New York Times: It’s a Dehumanizing Business, Becoming Top Dog
Be sure to see CSF's production of Shakespeare's great tragedy this summer
By Ben Brantley
The New York Times
Oh, Mr. Romney, have you met Richard, Duke of Gloucester? A front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination might benefit from a sit-down with the title character of “Richard III,” or the version of him that is being embodied with all-conquering audacity by Kevin Spacey at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
In Shakespeare’s grisly portrait of the hunchback who would be king, which opened Wednesday night in a production from the trans-Atlantic Bridge Project, Richard buzz-saws his way through a crowded field of contenders to claim the crown of England. Now Mr. Romney might find some of Richard’s stratagems déjà vu (like having other people besmirch your rivals’ reputations) or unfeasible in these, uh, civilized times (like hiring assassins to dispatch competitors).
But he should definitely make a close study of at least one aspect of Mr. Spacey’s star turn as Shakespeare’s “poisonous bunch-backed toad.” (Now there’s a great bit of mud-slinging for you.) For this Richard the cardinal rule of how to succeed in politics is clear: You have to out-act everybody else. If Mr. Romney devotes half the flair and energy to this proposition that Mr. Spacey does, you can start playing “Hail to the Chief.”
In a happy convergence of an actor and a role Mr. Spacey makes acting up a devastating storm both the form and content of his part in “Richard III,” which has been staged (none too subtly) by the Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes.
'Twelfth Night' anti-bullying program in Colorado schools
Shakespeare Festival's anti-bullying tour takes off
Bard's 'Twelfth Night' offers lessons to students
By Colleen O'Connor
The Denver Post
"When we first told people, they said, 'What? That's weird. How do those two things go together?' " said Jane Grady, assistant director for the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado, which is working in conjunction with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival on the campaign.
But after a month of performances of "Twelfth Night" in 25 schools across Colorado, which were followed by workshops in which kids talked about the character Malvolio and other bullies in the play, the results surprised the experts.
The plan was to do eight shows a week throughout October, which is National Bullying Prevention Month. Bookings were filled before the first rehearsal, so a fifth week was added.
"It's pretty amazing," Grady said. "Hopefully it will take off, because this is really a better way to get the message out."
NW Denver boy Shakespeare Festival’s Little Prince
by Craig Williamson |
At 11 years old, Alastair Hennessy shows a maturity beyond his years in his view of the world, his acting ability, and his understanding of what it takes to understand a character. His acting experience started with the Edison Elementary School Shakespeare club right here in Northwest Denver, was molded by time at DCPA summer camps, and continues at the Denver School of the Arts (DSA). Most impressively, he is one of two young men (the other is 14) performing as the Little Prince in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) production of the same name this summer.
Seeing his older sister Maitland perform with the Edison Shakespeare club inspired him to join the club. “I remember his fearlessness,” said Director Jackie Montesano, adding that he really worked to understand what the character wanted and felt, even when those feelings were well beyond his own experience. At Edison, he performed in Macbeth and Two Gentlemen of Verona, the latter providing an audition monologue he used for DSA and CSF. Edison Shakespeare “really got me into acting,” said Alastair, “and made me appreciate theater more.” Alastair’s mother Susan Hennessy also credits Edison Shakespeare with instilling a discipline around performing that has served him well in working with professional actors at CSF.
Having completed only his first year of DSA as a theater major, he has not had any opportunities to perform in full productions there yet, but he said the work in movement, stretching, exercises, and particularly a long form improv unit have been very helpful.
Alastair comes from a theater family, with parents Susan Hennessy and Matthew Taylor both working in performing arts. They have always been very supportive, and “sometimes they pushed me,” reported Alastair. He admits that it helped out in the long run – “even if I didn’t like it at the time.” Parenting a young actor has its challenges, too, and Taylor reports that the transportation requirements of the many rehearsals in Boulder have been a strain, though other cast members in Northwest Denver have helped with some of the driving. There was also envy in Taylor’s voice when he described the feeling of being an outsider – Alastair is part of a tight knit ensemble for the show from which the parents are excluded.
Both parents highlighted the many positives of the experience. Taylor emphasized the life lessons from Alastair’s experience as part of a cast of professional actors, learning from them, but also knowing that he can rely on them and that they are relying on him. Hennessy said how pleased she was to see that everyone in the cast and crew were mentoring and supporting Alastair. She has been impressed with how mature Alastair has become in the situation – she said she “did not count on all that he is getting out of this,” and said how thankful she is. These are not parents who have forced a reluctant kid to follow in their footsteps. Taylor said that this whole thing has really been “driven by his passion,” with Hennessy describing him as “so hungry to perform.”
“It’s been really fun so far,” responded Alastair when asked during the rehearsal process about his CSF experience. He auditioned for To Kill a Mockingbird at CSF in 2009, and while he wasn’t cast for that show, he was in the system. After his third audition, he was cast in CSF’s production of A Christmas Carol last year, and then landed the Little Prince role for this year. Alastair described things as “super interesting – you get to learn a lot from the adults.” He specifically mentioned Tom Coiner, playing the Aviator who is onstage with Alastair for much of the play, as being especially helpful, making suggestions and giving advice. When asked about Alastair, Coiner said he thought very highly of the young man, describing him as “a wonderful scene partner, of any age.” Alastair said he also enjoys working with the show’s director, CSF Producing Artistic Director Philip Sneed, who also directed Alastair in Christmas Carol. He said Sneed has never been harsh, explains things quickly and thoroughly, and “sometimes gets annoyed – but that is expected.”
What’s next for this young actor? His dream role is Mark from Rent and he said he would love to play Billy Elliot, though he realizes that will never happen because of age and the demands of the role. Again showing maturity, he is pragmatic – he would love to be a professional actor, but knows that the odds are slim that he could ever make a living acting, and said that he would also be happy doing other theater-related work. But he has seen some significant success already. And talking to this young man, seeing him perform, knowing the amazing experience he has gained this summer, and hearing how his fellow actors speak of him, his chances for further success may be pretty good after all.
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Little Prince will be performed July 19, 26, and August 3 at 7:30 pm, and July 10, 17, 23, 24, 31, and August 14 at 2:00 pm (Alastair will be in the 7/17, 7/19, 7/31, and 8/3 performances) at the University Theater on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. Running in Repertory with The Little Prince through August 14 are Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and The Comedy of Errors, at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre, as well as The Inspector General, by Nikolai Gogol, at the University Theatre, being done in collaboration with the Maxim Gorky Theatre, from Vladivostok, Russia. Tickets are $18-$54, discounted for youth, kids, and seniors. To purchase tickets, call (303) 492-0554 or visit www.coloradoshakes.org.
One of my high school teachers believed — decades before the advent of Avenue Q — that everyone is just a little bit racist. He claimed, therefore, that the best anyone could do was to be “actively anti-racist,” and I have always done my best to follow that credo. So take the next bit as the joke it is tended and leave the torches and pitchforks in the shed.
Apparently, “Russian humor” is not the oxymoron that, say, German mercy, French courage or English frivolity are. (Again, totally kidding. I’m sure that at this very moment somewhere a German is rescuing a kitten from a tree, a Frenchman is standing up to a roomful of Hell’s Angels who besmirched his girlfriend’s good name and an Englishman is making “Caloo! Caloo!” noises while spinning his propeller beanie.) I mean, I never believed the entire artistic landscape of America’s once fearsome, super-powered opponent in the race to blow the tits off the world was completely devoid of comedy. I just didn’t expect it to be so much like Three’s Company.
And make no mistake, Nikolai Gogol’s The Inspector General, presented by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, is but a Janet and Chrissy away from that sitcom hit of the ’70s and ’80s. As with pretty much every episode ofThree’s Company, The Inspector General revolves around a case of mistaken identity. The corrupt leaders of a provincial Russian community learn that an inspector general has been dispatched to their little burg. If the inspector general learns of the deficiencies and inequities perpetrated by the ruling regime, the consequences could be dire.
Desperate to retain their power, the mayor (Gary Alan Wright/Evgeny Weigel) and his cronies seek out the inspector general in hopes of bribing him into submission. They decide that a recently arrived, seemingly entitled traveler from St. Petersburg, the home base of the inspector general, must be their man. Khlestakov (Stephen Weitz/ Alexandr Slavski) is a rascally official of dubious morals, and in this he is a perfect match for the sleazy elite of the town. He is not, however, the inspector general.
Khlestakov spends the rest of the play fleecing the mayor and his crew of as much money, luxury and tail as possible, all of which they happily supply, thinking that they are effectively protecting their interests. Whether he is found out for the fraud that he is and whether the real inspector general turns up I will not disclose. Suffice it to say that, as with Jack, the Ropers and the barflies down at the Regal Beagle, most everything works out — one way or the other — in the end.
I was lucky enough to see one of the two performances of The Inspector General during which certain key roles — the mayor, the health commissioner (Erik Sandvold/Vladimir Sergiakov), the postmaster (Geoffrey Kent/ Nikolay Timoshenko) and Khlestakov — were played by actors speaking in both English and Russian. From time to time, the American actor in the role would leave the stage mid-scene and be replaced by his Russian counterpart, or vice versa. The changes themselves were handled smoothly and were often in and of themselves hilarious. Hearing large chunks of the dialogue delivered in Russian did not, as promised by CSF honcho Philip Sneed, keep me from following the action. As I don’t know Russian, it did keep me from understanding the actual words being spoken, but its novelty outweighed the stranger-in-a-strangeland effect.
The Russian actors, all of whom played their roles in the major Russian production of the play, delivered broad, comfortable performances. Gary Alan Wright played the mayor with a delicious mix of greed and fear, and Lanna Joffrey and Jamie Ann Romero (who is also playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet this season), as the mayor’s wife and daughter, respectively, consistently earned the largest laughs. If I had but one award to give out to the cast, however, it would have to go to Stephen Weitz. He once again proved that he is an actor of effortless professionalism whose comic chops are second to none.
photo by Patrick Campbell
One of my high school teachers believed — decades before the advent of Avenue Q — that everyone is just a little bit racist. He claimed, therefore, that the best anyone could do was to be “actively anti-racist,” and I have always done my best to follow that credo. So take the next bit as the joke it is tended and leave the torches and pitchforks in the shed.
Apparently, “Russian humor” is not the oxymoron that, say, German mercy, French courage or English frivolity are. (Again, totally kidding. I’m sure that at this very moment somewhere a German is rescuing a kitten from a tree, a Frenchman is standing up to a roomful of Hell’s Angels who besmirched his girlfriend’s good name and an Englishman is making “Caloo! Caloo!” noises while spinning his propeller beanie.) I mean, I never believed the entire artistic landscape of America’s once fearsome, super-powered opponent in the race to blow the tits off the world was completely devoid of comedy. I just didn’t expect it to be so much like Three’s Company.
And make no mistake, Nikolai Gogol’s The Inspector General, presented by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, is but a Janet and Chrissy away from that sitcom hit of the ’70s and ’80s. As with pretty much every episode ofThree’s Company, The Inspector General revolves around a case of mistaken identity. The corrupt leaders of a provincial Russian community learn that an inspector general has been dispatched to their little burg. If the inspector general learns of the deficiencies and inequities perpetrated by the ruling regime, the consequences could be dire.
Desperate to retain their power, the mayor (Gary Alan Wright/Evgeny Weigel) and his cronies seek out the inspector general in hopes of bribing him into submission. They decide that a recently arrived, seemingly entitled traveler from St. Petersburg, the home base of the inspector general, must be their man. Khlestakov (Stephen Weitz/ Alexandr Slavski) is a rascally official of dubious morals, and in this he is a perfect match for the sleazy elite of the town. He is not, however, the inspector general.
Khlestakov spends the rest of the play fleecing the mayor and his crew of as much money, luxury and tail as possible, all of which they happily supply, thinking that they are effectively protecting their interests. Whether he is found out for the fraud that he is and whether the real inspector general turns up I will not disclose. Suffice it to say that, as with Jack, the Ropers and the barflies down at the Regal Beagle, most everything works out — one way or the other — in the end.
I was lucky enough to see one of the two performances of The Inspector
General during which certain key roles — the mayor, the health commissioner (Erik Sandvold/Vladimir Sergiakov), the postmaster (Geoffrey Kent/ Nikolay Timoshenko) and Khlestakov — were played by actors speaking in both English and Russian. From time to time, the American actor in the role would leave the stage mid-scene and be replaced by his Russian counterpart, or vice versa. The changes themselves were handled smoothly and were often in and of themselves hilarious. Hearing large chunks of the dialogue delivered in Russian did not, as promised by CSF honcho Philip Sneed, keep me from following the action. As I don’t know Russian, it did keep me from understanding the actual words being spoken, but its novelty outweighed the stranger-in-a-strangeland effect.
The Russian actors, all of whom played their roles in the major Russian production of the play, delivered broad, comfortable performances. Gary Alan Wright played the mayor with a delicious mix of greed and fear, and Lanna Joffrey and Jamie Ann Romero (who is also playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
by Craig Williamson |
