Turns out today is William Shakespeare’s birthday — surprise! — which makes me think about productions and experiences past:
1) I have performed in three of the Bard’s plays: The Tempest (as Antonio the evil brother, one of my worst performances), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (as Demetrius), and Twelfth Night (my favorite Shakespeare play, as [of course] Sir Andrew Aguecheek). The latter two were with the Old Hometown’s local theatre company’s Shakespeare in the Park, which introduced me to that deathless quotation of the late Gov. Earl Long: “If you ain’t got culture, you ain’t got shit!”
1a) The former was my junior year at Interlochen; a South African actor had been hired for the semester as an artist-in-residence, especially so he could play Prospero. I forget why the word “banana” became such a joke during rehearsals, but I remember many people popping it into their lines here and there, and Prospero saying “Hence, hang not on my banana!”
2) Among her many sayings Mother would include “Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry” from Hamlet. But the most dazzling was the wife of one of their high school friends, a lady who once danced with the New York City Ballet, who reeled off the entire speech that begins “Speak the speak, I pray you, trippingly upon the tongue.” Just out of nowhere! I’ve never forgotten that.
3) One of the best classes I ever took at Interlochen was Mr. Hintze’s Shakespeare I; it’s a lasting regret I never got to take more classes with him. But we got into QUITE a discussion in one class about the notion of a king needing to lead troops into battle vs. remaining in the rear to direct maneuvers when reading Henry IV, Part One.
4) I’ve gotten to see some outstanding productions of Twelfth Night over the years:
4a) At the Stratford Festival in Ontario in 1980, with William Hutt as Feste. I forget who played Malvolio, but the most memorable and hilarious moment came when, coming downstairs to get the midnight revelers to shut up, he furiously pointed outside . . . and a teddy bear fell out of his bathrobe!
4b) At the American Repertory Theatre in 1990 or 1991, with Diane Lane as Olivia. This production played with all the gender attraction ambiguity, portraying the ship captain as an openly gay dude totally crushing on Sebastian. As Viola goes off with the Duke at the very end of the play, she casts one desperately longing glance back at Olivia. Broke my heart to see it. When Malvolio gave the line “I can smile,” he launched a facial avalanche taking a full minute to achieve one — comic genius.
4c) At the Huntington with Elizabeth McGovern as Viola. Spanish Colonial production and costume design. You could tell that the actor playing Sir Andrew Aguecheek had been instructed to walk as though afraid to get the soles of his shoes dirty — genius direction. I remember some haunting and sentimental string music at the very beginning, and the Duke actually paused to listen to it before giving the line “Ah, that strain again!” after “. . . that surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die.” Who thinks to do that?! Perfection.
5) The Merchant of Venice is another favorite, and I remember seeing the professional company at Syracuse do it in winter, 1982. The production was set in 16th-century Venice, but since the actress playing Portia’s sidekick Nerissa was Asian, they costumed her in clothing inspired by Chinese or Korean court costumes of the same period.
6) “If music be the food of love, play on!” captures my zest for Shakespeare (when I remember to think about him), which is another reason I love the sampler above. The reason I love it most, though, is that my grandmother made it.
7) Oh mercy, and how could I forget Hamlet at the Huntington with Campbell Scott as Hamlet?! This was in the late 1990s, and a colleague who had a friend on the tech staff got me a comp ticket. Campbell Scott was great, but the production overall — not so much. The costuming was sort of 1910. When Ophelia came in for her mad scene she was wearing a half slip and a man’s navy blue blazer. With the way she had her hair arranged, she was a dead ringer for Caroline Kennedy.
7a) But the performance I should have attended was the one the next night! My colleague told me about it. During the duel in the last act, when Gertrude unknowingly picks up the poisoned wine goblet and says “The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet,” someone in the balcony called out “DON’T DRINK IT!” Pandemonium in the house! And clearly the cast had never banked on that reaction. No one paid attention to the king’s “Gertrude, do not drink.” But Gertrude got control back. Instead of addressing her next line to the king, she lifted her goblet in the direction of the balcony for it: “I will, my lord; I pray you pardon me.” Masterful, and I wish I’d been there.