4/Cf4apdqJ0FYSO4yRyb2tIKNu_rpxkY0EwShvogyCArY
Tag

Shakespeare | Shakespeare in the Ruff

Meet the 2021 Young Ruffians

By | Announcements

For 10 years, the Young Ruffian Apprenticeship Program has welcomed exciting new creators, and this year is absolutely no different!

Led by Desirée Leverenz and Education Coordinator Makram Ayache, this year’s program is a paid 4-week creation course, where participants from across Ontario are gaining skills in diverse creation methods, creating solo pieces as well as ensemble pieces, and interrogating play structure and content creation. They are learning the rules of creation and daring to break them as they discover, uplift, and amplify their own unique and vital theatrical voices.

Alongside creating with Desirée, participants are being mentored by artists Kwaku Okyere, Jeff Yung, Maddie Bautista, Jeff Ho and Erum Khan.

Check out these amazing artists and their work live on July 30th from 5:30pm to 8pm. This is an informal sharing session where we will share stories, poetry, films and be in conversation with the audience. Email Desirée for the zoom link!

The Young Ruffians

Headshot of Marco DeLuca

Marco DeLuca 
Marco DeLuca is an actor, singer, dancer and creator living in Oakville, Ontario and hails from Treaty Six. He will be entering his final year in the Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance Program at Sheridan College in the fall of 2021 and is thrilled to be an administrative assistant and team member for Sheridan College’s Expanding the Lens Diversity and Inclusion initiative. Marco is always eager and thrilled to continue honing his craft through writing and creation. In his work, Marco hopes to inspire and elevate community passion through impactful and delicate stories that encourage and embrace individuality and authenticity.

Ericka Leobrera
Ericka is a Philippine-born multi- and inter-disciplinary performer and creator. As a storyteller, their imagination manifests itself in more ways than one. In creation, Ericka intertwines various artistic practices; playwrighting, physical theatre, movement, dance, poetry, and sound. Ericka is a graduate of Humber College’s Theatre Arts – Performance program where they trained in devised and physical theatre. Selected theatre credits include: TomorrowLove (dir. Christopher Stanton), Elektra (dir. Richard Greenblatt), Through The Bamboo (dir. Nina Lee Aquino), Odd Ones Out (dir, Herbie Barnes)

Kiara-Kumail
Kiara-Kumail is a South Asian trans-feminine actor and artist from Tanzania. They currently study Performance Acting at what is now called X-University. Their most recent-credits include Wanda Murley in the radio-play Can’t See Home From Here at the Pocket Festival. They also have experience with classical Shakespearean texts such as their performance of Falstaff in King Henry IV Part 1. They are committed to telling stories from a decolonized, queer and racialized perspective to liberate marginalized voices. They have a profound interest in uncovering the mysteries of the deep sea and the creatures that lie within.

Sid Malcolm
Sid Malcolm is a recent graduate from Brock University, Hons. BA in Dramatic Arts with a minor in Music. Sid has a passion for the world of production and performance with a new found desire to explore storytelling.
She has been able to pursue production as the Assistant Technical Director to three consecutive shows at Brock. Most recently, she had the pleasure of directing, devising, and performing in anthology piece Ouroboros (2021)
Sid has a passion for sharing truths and combining stories of injustice with theatre. She strives to create art which questions the practices that are considered normal in day to day life. 

Summer Mahmud
Summer is a Queer writer, director, actor & musician, and fresh graduate of McGill University. They are currently a Writer-in-Development at Teesri Duniya Theatre in Montreal, and an Artistic Associate at Theatre Artaud. Previously, they have worked as Art Director & Curator at Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre, and have played multiple concerts across Pakistan & Canada. Summer is interested in the malleability of form and the absurdity of being[;] anything at all.

 
 

Are you an emerging artist who wants to keep in the know about all our educational programs and opportunities? Join our mailing list today! 

Are you someone who wants to support paid educational opportunities, like the Young Ruffian Apprenticeship Program, and keep them available for future generations? Make a charitable donation and help us support emerging voices!

Eva Barrie in a Midsummer Night's Dream

We Doubled Our Leadership!

By | Announcements

Shakespeare in the Ruff is happy to appoint Eva Barrie as our Co-Artistic Director! Eva, who has been the Associate Artistic Director for two years, will join Kaitlyn Riordan at the helm.

The “Old Ruffians”, Troy Sarju, Sienna Singh and Jahnelle Jones-Williams

We asked three Ruff experts to interview Eva about this new role: Sienna Singh, Jahnelle Jones-Williams and Troy Sarju – graduates of the Young Ruffian Program, who became our Young Ruffian Chorus in Portia’s Julius Caesar. As emerging artists and future leaders themselves, they interviewed Eva and gave her some advice.

Sienna: What excites you most about this new role? What do you think will be the biggest challenge?

What I’m most excited about are the challenges! One of which will inevitably be fielding the question of “who really calls the shots?” (aka “who has the last call?” or “who wears the pants” [at the time of writing, both Kaitlyn and I are wearing skirts]). I’m collaborative in my art-making, so naturally, I’m collaborative in my leadership style. Kaitlyn and I have worked together closely, and most major decisions were made together. Now the financial and organizational structure of the company match how we best work. So, we aren’t really splitting leadership, we’re doubling it. That opens up a lot of exciting possibilities.

Eva and Kaitlyn rehearsing a pre-show speech (it definitely required a bit more rehearsal…)

This doesn’t mean we don’t disagree – we do, and that’s great. Conflict is a necessary part of theatre. I have a deep respect for Kaitlyn, and we both have a deep respect for the power of theatre. At the end of the day, what’s best for our community guides our decisions. The challenges that comes from disagreement – having to articulate, having to listen, and having to put your ego aside – help us grow as artists.

A second, ever-present challenge is that I love Shakespeare… sometimes. As a biracial feminist, it’s pretty tough for me to approach the work without cringing. There’s a lot about Shakespeare that’s connected to colonialism, white supremacy, and patriarchal structures, and I spend long swaths of time wondering if/how I’m reinforcing those systems by presenting Shakespeare (you know, your regular Sunday brunch thoughts). I’m excited to truly grapple with this conflict. You can’t wrestle something if you’re watching from the sidelines, you’ve got to get in the ring. I don’t expect an easy answer – I’m not looking for easy anyway. Sienna, text me in a few years and I’ll let you know what I’ve mulled over.

Sienna: If you could swap bodies with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Beyoncé. Any other answer is a waste of a magical swap.

Jahnelle: Why do you like working with Ruff?

The people. I’ve surrounded myself by some pretty stellar hearts. From the Danforth barista that knows my usual, to the artists that open their hearts to the park, to the ever-supportive Board of Directors, to my drum-beating rock star Old Ruffians, I couldn’t ask for a better community.

I’m especially grateful for my work-wife, Kaitlyn. When we first chatted about my joining the company two years ago, I shared the fact that I hadn’t always felt welcomed into Shakespeare, and that despite it being so “universal”, I never saw families that looked or sounded like mine, and that was something I wanted to change. She’s never made assumptions, she’s never been afraid to ask questions, and she’s always listened with an open heart. She’s a true partner, and I couldn’t ask for better.

Jahnelle: What is your favourite dish? And why? (ex.bowl, plate)

Little ceramic ramekins. I think people make souffles in them (I once warmed nacho cheese in one). They can be so hot and so cool: my life goal.

Troy: If there is anything my time with Ruff has taught me, it is that community is very important. How is implementation of inclusive performances (such as partnering with Autism Ontario, live captions, etc) important to community-building?

It’s important because it’s okay if you don’t understand someone. It’s okay if their lived experiences are different than yours. It’s okay if they are fighting different fights than you. We tend to feel safe with people similar to us, and afraid when someone challenges what we understand as “normal.” If we get stuck on certain ideas of “normal,” then we are limiting our possibilities. Sameness breeds sameness (as President Michelle Obama says). Vibrant communities need to be challenged and need different and diverse voices in order to grow. Otherwise, what are we all doing here?

Troy: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

To be able to body-swap with Beyoncé.

Advice from the Old Ruffians

Sienna:
My advice to Eva is to trust the company and it’s history over the past 7 years. Remember the love, hard work, and spirit that has gone into each and every show, and the community that has been created around them. And remember, Jack and Diane will always be there for you!

Jahnelle:
Always remember:
1. To drink your water because the sun is no joke.
2. There is not limit on how many times you can make the cast do something ‘uno mas’.

Troy:
Getting an everything bagel is normally a great choice but sometimes everything can be too much and that’s okay too. Get the bagel that you need and be present with your bagel.

The Old Ruffians on Eva

Keeping it serious with Christine Horne at the “Portia’s Julius Caesar” photoshoot

Sienna:
Eva will be an amazing Artistic Director for Ruff because of her true love of the work, the company, and the people involved. Seeing her get excited about the work (or even just a silly joke) is so fun and intoxicating. She has such innate leadership qualities, knowing when to step in, and when to step back. Her brain is full of ideas, and I can’t wait to see which ones she will bring to the company! Best of luck Eva!

Jahnelle:
Eva brings her heart and her smarts to her work and I know that she will make sure to fight for innovative shows, accessibility, and diverse casts, only enhancing all the great things about Shakespeare in the Ruff.

Troy:
Eva will be a great Artistic Director of Ruff because she allows every single individual to blossom in any creative space she is a part of. She is a very capable leader. I am so happy for Ruff and looking forward to all of the great things the company will accomplish, now with TWO astounding women leading the artistic charge.

Rewriting Shakespeare…because, why not?

By | Events, original practices, Outdoor theatre, Portia's Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Christine Horne as Portia, Concept & Design by Michael Barker

Christine Horne as Portia, Concept & Design by Michael Barker for Shakespeare in the Ruff, 2018

 

I believe that Shakespeare wrote many compelling female roles, and Portia, in Julius Caesar, is one of them. Her brief time on stage belies a rich and fascinating off-stage life that surfaces in unforgettable flashes: a self-inflicted wound to prove her metal, an a-typical devotedness between her and her husband, and the act of taking her life by ‘swallowing fire’.  Some argue that she actually swallowed hot coals…who does that?

These flashes spark my imagination, but don’t satisfy my desire to really know this woman. And Calpurnia, the only other female character in the play, is even more elusive – a part that’s as thankless as it is brief. In considering this epic moment in Roman History, when the governance of their society changed forever, I quickly began to wonder what other women might have played a role in these events, and how they were affected by the assassination of their leader.

And there was born the idea for Portia’s Julius Caesar (PJC), which is a version of the story told from a female perspective. Portia and Calpurnia are best of friends, both grappling with different stages of motherhood.  A new character, Servilia, is a key player too, maneuvering from behind the scenes, spurring on her son Brutus and her son-in-law Cassius to stop Caesar. Cleopatra, who is in Rome at the time of Caesars’s assassination, living lavishly as his Mistress, is caring for their new baby boy. Shakespeare doesn’t include her in his Caesar, clearly imagining a bigger role for her later, but come on, what a missed opportunity, Bill! Both the Soothsayer and Casca, now a Courtesan, are re-imagined as women in this version, and we also meet four Washer Women, whose stories intertwine with the fates of those who own them.

I’ve taken some liberties with historical timelines and filled in many blanks myself, as very little is known about the lives of women in that time (much to no one’s surprise). But as Shakespearean scholar, Stephen Greenblatt writes in his book, Tyrant, when it came to History, “Shakespeare felt comfortable trimming and making changes whenever it suited him…in order to produce more compelling and pointed stories.”

The plot of PJC still focuses on the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar and the inevitable fall-out, but tells it from a different perspective. In re-framing this story, I wanted to keep certain scenes from Shakespeare’s Caesar that I felt were vital – the bones of the play, so to speak, that would be fleshed out with new or borrowed writing. Those were the scenes that included the women (3 of 18 scenes), the Funeral scene (having once played Marc Antony, in an all-female production of Julius Caesar, I knew first hand the power of this writing, thank you, I’ll take that), and the tent scene between Brutus & Cassius (at least part of it…why is that scene so long?!). Others have also made the cut, been re-attributed, or scavenged for their plot points and reassigned to other characters.

Once the arch of these characters felt solid, I began imagining the scenes between them. As I wrote my own text in verse, I called upon Shakespeare’s writing to help me: long passages, single lines, and images have all been pilfered from Shakespeare’s works to enrich my own using text from 17 of his plays, 4 sonnets, and 1 poem. There’s not a ton of Shakespearean writing about getting your period, the difficulty of breast feeding, or being ‘the other woman’, but the themes of loss, isolation, and betrayal are everywhere, and were easily re-contextualized in those moments.

Now let me be clear, I’m not advocating for re-writing all of Shakespeare, but I am advocating for taking liberties, reimagining, and audaciously shaking things up. His plays don’t always reflect a world that I feel good about putting on a stage, in a public space, in Toronto, because perpetuating an archaic status quo does no one any good.

But I have to give credit where credit is due, Will’s been a great collaborator, and in the end, contributed to about half of the play. The other half is my nine month exploration of writing in iambic pentameter. It’s nowhere as complex, poetic, or inventive as Shakespeare’s, but it accomplishes what I set out to do: explore the agency of the women behind Shakespeare’s greatest political thriller and the effect of those choices on their lives. After all, if Portia – this strong, brave, and compelling character – did in fact swallow fire, then I want to go on that journey with her and discover why.

-Kaitlyn Riordan

*The link below is a scene from Portia’s Julius Caesar that shows how Shakespeare’s writing is interwoven with new text

Excerpt from Portia’s Julius Caesar

Megan Watson

Our 2017 Season!

By | Announcements | 2 Comments

Shakespeare in the Ruff is thrilled to announce our summer show: A Midsummer Night’s Dream! This is a play that we’ve had our eye on since the beginning, and we’ve finally found our “Dream” Director. We are happy to welcome Megan Watson!

Megan is the Artistic Associate at The Grand Theatre in London. She has run their High School Projects for the last two years (2016: Julius Caesar, 2017: A Shakespeare Mixtape) and is building their new play development program: Compass. In 2018, she will be directing The Glass Menagerie.

Megan on Midsummer:

“For me, both professionally and personally, 2016 rang out as a call to action. A call to be more political, more articulate and more fierce with my intention to create theatre that is part of a solution. The American presidential election has foregrounded hate and fear. As we feel the ripple effect of that in our own communities, we are required to take a closer look. Specifically for me as a theatre artist, this means taking on the systemic gender and racial inequality that our canon and traditions uphold. How do we take Shakespeare’s plays, which on one hand contain an unparalleled expression of the human experience and on the other, when not approached critically, serve as a platform for misogyny and racism? This has always been my struggle when staging Shakespeare and I am more committed than ever to take on that challenge in this volatile social and political climate.

In following Ruff for the last five years, I have seen them cultivate a clearer and sharper sense of who they are and what kind of ‘Shakespeare in the park’ company they strive to be. Reinventing and innovating the classics and specifically Shakespeare seems to be a common endeavour. However, Ruff approaches this with a fearlessness that is unmistakable in their productions. Their practice of taking Shakespeare’s plays and mining them for humanity and beauty – while blowing open and leaving behind the parts that perpetuate archaic and negative stereotypes – is why I am thrilled to join the company this season. I want to stage plays that reflect the world I want to work, live, play and love in.

And so we began the process of selecting the right play for the 2017 season. Kaitlyn and I visited the park together and she shared stories about the Withrow and Ruff community. I thought back on the magical experiences I have had there: setting up my picnic blanket, snuggling in close with loved ones and being transported. Even as we considered Shakespeare’s more overtly political plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream kept surfacing as the right choice. With the barrage of negative media coming at us, it became clear to me that our best offence against all this HATE is to fight back with LOVE. With this in mind, our production of Dream will be a wild celebration of what is possible when we set ourselves free, believe in magic and plumb the depths of our psyche to discover more about who we really are. Suddenly, in 2017 it seems radical to believe in and pursue love, magic and beauty.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs August 15th through September 3rd, 2017 in Withrow Park. All performances are Pay What You Can and more details can be found on our website soon. 

 

Kaitlin Morrow - The Porter

Now do an improvised clown routine with your ass; or Becoming The Porter

By | Announcements, Macbeth | 6 Comments

I’ve lived in fear of improv for most of my life, certainly my adult life. All my buddies are improvisors, I’ve seen hundreds of improv shows, I’ve always secretly wanted to do it, but I’ve always been paralyzed by fear. To the point, that on a regular basis, I would have improv nightmares, where I’m called onstage incorrectly to do an improv show. But then this year, I thought, enough is enough, I will conquer my fear of improv, and have been doing improv shows with Sex-T-Rex  (a comedy group that I’m a member of) all year.

STEP 1:

When I heard that I’d be playing The Porter, in Shakespeare in the Ruff’s ‘Macbeth; Walking Shadows’,  I was excited to get the one comedic role of the show. We were in rehearsals and I was working on getting off-book, and was pretty much there, when I received a text message from Brendan (the show’s director) and Zach (the puppet creator) saying that they were thinking of not using the text at all. I was excited about it, because doing a scene and following the beats of it, is a world I’m comfortable playing in. But when I read the text a little further it said ‘we’re hoping for it to be an improvised clown routine’ and I pretty much shit my pants.

Then, when I showed up on that day of rehearsal, and they told me they were thinking of making it the ass puppet, and I was even more terrified. Ingrid Hansen had developed this puppet during Ruff’s Macbeth workshop last December, and I had seen it on a video and thought it was really cute. She put a mask on her butt and put a cloth over the rest of her body, bent over, put her head between her knees, and used her hands sticking out in front as the puppet’s hands. Very contorted, with her feet backwards. It was fine, in theory, but the little I remembered from clown is that you’re supposed to constantly check-in with your audience, and in order to do that with my ass, it was going to be very difficult. So then, for what felt like two hours, though I’m assured is was more like one hour, I was improvising for the cast; it became an exercise in not panicking. 

So whenever we came to The Porter scene in rehearsals, I was filled with dread. Not only was I contorted, but to be contorted for that length of time, and it was hot, and I literally felt like an ass. No one was laughing, I didn’t know what it looked like, I was stumbling around thinking ‘this isn’t funny and I literally have to make up what I’m doing on the spot’. Then they gave me these arms, which were really heavy, and then the keys, which were ever heavier. There was one day, when I went off with Zach to work on The Porter, but all we did was talk about my anxiety and didn’t actually do any work. When we came back, I felt so unprepared and I just tried to smile through it, because what else am I going to do? I was expecting to conquer my fear of improv, but come on! As a clown, with my ass, that IS my nightmare (laughs). 

STEP 2:

But then one day, really close to the end of the process, Brendan sent everyone off with their Young Ruffians (the teenagers in Ruff’s apprenticeship program), except for mine: Amie & Cheyenne, which he told to stay and watch me do The Porter. ‘Oh great’, I thought, ‘any respect that have/may have had for me will immediately be gone, so that’s great’. But it went alright, and they giggled throughout as Brendan and Zach yelled instructions of things to do with him. It was sort of the first time I had had an audience and was starting to get a sense of what was funny and what wasn’t. 

And then, my big ‘aha moment’ was when they asked to put the puppet on. My first reaction was, why on earth would you want to? But they were so into it and both really wanting to do it and then the wonderful thing that happened was, that it was the first time I saw what it looked like. I was able to ask it to do the things that I had been asked to do, and I finally saw what worked and what didn’t and the words that Zach and Brendan said to me finally made sense. ‘It looks really funny when the arms are in the air’, or ‘the faster the feet move the better’. Just all of these things that were theoretical, I was finally watching happen, and realized that The Porter is actually quite delightful. And so it was a complete 180; I was inspired but their keenness, they didn’t have the hang ups that I had and I thought ‘oh my gosh, this is just a silly puppet’ and now when I go to do it, I have a better picture in my mind of what it looks like. And for me, being a puppeteer first, the picture is really important and you can’t do that with The Porter, even with a mirror, you’re looking at it upside-down and backwards. 

STEP 3:Kaitlin Morrow-Puppet

Now that the show is running, it’s less improvised, there are beats, but it’s still loose. Getting to this point was all improv. Because this was so terrifying for me, but I’m doing it and it’s going well, it’s been huge, it’s been such a huge step. If it wasn’t going well, it would still be huge, but it would be a different journey.

And, I’ve heard from lots of people saying it’s funny. There was a tweet recently saying ‘I finally laughed at The Porter’ and I thought YES! That was my whole goal, but I didn’t think I’d achieve it this way. I’m really really happy that people like it, that they’re laughing and responding, I mean doing comedy, that’s all that matters, silence is death. Especially doing comedy with your ass. I’ve seen and done bad improv and I’m just glad that this isn’t one of those experiences.

-Kaitlin Morrow 

 

Puppets + Shakespeare = The Canadian Way?

By | NAC, Shakespeare | No Comments

People keep asking what possessed us to combine Shakespeare and puppetry; as we head into the final week of rehearsals for ‘Macbeth: Walking Shadows’ (Aug 13th-30th), we thought we’d pass the buck, and ask someone else that very question. When we heard about Jillian Keiley’s decision to bring puppets to the world of ‘Twelfth Night’, next season at the NAC, we were very excited (and relieved), that we weren’t the only ones who thought puppets and Shakespeare would make a great combination. We’ll get around to answering this question ourselves, but for now, back to rehearsal. -SitR

Programming Shakespeare at Canada’s National Theatre – by Jillian Keiley

Even though I was raised on and have directed, acted in or assistant directed eight different Shakespearian productions, I have always felt kind of politicized about the sheer amount of Shakespeare that Canadians produce. Don’t get me wrong – I love Shakespeare. But I’m also a nationalist. And it strikes me odd that the primary storyteller in our theatres is a man from another continent who had never dreamed of knowing Canada.

I believe in that good kind of nationhood: shared ideals, pride of place, together we are better. And so I believe that when a Hannah Moscovitch play slays a new audience or when Robert Lepage makes the world believe that Canada (or at least a part of Canada) is at the cutting edge of the craft – I think that’s good for us, not just as an arts loving community but as a country: our stories, well told. So I do believe that Canadians and Canadian artistry should have priority in our National Arts Centre space.

However, when I took over the reins at the NAC I didn’t want to restrict the programming to only Canadian writers. I am from the school that believes that the writer is a very important key creator in identifying the ‘nationality’ of a play, but I also believe that the director or ensemble of artists can interpret a play in such a way that is so unique to that artist or to that community that the play becomes a Canadian expression, if not an entirely Canadian play. I think Raoul Bhaneja’s Hamlet is uniquely his version. I believe The Electric Company’s No Exit was as much about the art of that company as it was about Sartre. I saw Modern Times’ Macbeth several years ago and it was as unique a piece as I could imagine, using Shakespeare’s Macbeth as the primary of many layers.  Chris Abraham’s gay wedding Midsummer Night’s Dream belonged more to the backyards of Toronto than anywhere else.

At the NAC, we have two ways of programming. We select six or seven shows a year to present from the multitude that we see live or on video. For our in-house productions, we bring together a group of actors from across the country to build that year’s Ensemble. The Ensemble inspires the choice of plays for the season.   Often times, even though the Associate Artistic Director Sarah Garton Stanley and I pride ourselves on knowing as much as we can about the Canadian canon, we hit on a combination of people that seem to call for a classic which happens to be from somewhere else.

This coming season, for example, we happen to have the perfect alchemy of artists to do Twelfth Night. (Incidentally the other five shows for the Ensemble this year are Canadian.) I was very interested in how they would tell that story and hear that music. But also I wanted to see it envisioned by uniquely Canadian dreamers.   So I went to a team of the most unique Canadian dreamers I know – The Old Trout Puppet Workshop. This group visiting-trout_lof guys, who started out in a shed south of Calgary performing for Hutterites, had the kind of vision that could engage visually with all of the textual delights in Twelfth Night. So we moved forward with the plan to do a Shakespeare as imagined by The Old Trouts. It won’t be with marionettes or hand puppets so much as it will be visually animated using the Old Trouts’ signature style.   The Old Trouts for years have done interpretive works that have blended quite animate inanimate objects with quite animated humans to great effect.

The last Shakespeare the NAC produced (outside of presenting the visiting Raoul Bhaneja’s Hamlet) was Peter Hinton’s all Indigenous King Lear. It too was a very Canadian interpretation. I believe this Twelfth Night in the hands of the great artists in our Ensemble and the Old Trout Puppet Workshop, will offer audiences an entirely new theatrical experience; and a uniquely Canadian one at that.

Twelfth Night runs January 20th-February 6th, 2016, in Ottawa at The National Arts Centre.

2015 Season Announcement

By | Announcements, Macbeth

Macbeth + Puppets = MacWhat??????  

Ruff’s Artistic Director, Brendan McMurtry-Howlett, explains our most adventurous production yet.

I love Macbeth. It’s one of my favourite plays to read, to speak, or to perform in (I played Malcolm under the direction of Nick Hutchinson in theatre school). The visceral imagery that Shakespeare uses in his writing is unparalleled anywhere else – it’s incredible. And now, this coming summer, I couldn’t be more excited to be directing it with Shakespeare in the Ruff. But ironically, as an audience member, I’ve often had a hard time watching it. The play asks us to watch the fall of a tyrannical, blood-thirsty, Evil-with-a-capital-E madman. I’m often unsure if I’m meant to enjoy the blood bath as I would in a horror flick or be disgusted by the tyrant’s inhumanity. In either case the result is that I disassociate with Macbeth’s character, and lose the point of the play. So what are we going to do differently? ENTER THE PUPPETS!

My first introduction to puppetry was 8 years ago, by a great man named Zach Fraser who directed me in a show about WWII called “…and stockings for the ladies” by the ever inventive RustWerk Company. One component of the show featured three puppets speaking to their survival of the concentration camps. Yes, I was thinking the same thing: puppets + concentration camp = this is not going to go well. But their moving monologues were what the audience connected with most. Something about the simplicity, fragility, and naivety inherent in those puppets made them immediately sympathetic. A puppet, unlike a human actor, is clinging to life every moment they are on stage. The audience is directly responsible for that puppet’s existence – it’s their imagination that allows the puppet to live, and a unique bond is formed between them. Kind of like watching your child take its first steps. 

It’s this aspect of puppetry that I want to explore with the story of Macbeth. I’m interested in a figuratively and literally fragile Macbeth built of wood and paper. A man, filled with naivety, exposing his doubts and fears to an audience who is responsible for giving him life. I would be more willing to go on a journey with Macbeth if I could see both his emotional and corporal fragility through everything he does. That’s exactly what we get with puppets. 

And I haven’t even mentioned all of the supernatural stuff in the play that’s way more fun in the world of puppetry. Puppets aren’t bound by the laws of physics, and so can do all sorts of inhuman things. Witch puppets?! Are you kidding me?!

The real challenge is going to be bringing together the worlds of puppetry and Shakespearean text. Luckily we got to spend a week developing ideas thanks to funding from the Ontario Arts Council. We already have some exciting things up our puppet sleeves and we’ve embarked on a rather drastic adapting process, letting the aesthetic choice of working with puppetry guide our approach to the text. 

And the secret weapon that I’m most excited about: I’ve brought on Zach Fraser, the man who taught me everything I know about puppetry, to build our puppets and work with us as a puppet choreographer throughout rehearsals. 

And now, a word from the man himself:

Ok. Confession.  I don’t always understand Shakespeare!

His words can be poetic & powerful, but at times, I get over-whelmed by the language. Through the years, I’ve seen many Shakespeare-in-the-Park productions. In Toronto… In Montreal… In Halifax… Each has its own charm. But I often leave the performance feeling like I don’t understand the story as well as I should.

This summer, with Shakespeare in the Ruff, we intend to create a truly accessible, visceral production that touches the soul and transports the spirit…

…using puppets.

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a production of Shakespeare as unique in its vision as that which we are venturing to create this summer in Withrow Park. Shakespeare’s language can be exquisite. The plight of puppets can be absurd, splendid, and heart-wrenching. Puppets are the masters of high comedy & deepest drama, so partnering them up with Shakespeare makes perfect sense to us.

There’s a reason why most theatre companies avoid puppetry: they add a LOT of extra work to a production. But there’s also a reason why some of us keep getting drawn back to puppets; because they are spellbinding, seductive, magical, and they have the power to win our hearts instantaneously! They appear to be naïve, but their power is great.

Ruff is an ambitious, motivated, slick young company of talented & bold artists. I applaud the company for their willingness to respect, revere, and yet reinvent Shakespeare’s plays. It’s an honour to join forces with these Ruffians this summer.

Zach Fraser

Cymbeline Series-Part III

By | Announcements, Cymbeline, Shakespeare | No Comments

Cymbeline doesn’t land on most people’s lists of Top 10 Shakespeare plays, maybe not even Top 20. For this reason, we spoke to three people who have directed this play to get their take on a few questions that we’ve tackled since deciding to produce it. 

The final instalment of the series comes via Antoni Cimolino, who directed a widely acclaimed production at The Stratford Festival in 2012.

1. For a title character, King Cymbeline has very little time on stage and no time alone with the audience. How did you ensure that audiences would connect with him? Do you think the play would be better served by a different title?

“The King is Britain – literally and figuratively. At the beginning of the play he is sick – poisoned, we find out later, by his second wife, who longs to rule and install her son Cloten as King. Cymbeline has lost his two sons, abducted as infants, and with them he has lost himself. Like the two princes imprisoned in the Tower of London during Richard III’s reign, Cymbeline’s sons represent legitimacy and good government. During Shakespeare’s lifetime, a patriotic and romantic dream surrounded the princes in the Tower: that perhaps they had not been killed but had heirs living among the people. Shakespeare echoes that legend in Cymbeline, bringing about a reunion of children with their father that still touches us today.

Yanna McIntosh (The Queen), Geraint Wyn Davies (Cymbeline) & Mike Shara (Cloten)

Yanna McIntosh (The Queen), Geraint Wyn Davies (Cymbeline) & Mike Shara (Cloten)

As Cymbeline defeats the Roman army, he finds himself re-energized. He is made victorious by Posthumus, the poor soldier, and by his imagined enemy Belarius and his sons. The very people that he has banished give him back his kingdom. In the final moments, King Cymbeline decides to pay tribute to Rome despite his victory. He not only signals Britain’s voluntary participation in the Pax Romana, the new and long era of peace, he also renders unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. While Caesar may have his coins in tribute, Cymbeline once more has the love of his children and Britain.”

2. Most deus ex machina (god from the machine) moments are vital to the story. Jupiter’s descent on the back of an eagle in Cymbeline is often cut and feels less integrated than many similar interventions by the Gods in other plays. What was your take on this moment and how important a role did the unseen whims of the deities play?

“This moment is normally cut or changed, but I thought, ‘How often do you get to bring a giant eagle on stage?’ Our eagle had a head about 2 feet wide and 5 feet long with red eyes that lit up as it came out of the dark. It had wings that spread about 20 feet and flapped by way of a pulley. These body parts were fixed on a rolling step ladder of the kind found in larger libraries. On its back Jupiter was mounted lit from below. With a giant bird shriek, smoke and the sound of enormous wings beating the audiences was surprised and transfixed. And with a flash of lighting and a crack of thunder it was gone. I’m pretty sure our eagle was very like that Shakespeare used. Except we added electricity.

Posthumus’ dream is vital because it reunites the orphan child with his parents, at least in spirit. These family members strongly petition Jupiter on Posthumus’ behalf and find that the god is testing their son. Their anger at this ancient god and his cruelty seems to call out for a God of Love. King Cymbeline, of course, ruled during the time of Christ’s birth. The love of his family brings Posthumus a sense of wholeness, love and courage that is vital to the story.”

3. Cymbeline isn’t produced very often, especially in Canada; is it just the ebb and flow of fashion, or are people are afraid to do it? And if so, why? 

“The bad experiences I’ve had in seeing Cymbeline performed have been ones where the director and cast didn’t have faith in Shakespeare’s play. Consequently they try to “fix” it by cutting it, toning it down or ironically sending it up. What might be gained by such treatment is a speck compared to the beautiful mountain Shakespeare has created. Cymbeline is a great and powerful play that brings audiences understanding, laughter and tears. Tennyson, at his own insistence, was buried with a copy of it. Cymbeline merits our study and our creative powers – what it gives us in return is enormous.”

 

Cimolino_AntoniAntoni Cimolino is the Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival, where this season he directed King Lear and The Beaux’ Stratagem. Stratford: Directing credits include Mary Stuart; The Merchant of Venice; Cymbeline; The Grapes of Wrath; Bartholomew Fair; Coriolanus, with Colm Feore and Martha Henry; As You Like It, featuring original music by Barenaked Ladies; King John; Love’s Labour’s Lost, with Brian Bedford; Twelfth Night, with William Hutt; The Night of the Iguana; and Filumena, with Richard Monette. Among his other accomplishments, Mr. Cimolino was instrumental in establishing the Festival’s Endowment Foundation, which has raised more than $50 million to date, as well as in the renovation of its Avon Theatre and the creation of its Studio Theatre. Elsewhere: The Canadian première of ENRON (Theatre Calgary); Twelfth Night (Attic Theatre, Detroit); A Woman of No Importance (Hilberry Theater, Detroit). A champion of the arts and culture, Mr. Cimolino serves as the National Chair of Culture Days, a nation-wide celebration of arts and culture in Canada. He has initiated collaborations with several prestigious theatre companies, including Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, New York’s Lincoln Center and City Center, and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He also spearheaded the Festival’s involvement in a joint project with CUSO International, Canada’s international volunteer co-operation agency, to establish a performing arts and educational centre in the city of Suchitoto, El Salvador.

As a bonus to The Cymbeline Series, Brendan McMurtry-Howlett, director of our upcoming production, will weigh in with his perspective on (to borrow a phrase from Antoni) “the beautiful mountain that Shakespeare has created”. Stay tuned to our blog for Brendan’s take on the play.
Shakespeare in the Ruff’s, Cymbeline’s Reign, runs August 12th-31st in Withrow Park.