Thursday, August 11, 2016
Review: TROILUS AND CRESSIDA - SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
TROILUS & CRESSIDA
The characters
in Shakespeare’s Troilus & Cressida behave very strangely.
Shakespeare's play is based on the fictional story of Troilus and Cressida, set during the seventh year of the Trojan
War. But the story was written long after Homer wrote the Iliad (and long before Shakespeare adapted the story for his play). Homer's tale describes the war
between Greece and Troy over the abduction and seduction of the Grecian Helen, Menelaus’
wife, by the Trojan, Paris.
Cressida, a
Trojan, stayed behind when her father defected to Greece. She falls in love
with Troilus in Troy, assisted by the efforts of her Uncle Pandarus (whose name, he says himself, will become the word for pandering). But Cressida’s father convinces
the Greeks to bring her to the Grecian camp, by trading her for an important Trojan
captured by Greece.
Ismenia Mendes as Cressida, Andrew Burnap as Troilus, and John Glover as Pandarus
TROILUS & CRESSIDA
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Courtesy of The Public Theater
The play contains
humor, farce, love, lust, practical and ethical debates, and tragedy, all
together, and is not easy reading.
The
director, Daniel Sullivan, and the cast of the new Shakespeare in the Park
production, do a brilliant job of making sense of the moment-to-moment action
of the play, finding a way, often through physicality, of justifying, finding
meaning, and interpreting the most perplexing passages in the script.
But that
alone does not explain the characters’ behavior.
Commentators
have suggested that the play, in part, is a comment (or parody or satire) on
political events contemporary to Shakespeare. Perhaps Shakespeare was inspired
by “MacBird!”, the sixties commentary on the aftermath of the Kennedy
assassination structured on Macbeth, to create a commentary (with crude humor and
potentially potent political satire) on his own contemporary politics, based on
the Homeric legends (salted with an extra romance).
Something
like that might help explain the strange behavior of the characters (and the
minor mystery that the play seems never to have actually been performed
publicly during Shakespeare’s life despite at least one claim that the play was
to be produced).
Sullivan
stages the play with minimal sets and costumes, and suggests some more or less
modern war. Indeed much of the fighting is with guns. It is costumed in mostly
drab colors, also more or less modern, and certainly not ancient Greek. For the
most part, I suspect that this modern staging and acting was critical to help make the play
understandable for a modern audience.
Zach Appelman as Diomedes and Sanjit De Silva as Aeneus (center), and the company
TROILUS & CRESSIDA
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Courtesy of The Public Theater
Two caveats,
however. It seems to me, that in any play about the Trojan war, one necessary
element is that Helen be so beautiful, so well dressed, and have such great
hair (“hair” is important in the text) that there is no question about why her
abduction “launch’d above a thousand ships” and sparked such a long and costly
war.
Also, a
commentator in one review noted that at one performance, when guns are shot in
the general direction of the audience, someone screamed in terror. With
movie-audience mass-shootings raw in our memory, it is not comforting to have a
gang of men suddenly emerge from behind a barricade and start shooting at you.
(Hopefully, it is in fact safe. But I did
actually know someone, a young and rising actor, who accidently killed himself
with a gun he thought was a safe prop.)
SPOILER (?)
ALERT
The remainder
of this article contains some possible spoilers, although in such a problematic
play, they might actually be “enhancers” rather than spoilers.
The greatest
puzzle in the play for me, which makes it hard to understand, is the behavior
of the combatants.
Sometimes,
they are strangely casual about fighting, as if they are playing a game: friendly
competitors, not people trying to destroy each other’s army. The Grecian
leaders invite the Trojan leaders to dinner.
They verbally bait each other, but no-one is hurt. It is a truly mysterious
temporary truce. The next day they will
go back to killing.
Then Hector
spares the lives of soldiers he has bested – and lets them go back to trying to
kill him.
More
interestingly, major decisions of war and policy are debated… but much depends
on personality and whim and secret agendas.
Troilus
strongly opposes returning Helen to the Greeks, even though it means continued
war, but lets his own lover Cressida be sent to the Greeks with some grousing, but
no real attempt to prevent her leaving.
He does
suggest he will sneak into the Greek Camp at night to see her. (In the middle of a war???)
And there’s
more...
Much of the
play is funny. It seems to me, perhaps, if the point of the play is the illogical,
whimsical way the war (or any war) is conducted, then there might be a way to also
present much of the warriors’ behavior satirically, as actually funny jokes.
CONCLUSION
This is a
rare opportunity to see a strong, clear production of a play that is seldom staged,
yet deals with the human issues -- some profound, some petty -- that can change
the course of civilization.
To see this play requires quick and courageous action.
(It takes courage to wait in heat or rain for tickets, not even knowing if the
weather will permit an evening show.) After an injury forcing a cast change,
the play just had its “official” opening, and it closes in a few days (Aug 14) with
some bad weather planned between now and then.
Tickets are
free, by standing in line early, or by lottery. Reserved seat admissions may
also be possible by means of contributions to the Public Theater.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
CAST
Zach Appelman -
Diomedes,
Tala Ashe -
Helen, Andromache,
Alex Breaux -
Ajax,
Andrew Burnap -
Troilus,
Louis Cancelmi -
Achilles,
Max Casella -
Thersites,
Sanjit De Silva -
Aeneas,
John Glover -
Pandarus,
Bill Heck -
Hector,
Edward James Hyland -
Nestor,
Maurice Jones -
Paris,
Ismenia Mendes -
Cressida,
Forrest Malloy - Menelaus,
Nneka Okafor -
Cassandra,
Tom Pecinka -
Patroclus,
Miguel Perez -
Priam, Calchas,
Corey Stoll -
Ulysses and
John Douglas Thompson -
Agamemnon.
THE PUBLIC THEATER
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA – FULL TEXT
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/troilus_cressida/full.html
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA – WIKIPEDIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troilus_and_Cressida
Labels: Homer, Iliad, Shakespeare, Shakespeare in the Park, the public theater, TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, Trojan War
Tuesday, July 02, 2013
SUMMER THEATER IN NEW YORK - 2013
New York City is host to a tremendous amount of theater in the summer. Here is a guide to some of the major theater festivals in NY this summer. Of course, Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway continue playing through the summer as well! (We've also listed the Williamstown Theater Festival, one of my favorites: an important festival not too, too far from NY.)
(Special Freebie Note: Check their websites: many of these festivals have free and open special events before and during their festival!)
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
Now thru Aug 18
http://www.shakespeareinthepark.org/#!calendar/cfvg
WILLIAMSTOWN THEATER FESTIVAL
Now thru Aug 18
http://wtfestival.org/2013/season
BRICK THEATER GAME PLAY FESTIVAL
JULY 5 - 28
http://bricktheater.com/
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL
JULY 6 - 28
http://www.lincolncenterfestival.org/
NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATER FESTIVAL (NYMT)
JULY 8 - 28
http://www.nymf.org
EAST TO EDINBURGH
JULY 9 - 28
www.59e59.org
MIDTOWN INTERNATIONAL THEATER FESTIVAL (MITF)
JULY 15 - AUG 4
http://www.midtownfestival.org/
BETWEEN THE SEAS
JULY 22 - 28
http://betweentheseas.org/home/
SAMUEL FRENCH OFF-OFF-BROADWAY SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL
JULY 23-28
http://oob.samuelfrench.com/index.php/the-festival-schedule/
NEW YORK FRINGE FESTIVAL
AUG 9 - 25
http://www.fringenyc.org/
Labels: Between The Seas, Brick - Game Play Festival, East To Edinburgh, Lincoln Center Festival, Midtown International Theater Festival, New York Fringe, Shakespeare in the Park, summer theater, transmedia
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
MERYL STREEP, KEVIN KLINE, ROMEO, JULIET, AL PACINO
Shakespeare in the Park
Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Gala Honoree: Al Pacino
This one-night-only event will be performed on the Delacorte’s 50th Anniversary, June 18, 2012
Conceived by Joe Papp, The Delacorte Theater in Central Park officially opened on June 18, 1962 with its first production, The Merchant of Venice featuring George C. Scott and James Earl Jones. During the past five decades, more than five million people have enjoyed free Shakespeare in the Park thanks to the support of Partners and Sponsors.
Tickets for The Public Theater’s Anniversary Gala on Monday, June 18 begin at $1,500 and include dinner al fresco in Central Park and a post-show dessert celebration. For more information, please call 212-539-8547 or visit
http://shakespeareinthepark.org/gala/
www.ShakespeareInThePark.org .
The Public Theater | 425 Lafayette Street | New York, NY | 10003 | 212-539-8734
http://www.publictheater.org/
Note: For more about Joe Papp & The Public Theater, see:
Labels: Al Pacino, Daniel Sullivan, Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, Shakespeare in the Park, the public theater
Saturday, July 09, 2011
TWITTER, RAIN, & SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
It turns out that the best way to find out whether Shakespeare in the Park in New York is cancelled because of rain may be to check their Twitter feed. They do not seem to post the information on their web site, but did post it in a fairly timely fashion on Twitter:
TWITTER FEED
http://twitter.com/PublicTheaterNY
WEB PAGE - HOME
http://www.publictheater.org/
WEB PAGE - CALENDAR FOR SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
http://shakespeareinthepark.org/the-plays/calendar/
By the way...
They generally ("never" ?) cancel a performance because of rain before 8:00. They may even hold out for an extra half hour or so in the hope the rain will clear up. (That has actually happened to me twice in the last few years... rain stopped or delayed a performance and then clearing allowed the play to go on.)
This year they are performing ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (a good performance I saw recently) and MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
And... Plan ahead: Coming to the Public Theater in the fall (not in the park) is Sam Waterston in KING LEAR!
Labels: All's Well That Ends Well, King Lear, Measure for Measure, Sam Waterston, Shakespeare in the Park, the public theater, TWITTER
Monday, August 24, 2009
THE BACCHAE -- SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK
in The Bacchae
Photo by Joan Marcus
There’s a terrific production of The Bacchae (Βάκχαι), by Euripides’ (Εὐριπίδης), one of the greatest plays in all classic Greek theater, and indeed all theater, now at Shakespeare in the Park. Anyone with an interest in theater, Greek theater, or, generally, any theater which, remarkably, is as fresh now as if it had just been written, should see this version (playing just till Aug 30). It’s also outdoors, which is a rare connection these days with the ancient performances.
Greek gods often represented personalizations of archetypal human behavior or natural phenomena, or both. They were kind of living metaphors for strong, sometimes complex ideas.
Because the gods were archetypes, respect for the gods meant being respectful of the true nature of man and the power of nature. (Note 1 (disclaimer): This is one point of view. In one sentence. Many whole books have been written about the attitudes of Greeks to their gods.) (Note 2 (somewhat contrary view): See below: JoAnne Akalaitis, the director, takes a different point of view on the relation between the gods and men.)
Greek Gods did not exist a priori, they were created as myths, and the myths were refined by people, especially writers, and in the days of Greek theater, especially playwrights.
The story of Dionysus (aka Bacchus) and the Bacchae – the women followers of Bacchus – as described by Euripides was a combination of his invention with myths and history that were known to the Greeks. Each author that translated or adapted Euripides’ text and every director that staged the play since it was written added their own creative invention.
(Note: In a story about the National Theater of Scotland’s production of The Bacchae at Lincoln Center last year, I discussed in detail some of the alternative approaches to The Bacchae.)
Euripides’ version alludes to many themes associated with the myth of Bacchus:
THEME 1 -- It was a relatively new religion that swept in from the East.
This theme has echoes now in our modern world, where the western world is being tested by fervent promoters of a religion which is coming from the East.
THEME 2 -- Alcohol liberates the spirit, provides comfort – but also can provoke fighting.
This can be amplified to a basic cycle: a spirit of liberation, supported by forces of moderation; which is opposed by a repressive regime; and then there is an element which associates itself with the pacifist spirit, but which is violent.
This duality was certainly a part of the spirit of 1968-69 – the 40th anniversary of which we are celebrating now. It is epitomized by the journey from Woodstock (a festival of peace and love and mud) to Altamont (where, as described in Wikipedia, a member of the audience at a Rolling Stones Concert – one of whose anthems was “Sympathy for the Devil" -- was killed by a member of the Hell’s Angel’s). Or by the journey from the "summer of love" to the Manson murders.
Liberation:
Directed by Brian De Palma & Richard Schechner, US, 1970;
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Richard Schechner
The liberation of the 60’s and its tie to the myth of Bacchus was expressed in the version of this play, Dionysus in 69.
(Note: For a look back, visit the contemporary impressions of Time magazine, and The New York Times -- access to NYT may require registration.)
in Hair
Photo by Joan Marcus
It was also expressed (with Pot more than booze as the liberating drug of choice) by Hair.
Interestingly, a terrific production of Hair is currently playing on Broadway, where it was transferred after originating at Shakespeare in the Park last summer. Hair (especially the first act) could almost be an interpretation of the spirit of the Bacchic revelers in the present age.
in Hair
Photo by Joan Marcus
It is also interesting – and more than a coincidence I would think – that the current version of The Bacchae, now playing in Shakespeare in the Park features Jonathan Groff as Bacchus. He also played Claude in last year’s Hair at The Park, and also is part of Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, about the festival.
The current version takes note of, but does not show (much less enjoy) the spirit of liberation. There is no sex, no nudity, no Bacchants in this production. (The chorus may be Bacchants in name, but they do not participate in any Bacchic revels.) The chorus, which in many productions takes the role of the liberated women, here are purely commentators (which they do in an especially rich fashion, as we comment below). The description of liberated women is – except in the scene with Cadmus & Tiresias (Τειρεσίας), who are sympathetic to the revels – almost entirely in terms of how Dionysus has crazed the women, especially the daughters of Cadmus.
Note: Tiresias is the blind seer. Cadmus is the old, retired legendary king of Thebes who has given his crown to his grandson, Pentheus. His daughters are: Semele, the mother of Dionysus; Agave, the mother of Pentheus; Autonoe and Ino. Dionysus is thus the cousin of Pentheus and also a grandson of Cadmus.
Dionysus claims that his father is Zeus, and therefore he has divine lineage. His mother claimed Zeus was her lover, but neither Cadmus nor his mother’s sisters believed her. This rejection is the primary motivation behind Dionysus' return to Thebes to claim the respect he and his mother were denied. Continued disrespect is the motivation for his revenge.
Revenge / Violence:
This production stresses the theme of revenge. Dionysus comes out angry. The Chorus is fierce. Dionysus gives Pentheus a chance to respect him. When Pentheus does not, Dionysus arranges for Pentheus to be brutally murdered by his own mother.
On one level this is a counter-reaction of violence to repression. On another level, this is the representation (we alluded to before) of the aspect of drink that makes people fight.
Depending on how you view the play, this is
- An expression of the barbarism of a pagan religion,
- Or the realistic depiction of the fury that gods unleash when you do not pay them the respect they require,
- Or the metaphorical description of the consequences of ignoring the reality the god represents.
- (Or just fury -- its a god, no reason needed, see theme 4.)
THEME 3 – Cross dressing
In the course of his revenge Dionysus convinces Pentheus to dress as a woman so that he will not be attacked by the Bacchants.
This is a strange statement on the face of it, since earlier Euripides’ has (at least according to most translations) suggested that men and women were making love among the revelries and, besides, Cadmus and Tiresias had just gone up to join the revelers. The simplest explanation is that Dionysus was lying to Pentheus.
Pentheus expresses reluctance to wear a woman’s clothes, and the reaction the play seems to be looking for is that Pentheus is humiliated by dressing as a woman.
With a smear of red lipstick
in The Bacchae
Photo by Joan Marcus
Bacchus, himself, in myths is portrayed as half-man half-woman. And stage directions in many versions of the play describe Dionysus, when he comes in, as having long blond hair, kind of androgynous. In this production, Dionysus wears just a smear of lipstick.
in Twelfth Night
Photo by Joan Marcus
Some commentators on the play treat the theme of cross dressing as the paramount theme of the play. Indeed the ads for this whole summer’s Shakespeare in the Park stress Cross Dressing: the other play this summer being Twelfth Night, in which Viola (played by Anne Hathaway) dresses as a man.
(Note: Viola dresses as a man to be safe going around in a strange country by herself (aka himself). It was, of course, convenient for Shakespeare to have women dressed as young men, since they were, in fact, being played by young men.)
Neither play seems to make too much of cross dressing in these productions. (It was a much more important part of The Scottish Theater’s version of The Bacchae.) With respect to how cross-dressing illuminates the relation between men and women, they do take almost the same view (that in the world they live in, men are more important) in very different ways (inflating women and deflating men in Shakespeare; mostly mocking women and – perhaps mockingly – almost worshipping hunting and killing as manliness in The Bacchae).
Twelfth Night notes how a woman can be just as manly as a man, when people think she’s a man. It bursts a bubble of assumed superiority for men, and elevates woman to the same level as a man.
The Bacchae, in the person of Agave, boasts how a woman can be just as strong as a man when she is crazed, while Pentheus, dressed as a woman is mocked: Men are strong, women are maddened by Dionysus; when a man is maddened, he is made to play the role of a woman and mocked; a woman can think she is as strong as a man only if she is maddened. In this view, Euripides is quite a misogynist. (Other interpretations of Euripides, stressing the androgynous nature of Dionysus, and the freedom and independence of women in the Dionysian rites, are quite different.)
THEME 4 – Human powerlessness in the face of irrational gods
I had no direct access to the creative team, but the NYT quotes JoAnne Akalaitis, the director, as saying the play is “partly about human powerlessness in the face of irrational gods…” In this interpretation, Dionysus is not even revenging himself, his fury is irrational.
(If one wishes to put this irrationality in context, it could be tied back to the idea that excessive drinking makes one irrational, and to a modern notion that the gods of Greece were pagan gods.)
THE STAGING
There is an additional element in the interpretation of a play, especially a Greek play, and that is how the play is staged.
In the story I referred to above, I discussed the staging of the play last year by The National Theater of Scotland. That staging was notable for its ability to find humor in the text, and for cross-dressing, and for its vivid effects.
in The Bacchae
Photo by Joan Marcus
In addition to being outdoors! (as Greek plays were originally staged), the most notable element of the staging in The Park is the magnificent score by Philip Glass, and the singing, chanting, dancing and appearance of the chorus. It is almost operatic, and is the central element for most of the play. (In the program, Eustis, the Artistic Director of The Public Theater, says the chorus was “almost really the starting point for this entire endeavor.”)
Watching The Bacchae, and listening, I thought back to the last opera I saw: Doctor Atomic, with a score by John Adams. There is something about our times that is bringing a certain musical sensibility, large in scope, concerned with real and mythical events, recent and ancient events, that remind us of the precariousness of our situation, comfortable at home, but threatened by the possibility of imminent cataclysm.
There is a similarity between our times and the times when Euripides wrote The Bacchae – Athens was in grave danger, both militarily, politically, and philosophically, with much of the danger coming from Persia and the East. The Bacchae may be 2,400 years old, but it is a modern play, and this is a timely production.
(Note: It has little to do with rest of this article, but I just wanted to note that these are extraordinary photos by Joan Marcus. These are not only great shots, but they show the extraordinary concentration and the incredible life that is going on with every one of the characters shown in the pictures. They are a great tribute both to the productions, and to the photographer.)
Labels: Hair, Joanne Akalaitis, Philip Glass, Shakespeare in the Park, The Bacchae, the public theater
