Preview
DO YOU BITE YOUR THUMB AT ME, SIR?
THEATREboom and Shakespeare in the Park
Created and performed by Patrick MacEachern, Evan Rothery and Joel Smith
Runs until August 18
Prince’s Island Park
Prince’s Island doesn’t usually see fights break out during the folk festival. However, this year, while the folkies are grooving peacefully on one side of the island, on the other side three guys will be going at it with everything from steak knives to broadswords, as a raucous crowd cheers them on.
But wait – don’t call the cops. These weapon-wielding ruffians are merely a trio of ex-Shakespeare in the Park actors and their fracas is a showcase of classic Shakespearean fight scenes called Do You Bite Your Thumb at Me, Sir?
For those who think of Shakespeare as just pretty verse, this is a boisterous reminder that the old Swan of Avon also had a taste for violent action to rival John Woo’s.
"We fight with swords and daggers, and war hammers," says Joel Smith.
"Shields and broadswords," adds Evan Rothery.
"And bayonets and steak knives," puts in Patrick MacEachern.
Not to mention hockey sticks, in a kung-fu spoof of Henry IV’s showdown with Hotspur at Shrewsbury.
The one-hour show – whose title, a provocation used in Romeo and Juliet, is roughly the Elizabethan equivalent of "You talkin’ to me?" – is a collaboration between Smith, Rothery and MacEachern’s fledgling THEATREboom company and Mount Royal College’s Shakespeare in the Park. SITP’s artistic director Martin Fishman came up with the fight-showcase idea and asked if THEATREboom would be interested in creating it.
"We jumped all over it," says Smith.
"To get people into it, we thought there had to be a story of some sort," he adds. "It’s essentially Evan and I making fun of Pat. He’s a terrible Hamlet and we want to drive him insane to the point that he becomes a good Hamlet at the end of the show. We get the audience to help us. When we bite our thumbs, that’s the audience’s cue to boo, heckle and throw Shakespearean insults at Mr. MacEachern."
The show made its debut July 14 and was an instant hit. "It was incredible how quickly the audience picked up on it," says Smith. "The first time we bit our thumbs, they booed so loud we were blown away. After a while, we didn’t even have to cue them anymore."
"People were even coming up with their own Shakespearean insults," says MacEachern, who cheerfully undergoes various indignities, including being forced to play the female leads in Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew, en route to the fencing finale of Hamlet. The show also features choice morsels of mayhem from Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Richard III.
To prepare for this feast of combat, the THEATREboom boys spent an intense two-week period training with Jean-Pierre Fournier, the veteran Canadian fight master based at Mount Royal College, who choreographs the swordplay for Shakespeare in the Park. Fournier also supplied the weapons.
"He’s got an enormous arsenal," says Smith. "He provides most of Alberta with (stage) weaponry, from what I understand, and he’s been (teaching fight choreography) for 30 years, all over the world."
After getting the fights down, the guys spent another two weeks with Fishman developing the story. "The four of us wrote it together," says Rothery.
Smith, 24, and Rothery and MacEachern, both 22, are former classmates from Mount Royal’s Theatre Arts program who graduated together last year. Rothery and Smith first appeared in Shakespeare in the Park in 2001 and returned last summer, when MacEachern made his debut with the troupe. All three seem to be favourites of Fishman’s.
"Joel and I first came to Shakespeare in the Park during Martie’s first season as artistic director, and he keeps wanting to keep us around for some reason," says Rothery.
"We’re like Martie’s boys," says Smith.
"We’re the sons he never had," says Rothery.
"And never really wanted," says MacEachern.
In terms of nutty, high-energy entertainment, think of this show as The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) with weapons. Of course, it’s all very funny until someone loses an eye.
"We’ve done pretty well as far as injuries go, so far," says Smith.
"No major stabbings," says Rothery, "just the odd nick and bruise here and there."
But seriously, Fournier has made the actors realize how much skill goes into a good mock fight. "It’s a lot like dance," says Smith. "It’s so intricately choreographed. Personally, I’d never realized the artistry of stage combat until now."
Do You Bite Your Thumb at Me, Sir? runs every day at 7 p.m. during the folk festival, at the Shakespeare in the Park site. After that, it plays Monday nights from July 28 to August 18 in the park and will also be performed at various other locations in town. Call 283-4825 or 440-6206 for venues and times. |
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