Posts Tagged ‘Shakespeare’
A rich reading of Shakespeare’s complicated “King John” at the Folger Theatre
The first play I ever saw at the Folger Shakespeare Library’s fabulous Theatre in D.C. was Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, directed by Aaron Posner, and I was enthralled by the utter dedication to the text and the clean linearity that Posner brought to this complicated play. Ever since, I have tried to get to […]
All at Sea
From now through November 19, Baltimore Shakespeare Factory is stepping away from the Bard for a bit to present The Sea Voyage, a comedy by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. Recently, I spoke with director Ann Turiano about the show, which features warriors, pirates, castaways, and all manner of shenanigans. https://www.baltimoreshakespearefactory.org/
Booknotes marks Shakespeare 400
As we continue to honor Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of his death, Booknotes caught up with the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, whose mission it is to re-create, as closely as possible, the staging conditions of Shakespeare’s time. Here is the Founder and Artistic Director of BSF, Tom Delise.
“… and all the [men and] women merely players.”
Center Stage, never one to be stodgy in its approach to theatrical productions, is presenting an all-female As You Like It by William Shakespeare. One of the few men involved, dramaturg Gavin Witt, came to talk about it.
Is it Rosencrantz or is it Guildenstern?
I wish I could live inside Tom Stoppard’s mind for an hour. I’d love to know how he comes up with his intricate, cross-referenced plays. One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from an interview Stoppard did with The Paris Review, when the interviewer asked him about the pitfalls of writing. It is not […]
The Merchant with Folger
Henry Clay Folger (amongst his claims to fame, he was the nephew of the founder of Folgers Coffee) was born in New York City, in 1857, and he made his career there as president and chairman of Standard Oil of New York. On the side, he and his wife, Emily, became avid collectors of Shakespeareana […]
Two Gentlemen, Their Mistresses, and a Dog
The Folger Theatre is presenting a fabulous production of Fiasco Theater’s Two Gents. My review for the online magazine, Monologging, is here: http://monologging.org/two-gentlemen-their-mistresses-and-a-dog/
Comedy with an edge
A program note for the Folger Theatre’s current production of “Twelfth Night” points out that this is the last of Shakespeare’s “romantic” or “happy” comedies, and that those that followed, like “Measure for Measure” and “All’s Well That Ends Well” are less innocent and more complicated. (To those I would add “Cymbeline,” “The Winter’s Tale” […]
It’s that time of year again!
Macbeth closed yesterday & I’m feeling a bit of that post-show “crash” that comes every time a production ends. The performances went very well, we had such appreciative audiences, & the cast & crew really bonded. This was one of those experiences that reminds one why doing theater is worth all that rehearsal time, memorization, […]
Tomorrow and tomorrow and…
Tomorrow is opening night! We finished tech cues for Jewish Theatre Workshop’s “Macbeth” last night, so our final dress rehearsal is this evening. It’s great fun to see everyone in costume & the weapons in this production are truly stunning, both visually & in the sense of how some characters meet their ends. Ouch! I […]
