Friday, February 24, 2012

A Mad World, indeed!


Shakespeare-centric theatre companies often willfully restrict their performance canon to a base of 37 plays. (Or, 38 or 39, depending on what you think of some of the apocrypha). While Shakespeare was very good at what he did, he was only one of the many authors writing 400 years ago, so, barring the discovery of some magical folio containing countless previously unknown plays with “Yes, I totally wrote these. Love, William Shakespeare” stamped across the front, we have 37 generally-agreed-upon plays to work with.
            I am of the mind that half the fun is in interpretation and will happily sit and watch every single production of Much Ado about Nothing the ASC has mounted in the last ten years (many with the same or similar cast members as the Much Ado currently running in the Blackfriars Playhouse) and then ask for more. I’ve seen so many different productions of Hamlet that my eyes cross just trying to remember them all, but – hey! You’re doing Hamlet? Where? I’ll totally be there. Can’t wait!
            Yet, no matter how many self-admitted weirdos like me there are out there, 37 plays may just not be enough for a year-round, internationally renowned company, fronting both a resident and a touring Shakespeare troupe. And (I suppose I should probably say this now) it turns out there were other playwrights in the early modern English era. It also turns out that some of them were writing some great stuff. Choosing to draw from this well, the ASC does not exclusively perform Shakespeare. Since the ASC's first non-Shakespearean early modern production, Beaumont and Fletcher's The Knight of the Burning Pestle in 1999, the company has mounted thirty-two plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries. The current Actors’ Renaissance Season features Beaumont and Fletcher’s Philaster, which is such a joy, and opening tomorrow is Thomas Middleton’s A Mad World, My Masters.
            My point about the whole Shakespeare-centric, only-37-plays-to-work-with thing is that it’s rare for someone like myself to go into the theatre completely ignorant of the play. Usually, I’ve at least got the plot down, which frees my brain to focus on other elements of the production. It’s easier to take in the nuance of performance choices when you’re not constantly worried that you may have missed some vital structural information. For Mad World, though, I decided to skip all the rehearsals, to eschew reading the play, and generally to remain ignorant about all of it – and then to show up to the dress rehearsal and to see what’s what.
            Here’s what’s fun about dress rehearsals, especially during the ARS: the audience is sparse, usually just in the single digits and made up of stage managers, dramaturgs, box office staff, and interns. It’s low-pressure but high-fun. The actors have had about ten days of rehearsal, this is the fourth play of the season, and let’s just say I was certainly not the only one who’d never heard of it until now. Oh, and it’s filthy. And I mean filthy. (The filthiness is scholastically verified by renowned scholar Peter Saccio, so you know it's not just our dirty minds making too much of the text). As a result, the actors are barely off-book, they’ve got on some of the more insane costumes I’ve seen in my time here (Dan Kennedy as Bounteous Progress is… words fail me), and they have to perform what is among the bawdiest, raunchiest, more-venereal-disease-jokes-than-even-George-Carlin-finds-appropriate play of the early modern era.
            They rocked it. This company is a well-oiled machine. A fine wine. A perfectly tuned piano. They make mistakes the way Paula Deen makes food: deliciously cheesy. Dan Kennedy, with fake facial hair and old-man walker, lost his mustache several times during the performance and went through such calisthenics to retrieve it from the ground that I was convinced they’d planned it; it wasn’t until he righted himself, after much effort, and called “Prithee!” that we realized the mustache was supposed to stay on his face. That’s saying something, because this happened about five times, and each time I was shocked when he called for line. That is, I would have been, if I had had enough breath left to be shocked; most of it was spent laughing so hard I may have bruised my ribs.
I’m glad I waited, because while it’s a joy to watch a play progress over the rehearsal period, it’s equally lovely to have a show bombard you, all at once, with every wonderful and ridiculous device in the plot and the actors’ decisions on how to interpret them. I don’t want to ruin too much, but here’s what you can look forward to: Greg Phelps dressed as a woman and singing Aretha Franklin, Jeremy West tied to a chair in a cop uniform, Dan Kennedy in general, a lot of rhyming verse, some very loud sex, and some inappropriate, on-stage bodily functions.
            A Mad World, My Masters is a delightfully gut-busting play, made more so by the company that performs it. The Pay What You Will opening is tonight, February 24th, and the show plays until April 7th, You’re not going to want to miss this one. I walked into the theatre with no idea of what I was getting into and feeling a bit wary, and I walked out once again thankful that the ASC exists and performs shows like this.

Monday, February 13, 2012

My Funny Valentine

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and we’re all getting ready here at the ASC. The Blackfriars Playhouse has limited edition chocolate heart lollipops for sale in the gift shop, and a certain education intern keeps receiving large, elaborate bouquets from various secret admirers. (One of those statements may not be true.)
            What’s the best way to woo your valentine? Let’s take our lessons from the plays currently running during this year’s Actors’ Renaissance Season. First, there’s Much Ado about Nothing, which is all to do with love. Next, Richard III, which puts its own dark spin on wooing and winning a woman. Lastly, there’s Philaster, or Love Lies A-Bleeding, which (if the title wasn’t enough of a clue) features love gone horribly awry due to secrecy, jealousy, and stabbings.
            If you want to woo like those in Much Ado, first decide if you’re a Claudio or a Benedick. If a Claudio, find a rich and good-looking friend to ask the object of your affection out on a date on your behalf. Make sure the friend is honest and virtuous. There’s no way this can possibly go wrong. If a Benedick, engage the object of your affection in verbal sparring as often as possible. Be witty but not cruel. Maybe date the object for a bit and then dump him/her unceremoniously. Wait several years. Repeat. Eventually realize you love the object (the use of an elaborate trick played by your friends to jumpstart this realization is recommended but not required) and corner him/her in an emotionally fraught moment (for example, after her cousin has just been slandered and left at the altar – or something along those lines). Tell the object you love him/her. If you’ve done these steps correctly, the object will ask you to kill your best friend. This means he/she loves you back.
            If you want to woo like Philaster, start by yelling at the object of your affection’s father in a very public place. Make sure the object is there to see it. Next, wait for the gods to strike the object full of love. This may take a while. Once you have the object’s love, threaten to kill yourself. Then threaten to kill the object. Then actually try to kill yourself. Then try to kill the object. Repeat as many times as you feel is necessary to completely win the object’s love, then put on masks and get married.
            I really don’t recommend wooing like a Richard, but if you’re set on it then you need to be fully committed. Are you? Good, let’s get started. First, kill the object of your affection’s spouse. Then, kill the spouse’s father. Then barge into the funeral and tell the object that you killed those relatives because you love him/her so much you couldn’t stand to see him/her married to anybody but you. Marry the object. Become the monarch of wherever you’re living (this step is optional, but it makes the following steps easier). Now, pay close attention, because this next part is important: you have to find a new object of affection. Why? The next step in the Richard Wooing Manual is to kill the original object. Attempt wooing tactic from Object #1 (kill spouse and spouse’s father) on Object #2, except this time, kill his/her brothers and most of his/her uncles. Say it is for love of him/her, etc. Disclaimer: this tactic rarely works, and always ends with your death. If you’re determined, though, give it a shot.
            I hope you found that educational! Although, if none of those wooing tactics meets your fancy, you could always take your sweetheart out to dinner and a show at the Blackfriars Playhouse! Now there’s a perfect Valentine’s Day.

-Lia Razak

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

It’s not every day you see a play like Philaster. Don’t miss your chance!

Imagine a play with the moody,intellectual protagonist of Hamlet, the rampant sexual jealousy of Othello, the inappropriately raunchy cross-dressing of Twelfth Night, and the brief pastoral reprieve of Cymbeline. Now add a dozen or so stabbings, some live music, and the best Spanish-Italian-Russian accent you’ve ever heard. What have you got? Philaster, Or Love Lies A-Bleeding. Disclaimer: neither Francis Beaumont nor John Fletcher (the co-authors of Philaster) is Shakespeare, though the latter did collaborate with him occasionally. As such, Philaster can’t promise you a “to or not to be” moment. If you want Shakespeare, you know the ASC has him: come see Richard III and Much Ado about Nothing, two of the other shows currently running in our Actors' Renaissance Season. If you, like many frequent theatregoers, need a break from Shakespeare,but aren’t keen to walk away from his themes of usurping kings, melancholy princes, and lovers running amok in the woods, come see Philaster.
At the talkback after Philaster’s opening night (the ASC offers talkbacks after every school matinee and on most Thursday nights, so stick around after the curtain call to hear the actors’ perspective), Greg Phelps,who plays the titular character, opined that in the Actors’ Renaissance Season the chosen texts, especially those by Shakespeare's contemporaries, are often rightfully obscure - but that Philaster isn’t. It’s true that not many people know it (even certain interns who may or may not be dramaturgs), but Philaster is a play that deserves a second chance.
The play is never boring. It is at once tender and funny. The love scenes between Arethusa and Philaster are heartbreakingly sweet without being sickening; they remind you of passing your first crush in the hall between classes. They move effortlessly into the comedic scenes, both romantic and rustic. Pharamond’s attempted wooing of Galatea and successful conquest of Megra is as physically comedic as a Marx Brothers’ movie, while the innuendo rivals that of a best selling bodice-ripper. There are also scenes featuring the lower classes – woodsmen, citizens, mutinous rabble-rousers –and they come as a welcome break and an interesting contrast to the shenanigans going on in court.
Between the first reading and opening night, Philaster bloomed.Each rehearsal brought new discoveries and challenges, and each performance bears out the actors’ hard work. There's nothing not to like in Philaster, and there’s a whole lot to learn. Come see the show -- It runs through April 6, 2012, and you may never get a chance to see this play again. After all, not every theater has the good sense to stage it.

Here’s a chart, highlighting some of the prominent Shakespeare-esque themes and some of the all over best moments in Philaster:



What Is It?
What Happens?
Spectacular Factor 1-10
Hamlet alert!
Philaster feigns madness (or maybe he’s really mad?), and yells at the King in front of the court and freaks out when he pretends (again, maybe?) to see his father’s spirit.
5 – Mostly for sheer audacity, as we all know nobody talks to the King that way, but also for Greg’s face when he “sees” his father’s spirit.
Swagger like a Fop Star
Aidan O’Reilly (playing Pharamond) walks around and says things.
8 – Come see the show; you’ll get it.
Green Eyed Monster
Philaster immediately believes his servants when they falsely tell him the princess Arethusa has taken up with her page boy. Philaster – without even asking for proof – resolves to kill her. Or himself. Or maybe both.
6 – See Greg try to explain to his servants (John Harrell, Dan Kennedy and Ben Curns) why he’s so angry over the princess’ lusty missteps, since the servants know nothing about Philaster and Arethusa’s hidden love.
It is a woman!
In some very Twelfth Night-esque scenes, both Philaster and Arethusa seem a bit too interested in the page “boy,” Bellario.
4 – When the reveal came on opening night, the audience groaned amusedly as if to say, “You didn’t figure this out four acts ago, like the rest of us?”
Tourist Trap
Alli Glenzer plays a country fellow who interrupts Philaster and Arethusa during an intimate moment in the woods.
10 – The ARS at its best: the actors take a moment that is inherently funny but difficult to stage, and make the absolute most out of it. The whole play is worth it just for this one scene.
A page out of Cymbeline
Philaster wanders about in the woods, musing that his life would be better if he had been born, raised, and married there.
5- It’s a poignant moment not only about the difference between country and city, but also about Philaster’s constant “the grass is always greener” syndrome.
Groove Factor
Ben Curns, Jeremy West, Dan Kennedy and John Harrell stage a very jazzy pre-show.
10 – A jazz trio, interesting information about the ASC and the ARS, and a werewolf. No, seriously. A werewolf.
Swoon Factor
Chris Johnston opens the show with his rendition of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.”
10 – If you’re into that sort of thing. Which everybody is.


-- Lia Razak