brilliant directorial choice), when a dancer came out after and spoke an epilogue, advertising how the Fat Knight will appear again in the next play of the cycle, Henry V. Falstaff was immediately and immensely popular, with Henry IV the most reprinted play in Shakespeare’s lifetime. They even say Queen Elizabeth wanted to see her new favorite, Falstaff, in love, so Shakespeare paused writing part two (between scenes 2,1 and 2,2 to be exact) and penned (in two weeks) The Merry Wives of Windsor. To bank on this popularity and to guarantee audience for the coming soon Henry V, Shakespeare had the dancer say: “If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it.” But Falstaff does not appear in Henry V. So, what happened? This is a great mystery echoing down through both History and Literature*.* It has baffled me for years, yet the answer may be hidden in plain sight. So while I have you enticed with that Hitchcockian hook, let me first veer off onto a not so tantalizing tangent.
Many actors have superstitions, and I admit two: Before my first entrance of a play, standing backstage, I find and touch a piece of wood, to feel something real (the all-wooden Adams Theater is ideal for such an idiosyncrasy). My second little behavior is; whenever I’m walking through the door to go in to audition for a comic role, I secretly make a strewing motion (you know, strewing, as in rushes or chicken feed.) I’m emulating King Aeetes, from the classic movie Jason and the Argonauts: the iconic scene where he strews Gorgon’s teeth on the ground and skeleton warriors rise up one by one to do battle (shout out Ray Harryhausen). My surreptitious strewing is not to invoke skeletons in the casting room, but rather to summon Skeltons…as in Red Skelton, and other comedy giants: Phil Silvers, Milton Berle, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis, Stan Laurel, Dom Deluise, Bert Lahr, WC Fields. I beckon my personal titans too; Oliver Hardy, Zero Mostel and Jackie Gleason (I hungrily scrutinized these master comics on our old black-and-white TV set, proving you don’t need X-Box to waste your youth, and if you’ve never heard of them look them up, you’re in for a treat!) When doing my audition I entreat this panoply of funny spirits to inhabit my id. The poor director is unwittingly outnumbered, and has to cast me. The inspiration these comedians give me is what floats my thorough preparation, and I can’t help but credit them in my high average of auditioning success. As Neil Simon understood about casting; “Directors don’t choose actors…actors choose themselves.”
Red Skelton
Not Red Skelton
Charles Laughton’s Bottom
Bert Lahr
All this got me thinking. Why didn’t any of these comic colossi, my idols, play Falstaff? Falstaff is the character man’s ultimate role, it’s his Lear…and Bottom from Midsummer Night’s Dream is his Hamlet. Charles Laughton’s Bottom, the legend goes, took 15 minutes to comically die in the play within the play, Pyramus and Thisby. When I showed my Bottom in Pittsburgh, I chewed the clock (and scenery) myself, making my Pyramus’ suicide a pastiche of all the Shakespearean deaths (everything from falling on a sword to malmsey butt drowning, asp to the breast and poison in the ear). They talk of my Bottom still in Steel Town.
Sorry; here’s yet another tangential anecdote, yet one appearing in print for the very first time anywhere, ever! An older cast-mate in that same Pittsburgh Midsummer told me that as a young actor he toured in Dream with Bert Lahr famously doing Bottom. They say Bert was the most worried man in the world. Not only did he want a laugh on every line but with a financial share in the show he was sure he was being ripped off by management. So my castmate told me that every night during the big opening procession of Theseus and Hippolyta, Bert would sneak out onstage, hiding in the dark behind a big sheer curtain in his pre-costume underwear, and with a little hand-held clicker would count the audience to make sure the numbers added up. It seems Bert Lahr sweated both Bottom’s lines and the bottom line!
Zero Mostel
Orson Welles as Fallstaff
WC Fields
Jackie Gleason
Bert Lahr was one of the few ‘Hollywood’ actors with the courage to foray into Shakespeare. Jimmy Cagney, Al Pacino, Olivia de Havilland did; with of course the giant, Orson Welles, the only one to play Falstaff. Some great American stage actors have played Sir John; Kevin Kline, Henry Woronicz, Pat Carrol, Stacy Keach, but where was Zero Mostel’s Falstaff? Or WC Fields’? Or The Great One Jackie Gleason’s? Gleason had all the elements in his characters; pathos, humor, dreaming. When you think of Fiction’s three great windmill tilters, are they not the Thin Knight, the Fat Knight, and the Fat Bus Driver? Jackie Gleason as Falstaff? How sweet it would have been. Why didn’t any of our great clowns play Falstaff?
Ralph Richardson
They say the definitive English Falstaff was Ralph Richardson’s of 1945. That production also had Laurence Olivier play Hotspur in part one, and Shallow in part two. What a show that must have been to see! Viewing that production is what launched noted American scholar Harold Bloom on his lifelong love affair with Falstaff. Theatre is unique in that we hold performances in our memory…“lifetime moments” we can bring out and remember (with advantages) again and again. But remembering the original Henry IV is impossible, making The Great Shakespeare Mystery more mysterious.
And I’m not talking about that other mystery; “Who wrote Shakespeare?” That’s no mystery. Sorry Oxfordians, Baconians, Marlovians and Mark Twainians; Shakespeare the Stratfordian wrote Shakespeare! The real mystery is: Who originally played Falstaff, back in Shakespeare’s day? And why did Falstaff not appear in Henry V? It is difficult, to say the least, trying to piece together events that occurred at a time when happenings were poorly chronicled, diary keeping was rarely done and contemporaneous records have mostly crumbled to dust. Try remembering what happened to you four months ago, much less four centuries ago. So since I’m no Holmes or Spillane, Marple or Monk I will lay out evidence and facts from the Crime of the Scene and let you decide.
A big fat clue has already been dropped: Part two’s epilogue was spoken by a dancer. Wait, what? A dancer? This isn’t 42nd Street, there are no dancers in Henry IV part two. Ah, but there was a famous dancer in Shakespeare’s company. And he turns out to be our prime suspect. Will Kemp was a famous actor, comic and dancer, and one of the original members of the Lord Chamberlain’s men, along with Richard Burbage and William Shakespeare. Kemp was the most famous clown of the day, famous for his Morris Dancing, bawdy jigs and comic roles. A known jest monger long before working with Shakespeare, Will plied his merry craft all over England and the continent, even playing for crowned heads at Elsinore Castle in Denmark. He was very strong willed, they say, and always insisted he make his own personality central to his roles. Audiences came to expect Kemp routines and bits, perfected over the years. He’d use ad-libs, making faces, double-entendres, malapropisms and talking to himself as different people. Shakespeare would often write roles based on his company of actors and you can see clear traces of Kemp’s routines in the many roles supposedly played by him: Bottom, Peter, Cade, Costard, Launcelot Gobbo, Grumio, Dromio, Dogberry and Clown in Titus. Will Kemp even had a pet dog he used in his act, now immortalized as Launce’s canine sidekick, Crab. If Shakespeare’s company had a star it was Will Kemp. And many, many scholars think it was Will Kemp who played Falstaff.
But in 1599 something happened! As the Lord Chamberlain’s men were ending their performances at the Curtain Theatre, where Henry IV played, Will Kemp abruptly sold his share in the company and left. Not only that, Kemp then pulled off one of the great publicity stunts of all times. Eschewing performing in the newly built Globe Theatre, he claimed “I have danced out of the World!” and danced his famous Morris Dance, continuously, all the way to Norwich, 110 miles away. He grabbed even more notoriety when he published his exploits as The Nine Days Wonder. And all this happened just before Henry V premiered. Was this the reason Falstaff didn’t appear? Did the actor playing Sir Jack leave Shakespeare in the lurch?
But here’s the rub! There seemed to be bad blood; for Shakespeare makes fun of The Nine Days Wonder in As You Like It, which is thought to be the first play performed at the Globe (with Jaques renowned “All the world’s a stage” having double meaning). And Kemp in Nine Days Wonder belittled Shakespeare as “My noble Shakerags.” Even Hamlet appears to voice Shakespeare’s opinion of Kemp in his advice to the players: “And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them; for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too; though, in the meantime, some necessary question of the play be then to be considered: that’s villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.”
So the question stands: Did Shakespeare’s biggest star and most famous clown play Falstaff? Or does the contrary question seem more valid: Would Shakespeare entrust his arguably greatest character to a mugging, adlibbing clown he lost patience with?
Hard facts are few, but the few we have are mostly on the Kemp-was-Falstaff side. In one of the very few diaries of the time, Philip Henslowe describes lending Will Kemp money to buy ‘Giant Hose’. Giant Hose could be taken to mean padded stockings, to simulate Falstaff’s heft. There is also evidence a very early Will Kemp used padding, called bombasting, for one of his pre-Shakespeare comical characters. Did he break out the old fat suit for Falstaff? One of Kemp’s other early routines, from his own ballad Singing Simkin, has a character hiding in a chest, from a jealous spouse. Did Shakespeare lift Kemp’s old bit for The Merry Wives of Windsor? In some of the small individual versions of each play, called Quartos, careless printers would sometimes list the actor rather than the character’s name; for example one Romeo & Juliet quarto says ‘enter Will Kempe’ instead of ‘enter the clowne’ (Peter). A 1600 quarto of Twelfth Night lists the names ‘Will Kemp and Richard Cowley’ instead of ‘Dogberry and Verges’. And (dramatic music) one Henry IV part two manuscript says ‘Enter Will’ a few lines before Falstaff starts singing “When Arthur First in Court…” Also in Henry IV Falstaff does have one fleeting reference to being able to out-caper anyone; caper meaning dance. And that part two epilogue dancer threatens to dance his way out of any hard opinions the audience may have. Was that dancer Kemp? Does all this point to Kemp as Falstaff?
The “not Kemp” side has few facts, as negatives rarely do, but there are some interesting persuasions. It is widely agreed that Shakespeare wrote for his actors, creating tragic roles for Burbage his brilliant leading man, clown roles for Kemp, and even after Kemp left and was replaced, the clown roles turn into witty, singing fool roles, to match the persona of Robert Armin who played Touchstone, Autolychus, Feste, Gravedigger and the Fool from Lear. I have a perspective that most all scholars don’t have. I’ve played Falstaff a lot and I’ve also played many of the Kemp roles and even some Armin roles; Falstaff just feels different. He is no clown. Kemp characters mangled words, misspoke and were almost always a naïve persona, the willing objects of jokes and tricks. Kemp even calls his own style ‘blunt mirth’ in his Nine Days Wonder. Falstaff is unrivalled in mastery of language and wit. With an intelligence matching Hamlet’s, Falstaff is certainly one of Shakespeare’s greatest creations. Would the progression of Shakespeare’s Kemp-inspired roles lead up to naively put-upon Bottom and Gobbo, veer off to the colossally complicated Falstaff, and then back to the simple malaprop-prone Dogberry, Kemp’s last role for the company? It’s just a feeling, but I have played these characters, and I get such a strong sense of Kemp, yet I do not feel him in Falstaff. There is some (vague) evidence as well, that suggest John Lowin and Thomas Pope, actors in the company, played Falstaff as various points. These scholars may know a lot, but proper casting is something I live with every day of my career. Is Falstaff too grand a role for a clown?
This leads to another question: If Kemp didn’t play Falstaff in Henry IV who did he play? There do not seem to be any Will Kemp roles in part one or part two. And who was that dancer in the epilogue? Well, it was the tradition to have jigs and dances after every play; even Julius Caesar, so as Groucho says ‘sometimes a dancer is just a dancer’, but if it was Kemp speaking the epilogue, what was his role in the play? Well, from my experience in all the Falstaff plays, there is one character who has multiple Kemp qualities: using the wrong words, carrying on both sides of conversations, a put upon persona, a commoner touch and a ton of busybody energy. And that character is: (dramatic pause) Mistress Quickly! You laugh, and so did I a bit, that is until I read that while women in Shakespeare’s plays were often played by young boys, it was not always the case. Sometimes they were played by the older actors…and one of Kemp’s earliest creations, from before his Shakespeare days, was the role of a gossipy, talkative female street seller. And when that one manuscript is misprinted with “Enter Will” a few lines before Falstaff sings, who is it that enters at that exact moment? (Perry Mason music) Mistress Quickly.
Whether Kemp played Falstaff or not, I truly don’t believe his leaving the company was the reason Falstaff didn’t appear in Henry V. Plays are funny things, and for the playwright sometimes the play will help write itself. And the Henry V that poured out of his brain told Shakespeare: “Falstaff can’t be in this play!” His free spirit, his love of life, his humanity and anti-authority is what Hal had to leave behind. And those of you lucky enough to see Henry V next year at the festival will find out what happens to Plump Jack: (Spoiler! It has to do, much like King Lear, with a broken heart). Regardless of who played him, Falstaff simply cannot appear, and will not appear in next year’s Henry V …and for me, someone who revels in the glories of playing Falstaff, that’s show biz…
Up next: Blog #6: A heartfelt farewell
Fall Food Drive at the Festival
Help Families in Need During the Fall Food Drive at the Utah Shakespeare Festival
Cedar City, UT – The Utah Shakespeare Festival is once again collecting food for the less fortunate in our community. The 12th annual Fall Food Drive will be September 11 to October 31, with a goal to exceed last year’s donation of 3,467 pounds of food to the Iron County Care and Share.
Local residents can participate by donating six items of nonperishable food per individual on the day of the performance directly to the Festival and receive a half-price ticket to any Tuesday through Thursday performance, including previews on September 24 and 25. This offer is also valid to Charley*’s Aunt* on September 11, 12 and 19. Food donation barrels will be located in the Randall L. Jones Theatre lobby next to the ticket window.
“The support of our community is so critical to the success of the Utah Shakespeare Festival Fall Food Drive,” said Executive Director R. Scott Phillips. “Since 2003 the Festival has provided a forum where generous and caring playgoers can see great theatre and support those less fortunate through our annual fall food drive. And over the years, our guests have demonstrated time and time again their generosity and support of those in need by supplying food as part of a ticket purchase.”
Residents of Iron, Washington, Kane, Garfield, Sevier, Piute, and Beaver counties in Utah are eligible for the discount, as well as patrons from Lincoln County, Nevada. All residents should bring proof of residency and six nonperishable food items for each discounted ticket they wish to purchase. This offer is good Tuesday through Thursday on the day of the performance only. There is a limit of four discounted tickets per resident I.D.
Along with the food drive, Festival actors, musicians and company members will be hosting a special, one-night only benefit concert with all proceeds being donated to the Iron County Care and Share. Singing for Supper will take place on September 1 at 11 p.m. at Off the Cuff Comedy Club located at 913 S Main Street in Cedar City. The suggested donation is $10 with all proceeds going to the Iron County Care and Share.
Featured performers will be Natasha Harris, Larry Bull and Melinda Pfundstein, as well as many other Festival members. The event will also include a bake sale that patrons can enjoy during the event as well as a bin for patrons to donate canned goods, toiletries, feminine products, or linens. The Festival hopes to raise awareness, food and monetary donations for our community members in need this fall.
Tickets for the Festival’s 2015 season, which will run until October 31, are now on sale. The fall season includes The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Dracula as well as Charley*’s Aunt*.For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.
The Iron County Care and Share was founded in 1984 by a group of local churches of different denominations to address the issue of hunger in our community. Working with partners in the community, neighboring counties, and in the state, the Iron County Care and Share is able to help homeless and low-income individuals and families work toward self-sufficiency. The Iron County Care and Share is located at 900 North 222 West Cedar City, Utah.
NAPP Playwright James McLindon
NAPP Playwright James McLindon
This week, we feature the third play in our New American Playwrights Project. Closure, written by James McLindon, is about family reconciliation. As Brian lies dying, he is desperate to reconcile with his two estranged children, who are in their 20s. His only hope is the somewhat askew, sweet, and profane Virgin Mary, who appears to him in a Percocet haze dispensing advice about children, salvation, and Hieronymus Bosch. Closure is a drama with comedy about the endgame of a dysfunctional life and a broken family trying desperately to mend itself before its last chance is gone forever.
We chatted with James to learn more.
He currently lives in Western Massachusetts and is originally from upstate New York. During his senior year of college, he and a friend started writing sketch comedy. After graduation, they moved to Chicago with goal of having a play produced within a year. They succeeded and their play was nominated for the Jefferson Citation for New Plays. He then decided to attend law school to specialize in civil rights law. Right now, he’s splitting his time between playwriting and practicing law.
This play, Closure, had a previous incarnation as a humorous play called Salvation. It featured a dying bank-robber and his n’er-do-well son. James told us he had to get that version out of his system before he could tackle this more serious version: an intimate look at family and how hard it is to come to terms with someone who is dying when you still have issues.
This play has been through several staged readings. His goal for this week is to fine tune the precise balance between the family members, as well as the balance between the drama and humor.
This will be his first trip to Cedar City. He’s looking forward to the process as well as seeing as many of our plays as he can fit in.
You can see Closure Friday, August 21, Saturday, August 22 and Friday, August 28 at 10am in the Auditorium Theatre on the SUU campus. It is directed by Drew Shirley and will feature actors from the Festival company. Tickets are $10, available online at www.bard.org or at the door (be sure to get there by 9:45). Information about NAPP can be found at http://www.bard.org/napp/.
Company Spotlight: Samantha Ma and Devery North
Samantha Ma, Actor
Have you ever worked at the Festival before?
This will be my first summer working at the Festival, but I did attend shows at the Festival as a student every summer during high school!
Where’s your home base?
I’m originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, but I currently call Boston home.
What’s your education/training background?
I’m going to be a senior at The Boston Conservatory where I am studying Musical Theatre with an Emphasis in Acting.
What brought you to your field and what keeps you doing your craft?
My mother enrolled me in ballet, tap and piano lessons when I was younger in an attempt to bring me out of my shell and to keep my skills well-rounded. I was terribly shy, was very much a tomboy, and mostly had my nose stuck in books, but when I was a freshman in high school, I auditioned for the school musical and was cast as Veruca Salt in “Willy Wonka.” It was after this experience that my interest was piqued and I became more and more drawn to the stage and performing. As a current student in Boston, I get to see so many different types of theatre, dance and musical performances and I am constantly inspired by the wildly talented people I have the good fortune of watching and working beside. Seeing how the theater world is changing every day pushes me to want to help make a change and make a difference. And to be perfectly honest, I do it because it makes me so incredibly happy.
How will you spend your time off while here?
I want to attempt to go hiking as much as possible! I have also been trying my hand at convincing as many people as I can to go horseback riding with me because I used to ride all the time, but haven’t been in the saddle since high school. Also, as embarrassing as it sounds, I’m trying to take some time to binge watch/catch up on tv shows and movies and books that I don’t have time to enjoy during the school year.
What does the Festival Experience mean to you?
The festival experience means tradition and family to me. I’ve been coming to the festival since I was a freshman in high school and it was my first, real exposure to Shakespeare while I was growing up. It was a tradition for me to come to the festival every summer in August with my high school theater class and it was and still is the best escape from the world for a few days and it gives me the freedom to just dive into a fictional world. I’ve grown so close to so many people in the company and being at the festival is like having a second family that will hopefully last a lifetime!
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
If I could be a superhero I would love the ability to talk to animals! If you ask my cast mates, I’m seriously drawn to animals…especially the stray cats that often roam around the local Cedar City parking lots. I love animals and would love to know what they’re thinking and get that much closer to them.
If you had a time machine, where would you like to visit?
If I could go back in time, I would love to go back to the 1950/60s because I am obsessed with the rock and roll of the time period and the fashion! Also…I would just love to meet young Carole King and see her live.
Devery North, Company Management Assistant
Have you ever worked at the Festival before?
Nope, first year here!
Where’s your home base?
Kansas City, KS
What’s your education/training background?
BFA in Theatre Management from Stephens College
Four month program in London with the Theatre Academy of London through Florida State University
What brought you to your field and what keeps you doing your craft?
Being a Kansas City native and growing up around amazing theatres like Starlight Theatre and the Kansas City Rep, I was bound to become a theatre geek. My parents started taking me to the theatre when I was in kindergarten and they nourished my love of the arts when they enrolled me in my church choir in second grade.
Continuing to push myself in new ways as an artist is a priority of mine. French Renaissance writer François Rabais last words, “I go to seek a Great Perhaps” we’re first brought to my attention in the novel Looking for Alaska by John Green. These words have resonated with me since I read them several years ago. This mantra continues to motivate me to do great things.
How will you spend your time off while here?
Exploring the beautiful parks around Cedar City. Coming from the Midwest I’ve never lived in a place that is surrounded by mountains, so it will be many exciting and new adventures.
What does the Festival Experience mean to you?
The Festival Experience to me is growing as a company. I’ve worked in a summer-stock environment before and it always so much fun to bond with the people you are working while also working together to achieve the common goal: producing wonderful theatre.
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
I would be Spiderman, no questions asked.
If you had a time machine, where would you like to visit?
The Globe during Shakespeare’s time! Being a Groundling would be amazing.