Sean Fortunato and Timothy Edward Kane/Photo: Michael Brosilow

RECOMMENDED

Tom Stoppard’s 1966 “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” his first hit play, is so chock full of language and irony that as long as you have two actors with chemistry, it can virtually stage itself. A topsy-turvy view of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” where the tragic tale of the Danish prince is perceived from the perspective of two minor and virtually interchangeable characters, the work is a favorite of theater cognoscenti in large part because the better you know “Hamlet,” the more enjoyable the piece becomes. (The reverse is more problematic since, for better or worse, “Hamlet” can never be experienced in quite the same way after having gone through Stoppard’s antics.)  Essentially, this is a riff on “The play’s the thing,” coined by Hamlet in the original, although ironically never explicitly said in Stoppard’s version. The dependence of Stoppard on Shakespeare often leads to a tongue-in-cheek approach where the characters are playing with the audience and each other with such narcissistic appreciation of the cleverness of what they are uttering that the work becomes dangerously self-aware.

Kudos to Writers’ Theatre artistic director Michael Halberstam for a staging that refreshingly recognizes that, particularly in a space as intimate as Writers Theatre, this play becomes a far more authentic experience and much funnier when the characters are not in on the joke that we, the audience, complete by our mere presence. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Liz Lauren

The finale of the history plays, “Richard III” is that remarkable early work of Shakespeare where the Bard fully developed his villain chops, i.e., his ability to create a character that, though thoroughly despicable, can take the audience into his confidence so disarmingly and with such charm that we become virtually complicit in the crimes that are to follow just by becoming engaged in the play.  Or at least, it is usually so.

With Barbara Gaines’ Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s season-opening production, Washington D.C. actor Wallace Acton plays Richard with such affectations and disinterest that we don’t feel a thing. From the first moments of Richard’s soliloquy “Now is the winter of our discontent,” Acton is up there talking to himself, not us, refusing to connect either with the audience nor anyone else in the play.  At one point after revealing his plans, he offers a brief, cursory faux smile to the thin air. His faux British accent is a cross between Charles Laughton and Roddy McDowall impressions and makes Richard into such a detached dandy that we cannot possibly accept that he would be able to sway anyone in the court into his confidence to do his bidding, let alone that he would be able to woo his way into the bedchamber of Lady Anne. Without a Richard that works, the play falls apart and much of the rest of the cast just falls into standby mode, the women most effectively able to get their characters across despite such a handicap. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

With its seemingly sexist message, “The Taming of the Shrew” remains one of the most problematic plays in the Shakespeare canon for a modern audience.  On its surface, it appears to suggest that wives are simply to be submissive to their husbands, although as always with Shakespeare, there are deeper meanings.  Many of us view Katherina’s initial “shrew”-like behavior as a lack of love in her life, an inability or even unwillingness to love anyone around her (those early scenes where she is abusive to family members are key), including herself.  By meeting Petruchio, a would-be husband who can match her abuse, the effect of her own is neutralized.  Along the way, both discover that they are in love, and part of love is doing what someone else wants, not simply what you want. Her public speech of submissiveness at the end of the play is not so much that her spirit has been broken, so much as she has found herself; she is now a person capable of caring for another and being responsive to his needs, not only her own.

The more chemistry that there is between the couple, the more effectively this message can be communicated, and Jenny Lamb’s Katherina and Jeremy Van Meter’s Petruchio are able to spark off of one another considerably in director Nick Minas’ Theo Ubique production. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

The wizard Prospero in William Shakespeare’s final play “The Tempest” is often seen as a metaphor for the Bard himself, that great “sorcerer” of the stage at the end of his career giving up his powers, i.e., putting down his pen for good.  But imagine a “Tempest” where the “powers” that Prospero gives up are all in his mind from the get-go, that the secluded “island” is his own straight-jacketed isolation in a mental hospital, circa 1940s.  That is the re-imagining, literally, of director Peter Robel in Bohemian Theatre Ensemble’s mounting of this Shakespeare classic.

Chris Pomeroy’s Prospero is neither all-knowing nor elderly—as he is usually portrayed—but an intense young man whose monologues have an improvisatory quality to them, as if he is trying on different ideas for size to see if they will fit.  The text can support this interpretation admirably, as Prospero begins the play seeking revenge but comes to see how destructive a course that is.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from Theo Ubique:

THEO UBIQUE EXPANDING TO FOUR PRODUCTIONS FOR 2009-10 SEASON
First Production, “The Taming of the Shrew,” Opens August 30

Chicago, July 29, 2009 — Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, a Rogers Park company performing at the intimate No Exit Café, is extending its 2009-10 season from three to four productions, including William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Man of La Mancha,” Jean Paul Sartre’s “No Exit” and a fourth production to be announced later.

Fred Anzevino, co-founder and artistic director, who directed the company’s previous plays, is working on a new adaptation of Jean Paul Sartre’s “No Exit,” transforming it into a light opera.  He will co-direct it with Beverle Bloch.  Two new directors with Theo Ubique will direct the first two plays of the 2009-10 season.   Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s City Lit’s press release:

CITY LIT THEATER ANNOUNCES

2009-2010 SEASON

30^th ANNIVERSARY SEASON WILL BE CELEBRATED

WITH HAMMETT, GRAHAME, SHAKESPEARE, FINNEY,

AND THE RETURN OF P. G. WODEHOUSE

The work of P. G. Wodehouse, the most frequently produced author in City Lit Theater’s history, will return as part of the theatre’s Thirtieth Anniversary 2009-2010 Season, artistic director Terry McCabe announced today, along with world premiere adaptations of novels by Dashiell Hammett and Jack Finney, a Shakespeare tragedy, and a musical adaptation of a beloved Kenneth Grahame classic for all ages.

City Lit’s 2009-2010 season consists of The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney and Oh Boy! by P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the press release from The Theatre School:

The Theatre School at DePaul University Announces the 2009-2010 Season

The Theatre School at DePaul University (John Culbert, Dean) is pleased to announce upcoming productions for its 2009-2010 Season. Throughout its 80+ year history, the school has provided Chicago audiences with affordable and meaningful theatrical experiences. Students are involved in all aspects of production – as actors, designers, dramaturges, technicians, directors and production staff; and are fully supported by the professional faculty and staff of The Theatre School. This season will feature everything from classic children’s tales to a world premiere of a play written and developed in class at The Theatre School, and many worlds in between.   Read the rest of this entry »

E.B. Smith (Macduff) and Nathan Hosner (Macbeth)/Photo: D. Rice

There is much to recommend in the First Folio production of “Macbeth”; the west suburban outdoor setting could not be more ideal for Shakespeare, cooperating with even a hint of mist to suggest the moors. The attention to detail, albeit taken literally and done up traditionally, does an effective job of transporting us back to the Elizabethan era, minus the occasional passing plane. There are no surprises like, say, Barbara Gaines’ contemporary and gruesome adaptation earlier this year at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Indeed, if you crave a straight-ahead version of the Bard’s “Scottish” play, you’ll be right at home. Read the rest of this entry »

Derek Jarvis, Nat Topping

RECOMMENDED

A standout production of a play for which ambition in the theater company that would put it on is absolutely prerequisite. “Measure for Measure” is an utterly bizarre problem play, firmly planted both in comedy and often heavy-handed philosophical inquiry considered via a heroic nun, colorful characters from a local brothel, an incompetent cop, a duke posing as a monk to spy on his citizens, and a beheaded pirate used as a pivotal plot device. The Promethean Theatre Ensemble nails this ambivalence magnificently without for a moment regressing into farce. The play’s thematic concerns with justice, truth and sex are embodied consistently throughout the show, and each line is delivered at a perfect pace and translated beautifully through non-verbal language, with a healthy dose of the surreal, and finally with a tongue-in-cheek throwing up of hands in the last scene when the play devolves into utter absurdity. While it’s a complete comic and often dramatic triumph (the fact that the company illuminated the consistent comedy in “Measure for Measure” is a success alone), the production isn’t flawless by any means. Acting is very uneven, and the best performances (Nick Late as Lucio and Emma Kate Starling as a cleverly cross-gender casting in Escalus) are in supporting roles. The abundant and elaborate set changes, performed by various masked characters who cavort seductively around the stage, are mostly needless, and the costumes and set are all over the place, with little stylistic or thematic cohesion. However, these elements, which usually primarily characterize a Shakespeare production, feel beside the point when accessorizing such a controlled, effective production. (Monica Westin)

At City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr, (773)305-2897. Through June 13.

Frank Galati and Jon Michael Hill/Photo: Michael Brosilow

Don’t let the bare stage fool you.  Stripped down to the concrete blocks of the foundation, Tina Landau’s playing space for “The Tempest” (at the Steppenwolf) is more like a blank canvas painted with undulating video, eye-popping costumes and a sonic barrage of thunderclaps.

The visuals aren’t arresting so much as extravagant, and there is fun in that—to a degree.  Too often the choices feel random and I found myself asking: why?

The disparate narratives of Shakespeare’s play—the marooned, scheming noblemen; the budding romance; a slave who plots his revenge; the existential pangs of an old man—exist in separate worlds.  As for an overall theme?  You got me.  I’m still drowning in imagery that refuses to sort itself out.  Landau’s vision is flashy, but it doesn’t reveal the essence within.  It is the theatrical equivalent of a rave, where sensory-overload becomes the end rather than the means.  I suspect many will disagree with this sentiment.

Though busier as a director than an actor these days, when Frank Galati takes the stage it makes an impact.  His Prospero lords over this remote isle like a hippie with a god complex.  Read the rest of this entry »