| Shakespeare may have had a penchant for killing his protagonists, but there’s more to the Bard than fatal duels and sombre soliloquies. Sometimes, it all works out for the best, and the lovers drink toasts instead of poison.
Preparing to celebrate its 18th year, Shakespeare in the Park is set to flatten the grass of Prince’s Island Park this summer with a double helping of Elizabethan comedy – A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. Breaking with the company’s traditional mix of comedy and drama, artistic director Martin Fishman believes pairing these two classics will demonstrate the range of Shakespeare’s comedies, from the light-hearted to the dark.
"In the true sense of comedy, I think Much Ado About Nothing manages to provide a tremendous amount of fun, but it has such a darkness to it that it provides a balance to A Midsummer Night’s Dream," he says. While its romantic leads don’t suffer the same fate as Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado’s upbeat resolution is not without a touch of the tragic.
"There’s a happy ending where everyone gets together, but it’s at a cost," says Fishman. "It’s at the cost of relationships, it’s at the cost of how people relate to themselves and the world around them."
By updating the play’s Messina to post-First World War Italy and populating the woods of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with glam-rock fairies and a Billy Idol-style Puck, Fishman, who is directing both shows this year, says he’s bringing Shakespeare’s foreign characters into a more familiar world. It’s been an ongoing motif in his five years as head of the summertime troupe. More than just an opportunity for some clever designs, such modernized settings can be the difference between an obscure comedy and a genuinely engaging one.
"By creating something that’s relatable to a 21st-century audience, I think it illuminates a lot of the humour in the script," he says. "The trick with the really good comedy is to make people laugh and feel something at the same time, otherwise you just get shtick. People will laugh, but ultimately it has nothing to do with the play. If Hamlet were to stand up with "To be or not to be" and his pants fell down, everyone would laugh, but it would have nothing to do with what he’s talking about, the world he’s in."
Thirteen emerging artists from Alberta’s post-secondary theatre programs and Ontario’s Sheridan College will flesh out the worlds of Fishman’s ’80s fairy forest and downtrodden Italy, paired with veteran professionals Stephen Hair, Grant Linneberg, Heather Lea MacCallum and Frank Zotter. The recent graduates were culled from more than 170 auditions, and will work alongside the pros as part of Shakespeare in the Park’s ongoing mandate to promote mentorship by experienced actors. Fishman says that sharing the stage with veterans raises the bar for the young actors’ performances.
While this summer may see the classic metal of AC/DC accompany the classic verse of Shakespeare, Fishman says this is not The Bard For Dummies.
"I don’t want to dummy it down, that’s not what we’re trying to do with Shakespeare in the Park," he says. "We’re trying to keep it as true to the intention of the language as possible, and yet, at the same time, provide a place where people can come and feel comfortable."
A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs from July 5 to 13, and on alternate evenings from July 25 to August 19. Much Ado About Nothing runs from July 14 to 23, and on alternate evenings from July 26 to August 20. All shows are at 7 p.m. As well, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) will be presented over the noon hour from August 9 to 19. Admission is "Pay What You Will." |
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