Some of you may be wondering about our partnership with the Greenville Humane Society. [Spoiler Alert] If you have already seen Two Gentlemen of Verona, you know that there is a dog in the play. (Crab is the only named animal in Shakespeare!) Knowing this made our director, Jeff Stegall, think that an association with the Greenville Humane Society would be beneficial to both parties. He began discussing the idea with GHS public relations personnel, and voila! the partnership was born. The Greenville Humane Society has kindly given us website and television publicity. (Did you catch our Julia, aka Rebecca Clements, doing the Adopt-a-Pet segment on WYFF Friday afternoon?) The original plan was to use a dog from the GHS for the part of the dog in the play. However, since dogs are continually being adopted (at least that’s the plan), our being able to use the same dog in rehearsals and during the full run of the play became impractical and unlikely. That was when Toby stepped into the part, a role he has performed with distinction. (You can see Toby perform July 3, 4, 6, 17, 18, or 20.)
The mission of The Greenville Humane Society is “to promote and improve the quality of life and humane treatment of animals” (from their website). They are a non-profit organization receiving zero government funding. They annually find homes for over 5000 animals, so they depend on tax-deductible donations from people like you!
Those interested in adopting fill out a pre-adoption questionnaire so that the folks at GHS can try to individually match pets with caring owners. If you’re a potential owner of a friendly dog/cat/other, why not give them a call (242-3626) or stop by 328 Furman Hall Road? Or just click here.
I grew up on Shakespeare. My first of his plays was As You Like It, and I still remember watching Audrey pick her feet and eat a raw onion onstage (not necessarily in that order). A few years later I was struck with the resemblance of one of the walk-ons in a history play to a girl I stood near in choir. Then there was the night that the tip of a soldier’s spear came off in the heat of battle and swung wildly from its mooring. Another time a tree fell over. And–best of all to my decidedly immature mind–was a performance in which someone crawled from the wings into the scene just to see whether he would be noticed. He was. When I think of these random memories what strikes me is that I don’t remember the words of the plays at all. Not any of them.
Fast forward fifteen years. My fiancée is directing A Winter’s Tale, so I check a cassette tape (yes, I’m dating myself) out of the library and listen to John Gielgud and others recreate the story. I am mesmerized by the sounds–the rhyming, the rhythm, the cadence, the imagery, the humor, the pathos, the pure magic of Shakespeare! I find myself memorizing large portions of the uncut play before rehearsals even start. I attend rehearsals and give cues to the cast when lines are dropped (much to my fiancee’s chagrin). On opening night I am on the edge of my seat, biting my lip to keep from mouthing the lines. “Too hot, too hot,” I intone with Leontes. “Let him that makes but trifles of his eyes first hand me,” I threaten with brave Paulina. I smile when Florizel says, “I bless the time when my good falcon made its flight across thy father’s ground.” And there are tears in my eyes as the virtuous queen announces, “You precious winners all!” I have since seen A Winter’s Tale at least eight more times and am thrilled anew with each “What’s gone and what’s past help must be past grief.”
So what does this have to do with you, dear Theatregoer? Merely this, far from breeding contempt, familiarity with Shakespeare breeds delight. Study the plays. Read synopses and articles and reviews. View clips and watch movie versions. Compare different actors’ interpretations. You will not tire of these timeless tales. You will fall in love with them.
What was your first Shakespeare play? What stands out in your memory about it?
Summer Shakespeare’s 10th season is open for business–and audience and cast are all having a lot of fun! The opening weekend of Two Gentlemen of Verona was a success if the comments of those who attended the performances Friday and Saturday nights were any indication. Here’s a sampling of the feedback we’ve received:
“You’ve reached your zenith–I just don’t see how it could get any better.”
“Thank you for an enjoyable evening!”
“We loved the play–but then we always do.”
“You got me: I totally bought into the ending.”
“Loved the dog!”
“What talent! The play was one of the best things I have been to in a long time.”
“I definitely want to see [Two Gentlemen] again this summer.”
Comments like the above are music to our ears. Come see what everyone is talking about and then tell us about your own Summer Shakespeare experience.
If you’ve been to the play already, what was your favorite part? If you could play any role in this play, what would it be?
Well, here we are. Five weeks into the rehearsal process, and it’s showtime! The creative team is eager to see what was once merely an idea put into action before a live audience. The cast is looking forward to putting the play on the boards. The crew is prepared for any eventuality (including the light board and the MIDI player to stop talking to each other). Even Toby, the dog playing the part of Crab, is ready. Last night was the time to give the edges of the stage a final fresh coat of flat black paint. Today the platforms and additional seating with be added to the fourth side of the stage (the play is performed in the round), and last-minute props and costumes pieces will be finished. (Why is Thurio wearing dark socks? Where is Panthino’s belt? and so on.)
We have a special preview performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona Friday night for former cast and crew members and their guests and then it’s our official opening night on Saturday. Do you have your tickets yet? Call the box office or get them online today!
Time for a little Summer Shakespeare trivia. In which Summer Shakespeare production did William Shakespeare aka the Bobblehead first appear? (No fair cheating and reading the earlier blog post, “Memories of Summer Shakespeare.”) If you said Love’s Labor’s Lost (2006), you are correct! He appeared as Rosaline’s love-gift from Berowne. You know, the gift that causes the Princess to ask, “What is it?” following which a chagrined Rosaline answers, “I would you knew” (subtext=because I sure don’t). That summer we sold Shakespeare bobbleheads during intermission until we ran out of them. Our Will was subsequently dragged on by the mechanicals in Midsummer Night’s Dream (2007) and then appeared wearing a grass skirt on the magical island table in Tempest (2008). So where might Will show up in 2009? You’ll have to get your tickets for Two Gentlemen of Verona to find out!
Where do you think Will should show up in Two Gentlemen of Verona? Did you know he’s a collector’s item now?
In a previous post (“Superlative Obscurity”) I mentioned Franz Schubert’s song, “Who Is Silvia?” taken directly from Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona text in Act IV, scene ii. Now, without any further ado, here is Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s rendition in English. (Watch at your own risk, there are no subtitles here.)
Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona is relatively unknown and undone in comparison to his other plays. This even though the play features several Shakespearean superlatives: smallest cast (13 named characters), first appearance of a girl disguised as a boy, most occurrences of forms of the word “love” (225, with Romeo and Juliet a distant second with 182), and the sole named animal (Crab, Launce’s dog). But the play is far from a favorite. It has been called “immature,” “trifling,” “improbable and unrealistic,” and “slipshod” by critics. Read the rest of this entry »
Ever sat through a production feeling as though if you could just figure out what some particular word meant (forsworn? enfranchise? vouchsafe?) you could make sense of about 85% of the play? Or maybe you’ve felt like Dull the Constable in Love’s Labour’s Lost, who, in response to the comment that he has “spoken no word all this while,” replies, “Nor understood none neither.” Take heart—it’s not your hearing, and there’s Summer Shakespeare to the rescue with engaging and educational worksheets for this year’s production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. Learn about wordplay, punning, and word coinage; examine Shakespearean vocabulary; familiarize yourself with famous quotations; and search for Verona-esque words. Read the rest of this entry »
During a rehearsal for Two Gentlemen of Verona, the actors became intrigued by the stage direction “exeunt” and its meaning. Research reveals that the word is a plural derived from the Latin of exire meaning “to go out” and is related to the more common singular word exit. The word is pronounced in three syllables: \EK-see-unt\. (Side note: “Exit” is part of Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction, “Exit pursued by a Beare.”) Here is a list of the sparse stage directions in Two Gentlemen of Verona: Read the rest of this entry »
Casting is nearly complete for Summer Shakespeare’s 2009 production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. (We make the caveat of “nearly” because the part of Crab the dog is not yet finalized. More on canine negotiations in a future post.) See the Current Show page for full details. In case you ever wondered about how a play gets cast, here is a brief synopsis of Summer Shakespeare’s process: Read the rest of this entry »
Some of you may be wondering about our partnership with the Greenville Humane Society. [Spoiler Alert] If you have already seen Two Gentlemen of Verona, you know that there is a dog in the play. (Crab is the only named animal in Shakespeare!) Knowing this made our director, Jeff Stegall, think that an association with the Greenville Humane Society would be beneficial to both parties. He began discussing the idea with GHS public relations personnel, and voila! the partnership was born. The Greenville Humane Society has kindly given us website and television publicity. (Did you catch our Julia, aka Rebecca Clements, doing the Adopt-a-Pet segment on WYFF Friday afternoon?) The original plan was to use a dog from the GHS for the part of the dog in the play. However, since dogs are continually being adopted (at least that’s the plan), our being able to use the same dog in rehearsals and during the full run of the play became impractical and unlikely. That was when Toby stepped into the part, a role he has performed with distinction. (You can see Toby perform July 3, 4, 6, 17, 18, or 20.)
