Shakespeare & Company Fall/ Winter
Diverse Schedule Planned
By: Bob Fowler - Jun 08, 2010
Shakespeare & Company’s Artistic Director Tony Simotes announces its exciting 2010-2011 Fall & Winter Performance Season. The lineup includes a bounty of diverse productions from Stoppard to Shakespeare , to a Macy’s Department Store elf’s heart-warming story , to a silly little cross-dressing number (yes again!). Titles include The Real Inspector Hound , The Annual Fall Gala , As You L ike It , The Fall Festival of Shakespeare , The Santaland Diaries , The Mystery of Irma Vep , Shakespeare and the L anguage that Shaped a World , and rounding out the season , Hamlet (The Company’s New England Tour of Shakespeare) will come home for a limited run.
“I am very proud to announce our upcoming Fall & Winter Performance Season,” says Simotes. “It is filled with light , humor , passion and irreverence – descriptions that go hand in hand with Shakespeare & Company and the work produced here. We have all worked exceptionally hard this past year , from the ground on up , to ensure we continue to produce extraordinary and thought provoking work not just during our expansive Summer Season but into the shoulder months as well bringing business to the area and supporting the local economy. To work with our Board Chairman , Richard Mescon , our Managing Director Nicholas J. Puma Jr , Tina and the Company over the past 12 months has been both joyful and challenging but through all of our struggles , I have witnessed the Company’s determination , strength and passion as it continues to achieve its goals. It consistently forges ahead and reinforces its commitment to bringing thoughtful and entertaining theatre , education and training programs to the community both near and far as it continues to evolve into a world-class theatre destination. Even though we have faced some tough times in the past , I enthusiastically continue to embrace both the challenges and successes as we enter into our 33rd Anniversary Season and plan our exciting Fall & Winter Performance Season.”
The bad boys are back in town this fall with the return of Company comedians Jonathan Croy , Josh Aaron McCabe and Ryan Winkles , hot off the success train of last fall’s shameless comedy hit , The Hound of the Baskervilles. This time they take on Tom Stoppard’s hilarious who-done-it , The Real Inspector Hound. Directed by Croy , McCabe and Winkles are joined on stage by a host of other suspiciously familiar Company clowns including actors Dana Harrison , David Joseph , Daniel Kurtz , Alexandra L incoln , Meg O’Connor , Scott Renzoni , and Enrico Spada. Stoppard displays surgeon-like theatrical deftness in this dead-on parody of both the parlor mystery genre and the conventions of theatre critics—not to mention the frustrated aspirations of “second stringers” everywhere. If Shakespeare holds the mirror up to nature , Stoppard’s work alternately blurs and illuminates that image , throwing new light on the way we see ourselves as well as the way others see us. “It all fits together with sort of a demented clockwork precision , ” says British Theatre scholar Russell Taylor—and he ought to know. Bernstein Theatre , September 18-November 7.
The Fall Festival of Shakespeare continues the tradition of immersing youth in the most active , compelling and transformative ways. Last November , 500 students from 10 high schools took part in the 21st annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare , a program that WBUR from Boston compared to , “a rock concert. Show after show the theater is jammed with kids cheering for each other.” The tradition continues with four days worth of Shakespeare that is passionately performed by students , enthusiastically—even raucously—received by all and in an atmosphere of joy and celebration. These 90-minute cut versions of Shakespeare’s plays are uniquely insightful , heart-rending , and laugh-out-loud hilarious. Seating is limited so book your tickets now! Founders’ Theatre , November 18 – 21.
Next up , from one of contemporary literature’s preeminent humorists , comes a hilarious exploration of the dark side of Christmas. Artistic Director Tony Simotes rings in the Holiday season with The Santaland Diaries featuring actor Peter Davenport , who was nominated last year for a prestigious IRNE Award as Best Actor in a Musical for his critically lauded performance in the L yric Stage Company’s hit production of Kiss Me , Kate. Adapted by Joe Mantello from the popular essay that launched David Sedaris into the national spotlight , The Santaland Diaries is a warm and festive little one-man tale that has just the right mix of humor , charm , wit and edge to have everyone rollicking in the aisles. Occasionally subversive , alarmingly clever , engagingly poignant and always side-splittingly funny , this true account of Mr. Sedaris’ time spent working as a Christmas elf in Macy’s Department Store is well on its way to becoming a modern holiday classic. Bernstein Theatre , December 2 – 30.
As You L ike It is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies , and justifiably so. The Forest of Arden is a place of escape and transformation—Shakespeare created Rosalind , one of his greatest female characters , to lead the audience through this topsy-turvy world where society’s norms have no power , and the power of possibility is undiminished. Directed by Tod Randolph (Elizabeth in Richard III , director of last season’s hit The Dreamer Examines His Pillow) and featuring participants from the Company’s lauded The Conservatory at Shakespeare & Company acting program , this annual presentation has fast become an early-winter treat for audiences near and far. See the exciting young actors in S&Co.’s world-renowned Training Program put to good use all the skills they’ve been honing for the previous three months , in this special performance. Founders’ Theatre , December 10 & 11 at 7:30pm.
Ringing in the New Year with more laughs than should be legal , audiences will delight in the hilarious The Mystery of Irma Vep. This zany romp through the mysterious and the sublime features two actors , eight roles (cue cross-dressing number) , and wields a healthy mix of storytelling genres , from Hitchcock to Victorian melodrama to lurid , 19th century pulp fiction (or , in British parlance , ‘penny dreadfuls’). Directed by Kevin G. Coleman (The Winter’s Tale , The L adies Man , Rough Crossing) the production features Josh Aaron McCabe and Ryan Winkles , two actors whose skill at this sort of barely-controlled madness was such a delight in last season’s smash hit , The Hound of the Baskervilles (both actors are also in The Real Inspector Hound). The Mystery of Irma Vep is written by the brilliant Charles L udlam , founder of the much-celebrated , boundary-breaking Ridiculous Theatre Company. This OBIE Award-winning , madcap escapade is sure to leave you breathless with laughter , while its expertly constructed story manages to both send-up and celebrate the traditional Gothic mystery. “A masterpiece”—The New York Times. Bernstein Theatre , February 4 – March 27 , 2011.
Written by Kevin G. Coleman and directed by Jenna Ware (The Amorous Quarrel) , Shakespeare and the L anguage that Shaped a World will tour Middle and Elementary schools throughout the northeast in the early spring of 2011 and now returns again this spring for a series of special presentations in April. Each performance is followed by a free , interactive workshop based on one of Shakespeare’s plays , and open to the young and young at heart! Shakespeare and the L anguage that Shaped a World is a whirlwind tour through the life , times and work of William Shakespeare featuring six S&Co. actors and a truck load of historical information and scenes from dozens of his greatest plays. It’s a fast-paced , fun and hilarious presentation introducing kids and adults to Shakespeare through his stories , characters , and words—with a bit of sword-fighting and clowning thrown in for good measure. Bernstein Theatre , April 2011.