Working with what I've got

As I reflect back on my recent work at the Shakespeare Festival, where I have had the pleasure of working for three seasons, my mind races with all the valuable lessons I learned during this one paradoxically glorious and tumultuous summer.

As the season began, I was full of doubts as to whether or not I was up to the task of playing Nurse in Romeo and Juliet and Hippolyta/Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

My friend, Ian, gave me the book Will & Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life by Dominic Dromgoole, currently the Artistic Director at the Globe Theatre, London. The book became my muse for creating the characters.

Feeling fairly insecure & as if my very messy life would somehow wreck my work, during rehearsals, Dominic's words about being “human” helped me a great deal. Some of the most important quotes which struck me deeply are:

• "All through my life, when wounds had opened, Shakespeare had appeared with comic balm or tragic suture, to patch things up."
• "With such a shining example of rich and creative complexity before us, how can we not attempt to be as human?"
• And, although I must paraphrase - forgive me - because I cannot find the exact quote, the idea which moved me most to trust that my life, however messy it may be, is all that is necessary to live under the text:
  The richer the text, the less we need to embellish but rather let the words remind us of what we have lived. (which was the response I wrote in my journal one night when reading the book.)

Providential timing, really, that I had this book to read during this summer. (Thank you, Ian.)

As I mentioned in the post below, my other great inspiration over the summer, during performances (thanks to my Canadian colleagues in the cast), was the Canadian television series, Slings & Arrows, about….a Shakespeare Festival in Ontario! The all too brief series (compared to mediocre American tv series which seem to go & on season after seaon ad nauseum) quickly became an addiction for me. I devoured all three seasons, including the extra features like out-takes, interviews, etc. Co-creator Susan Coyne’s comments also moved me to trust the very human experience I found myself struggling with all summer:

• If I have a mission [about Shakespeare], it is to present him as a living playwright for today.
• 400 years later, we're still laughing at a joke ... because we know who these people are ... they're human as we are.
• (About presenting theatre on tv) What we do, the theatre, might be important.

My conclusions:

Shakespeare, the actor/playwright, wrote of human behavior and it is my job as an actor to get to my most human behavior when performing. Audiences come to the theatre to see human behavior onstage; to see me “hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature” and let them recognize their humanity through the expression of mine. To keep my humanity at arm’s length will keep the character at arm’s length and, therefore, the audience at arm’s length from the story Shakespeare wants us to tell.

Oddly enough, during the rehearsal process, what I feared I might lack, I discovered were the characters’ fears; what I was afraid might be “inappropriate” for the character in some given moment, I discovered was the most appropriate experience to reveal the soul of the woman in that very moment.

The character who taught me the most about myself was the one I didn’t think, initially, I was at all comfortable playing: Nurse in Romeo & Juliet. I told the director, Craig Walker, when he wanted to cast me in the role that I felt 1. too young, 2. I didn’t get the comedy of her and 3. I always thought I was more like Lady Cap.

The “too young” part was substantiated for me by, of all things, the character, Ellen, on Slings & Arrows, who said to the young woman cast as Juliet: “It’s the lot of the actress, my dear. You play the leads, the queens, the duchesses, the dreaded Nurse, then it’s a bed in [the actors’ nursing home]." I suppose the age issue was soothed a bit by the fact that our Juliet really did look about 14 and it is, primarily, in her eyes that the Nurse seems: "old", "lame", "heavy", etc., and because she is impatient for news Nurse is to bring of her love. So, thanks, Emma!

As for getting Nurse's humour, I finally decided, partly because Craig told me that, onstage, I relish being funny and also based on Dominic’s quote about “how can we not attempt to be as human?” that I would simply pour all of myself into Nurse. Now, this at a time when I have been moving through a season of my life where I felt pretty far from the woman I used to be; the woman I think I can be; the best woman I always have been.

As for being "right" for the role ....For nearly twenty years, I have longed to play Titania and I had the time of my life every second I played her. My great surprise this summer was how pleased I was when I read my R&J director’s opening night card and the description he wrote of the Nurse, as I created her, is closer to the real me than I have felt in a long time.

Without even realizing I could begin to heal & find my best self again through my work, by simply deciding to bring all I had to offer to the circumstances of each character in each play, I came damn close to finding that woman again.

Since closing, I continue walking on the healing journey which began when I felt called to get back onstage and was furthered at the Shakespeare Festival while exploring these three glorious women: to find my most honest & glorious self again. I believe the walk will take me every day closer and, now, finally, I am ready to move forward into it.

To think, a few years ago, I wondered if getting back onstage was the best choice for me; if I still had what it takes to do the work truthfully and skillfully. This summer, I found that, for me, I did indeed make the best choice and I am simply grateful and joyful every time I get onstage. I feel ready for just about any role any one wants to offer me knowing I can approach it with confidence: trusting that my “mess” is all the humanity any character needs.

I simply need to work with what I’ve got and all of it.

--ML

Photo credits of my work with colleagues this summer at SLSF:
Titania & fairies (Emma Hunter, Ashley Keefer, Kaylan Lindsay, Kyle Evans;
Hippolyta & Theseus (Ross Neill);
2 - Nurse & Juliet (Emma Hunter)

what we do might be important

This is my farewell note to the company of this summer's St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival.

A quick farewell and wish for the future ....

Some events of recent days, & indeed of the summer, have left me feeling a real need to value what little time we truly spend on earth and to ensure that people know the impact they may have upon my life.

Several of you are responsible for getting me hooked onthe fabulous Canadian tv series, Slings & Arrows, about a Shakespeare festival in Ontario, the first two seasons of which I watched during our run and Craig kindly left me season three upon closing.

The theme of season three, watched in the past few days, re-inforced my renewed sense of communicating value to those I care about or admire. In the special features section of the DVD, I watched an interview with Susan Coyne, co-creator, writer and actor (the Shakespeare festival's administrator, for those of you who might not know) and she said something which caused in me great sentimentality - shocking I know - about our season and the affect we have had on the community here and on each other as artists.

Forgive my cutting & pasting of her words:

• If I have a mission [about Shakespeare], it is to present him as a living playwright for today.
• 400 years later, we're still laughing at a joke ... because we know who these people are ... they're human as we are.
• (About presenting theatre on tv) What we do, the theatre, might be important.

Thanks for letting Shakespeare live. Thanks for your humanity. Thanks for letting the work be important - to each other and to the community.

May you be blessed with more of the same whether we work together again or not.

Sincerely,

Molly

Romeo & Juliet review

Molly Lyons as Nurse & Perry Mucci as Romeo

Rain no obstacle to Star-Crossed Lovers

Brockville Recorder & Times
By RONALD ZAJAC
Staff Writer

PRESCOTT -- The Fort Town's first taste of Shakespearean tragedy is hardly bitter.The St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival's Romeo and Juliet, which opened last night despite the vagaries of nature, is first of all a perfect opposite to A Midsummer Night's Dream in the festival's "Summer of Love" theme.
But it is also a perfect play to ease a local crowd accustomed to comedies, since the start of the five-year-old festival, into the darker side of Shakespeare's work.It is perhaps easy to forget how lightly this tragic tale of star-crossed lovers begins. The dialogue in the early acts is full of quick-firing puns, ribaldry and bawdy humour, lines, such as Sampson's famous "maiden-heads" pun, that one would expect to hear from some of the characters in Midsummer. Where the play turns tragic, where these lovers' story crosses a line beyond which there is no possibility of a happy ending, is in Act 3, Scene 1, when the rivalry between the Capulets and Montagues begins to claim lives. By then, the audience is already drawn in by the strength of the characters and is ready for a descent into darkness that is stunningly choreographed.
Director Craig Walker, who also doubles as this play's conscience in the character of Prince Escalus, had to make some difficult decisions to bring this production down to its practical limit of just over two hours. Gone is some of the dialogue in key moments, and audience members will have to seek reassurance in the original text that the likable Friar Lawrence (compellingly played by Tyler Murree), is forgiven for his well-intentioned but ill-fated scheme. But in return for such textual sacrifices is a tragedy that, by paring away some of the text, provides an emotional crescendo driven by raw emotion.In particular, leads Perry Mucci and Emma Hunter perform the challenging death scene almost like a dark dance, conveying the tragedy through movement rather than words. The resulting shift between the warring families from rivalry to reconciliation, upon the discovery of the young lovers' bodies, is also conveyed wordlessly, with Shakespeare's text serving more to confirm the transformation rather than effect it. This is achieved through the pacing given to the play by Walker's edits, and the effect left the small but determined opening night audience transfixed.
While there are no weak links in this mostly seasoned cast, Mucci in particular stands out because he shows himself worthy of the challenging role of Romeo after the succession of comic characters he has played in the local festival. (Indeed, on the nights he isn't playing Romeo, Mucci will be speaking in a deliberately ridiculous falsetto as Francis Flute in Midsummer.) Romeo is above all driven by an immature emotional extremism that ultimately claims his life, and Mucci, cited by Walker for his "boyish" looks, plays this with the right pitch. Similarly, Hunter captures the fluttering innocence of the 13-year-old Juliet, complete with prattling silliness, in the earlier acts, then grows up very quickly, as she is required to do, in the latter part of the play.
The entire cast, crew and indeed the audience members deserve citations of valour for what has got to be the five-year-old festival's most difficult opening night. As thunder began sounding in the distance, Murree used it to his advantage by incorporating it, at least gesturally, into Friar Lawrence's early dialogue. By the end of the intermission, artistic director Ian Farthing (Mercutio) remained optimistic, telling the audience the brunt of the storm missed Prescott and the play would continue in the Kinsmen Amphitheatre. It wasn't much later, however, when the rain began in earnest and everyone was moved uphill to the nearby tent, to see the play's denouement coincide with an invasion of mosquitoes. It is perhaps a testament to this production's power, however, that during the final scenes the slapping and shooing seemed to diminish for a moment. The mosquitoes were the result of the delay caused by the move to the tent. Festival regulars will know that by now, these Shakespeareans have learned how to time their productions to end right before the after-dark infestation begins. That is, when the weather co-operates just a little.
Despite what the weather has in store for the next few weeks, Romeo and Juliet is a production that deserves a much bigger crowd.
Published in Section A, page 4 in the Thursday, July 19, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.Posted 4:31:49 PM Thursday, July 19, 2007.

Molly Lyons as Nurse & Emma Hunter as
Juliet

A Midsummer Night's Dream review

Molly Lyons as Titania & Craig Walker as Bottom

St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival off to first-rate start

Brockville Recorder & Times
By RONALD ZAJAC, Staff Writer
PRESCOTT -- Of all the Bard's plays staged at the Kinsmen Amphitheatre so far, this one is arguably the most apt.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, which opened the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival's fifth season on Saturday, is a romp through Shakespeare's "Green World."
It's a play that deserves to be performed outdoors, making the waterfront amphitheatre an ideal setting for it. (Friday's preview performance was indeed staged outdoors, although Saturday night's opener, given the weather, was held inside the festival's nearby tent. On the upside, the tent was full.)
The "Green World," a term coined by the late critic Northrop Frye, is the wilderness to which many of Shakespeare's comic heroes escape.
Under the trees, potentially tragic lovers like Lysander and Hermia are governed not by strict Athenian law, but by whimsical, magical beings who lure them astray with their tricks, yet have conscience enough to make everything right by sunrise.
The Prescott production not only captures the sheer joy of Shakespeare's best-known comedy, but uses the "Green World" magic of the amphitheatre to full advantage. Characters sweep down on the audience from above, while music from an unseen performer wafts over the trees during the woodland spirits' games.
This is, truly, an enchanting way to spend a midsummer's night.
It's also a worthy rendition of the quintessential Shakespearean comedy.
Director Steve Scott has remained faithful to the text and the performers, many of them festival regulars by now, do it justice.
In particular, leads Ross Neill and Molly Lyons bring the right mixture of severity and comedy to the roles of the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania, while Michael MacDonald, whose talent for physical comedy is by now well known, is an excellent choice for the mischievous Puck.
Meanwhile, the four benighted lovers (Amanda Levencrown as Hermia, Dorian Foley as Lysander, Lisa Benner as Helena and Dan De Jaeger as Demetrius), whose confused trip through the Green World is the core of the play, are also well cast.
In particular, Benner, the delicate Hero in last year's Much Adoe About Nothing, and Levencrown, who gives a somewhat coarser edge to Hermia, make for interesting echoes of the play's two other female archetypes: the fairy queen and the amazon.
And while the St. Lawrence troupe does it for budgetary reasons, casting the same two actors for the Theseus-Hippolyta and Oberon-Titania pairings conveys the message, first delivered with a similar twin-pairing in Peter Brook's famous 1970 staging, that the worlds of the mortals and fairies mirror each other.
But for comedy of the side-splitting variety, enter the "rude mechanicals," the Elizabethan term for lower-class labourers, whose hilarious play-within-a-play, and the attempt to rehearse it, provide the real from-the-gut laughter.
All six of these characters provide the play's comedic climax with their mis-staged tragedy that serves as a satire on the potentially tragic love that has just been healed in the "Green World."
In particular, Craig Walker, as Bottom, takes on the challenge of being unwittingly elevated to main character status when Puck gives him an ass's head, while Oberon magically contrives to have Titania fall in love with him.
And here we find this play's main flaw, likely the bane of every Midsummer Night's Dream director: what to do about that ass's head.
It's a tricky dilemma. Having a character run around with a donkey's head without knowing it is the stuff of pure physical comedy, yet at the same time, the audience needs to see that confusion in the actor's face. The result, as in this case, is often a head with ass's ears, but little else to suggest a donkey Walker compensates for this forgivable problem with all the facial expressiveness Bottom demands, and throws in his own deliberately asinine laugh to boot.
This Midsummer Night's Dream comes with arguably more double-entendre than other renditions, most of it delivered through physical comedy, and there are brief moments when the physical comedy distracts the viewer from the text.
But then, one could argue this is how the Bard intended it, as Puck looks on and observes: "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
The Shakespeare festival's "Summer of Love" continues Wednesday with the opening of Romeo and Juliet on Wednesday.
· Published in Section A, page 3 in the Monday, July 16, 2007 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times.

Ross Neill as Oberon & Molly Lyons as Titania

The Duke & the Bard

Greetings,
Here are some audience reviews of a recent performance in Ottawa. In short, it was the 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington's suite to Shakespeare, called Such Sweet Thunder. Ross Neill, Ian Farthing and myself, all from the St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, were asked, along with another Shakespeare company, to perform with the Impressions in Jazz ensemble.

I learned a great deal during this process, which was a bit hectic to say the least, the most important one being: my passion & joy for simply saying the words is enough to lift me. Playing a bunch of the strong, sometimes bad women, all in one night, was a thrilling experience: Lady Mac, Tamara, Kate, Titania, a witch, a brief revisit with Cleopatra, etc.

Also, I learned when I trust my scene partners, the wave of creativity really takes me on a fun surf. I was so thankful that Ian and Ross were performing with me because I know their work and can trust them. For instance, I saw them both make a really cool blocking choice when we were each taking chorus for a scene from Romeo & Juliet, so I followed suit and imitated them. I believe it made the choral bits work better and lent very tight focus to the 2 actors playing R & J.

It was as if we were influenced by the jazz and were able to jam in realy cool ways.

The music was positively inspiring and the orchestra ROCKED.

Once again, it is always rewarding to be onstage but, I must say, last minute frantic-ness aside, this was particularly FUN.

Molly Lyons as Kate from Taming of the Shrew with Ian Farthing as Lucentio, Ross
Neill as Petruchio and Emmanuelle Zeesman as Bianca with Impressions in Jazz
Conductor, Adrian Cho, looking on.

- The Duke & The Bard audience quotes:

“Your orchestra is superb - I heard the music truly come to life thanks to their passionate and skilful playing.”
Ian Farthing, Artistic Director, St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

“We were both extremely impressed by the show. The venue, the atmosphere, and all the little extras only complemented the quality of the performances. The pairing of music and acting made for a complete package and a very unique experience.”
Sandra Stockley

“This was a brilliant show. We enjoy baroque music and jazz - it was amazing to have them brought together like that. I've been a bardophile for years, so it was a real treat to hear music express characters. We usually feel that modern settings and costumes don't work for Will S's plays, but the jazz sure did. What a great group of musicians - we'll be keeping track of their gigs.”
Judy Benner

“A brief note to congratulate you and your musicians for your wonderful performance last night. I thought it was beautifully put together and executed.”
Jacques Émond, Programming Director, Ottawa International Jazz Festival

“Congratulations on a fabulous show last night! All ensembles were awesome and it was apparent that everyone was having a great time, enjoying both the readings and music.”
Sonia Dimitrov

“Sweet show! The music was so tight. I loved it as did the gang that accompanied me.”
Mary Catherine Jack

“Just a note of thanks to you and to all of the IJO team for the wonderful evening Tuesday. This was my first chance to hear the orchestra and I was bowled over by the precision and vibrance of the playing - fantastic achievement. The whole conception of the evening was a revelation to me. This is the kind of cross-cultural synergy that is so needed but so seldom encountered. Looking around me, I couldn't find a single face that was anything less than animated throughout the evening.”
Bob Reid

“The concert was spectacular and the audience was very appreciative. What you are doing is like a breath of fresh air in Ottawa; we are blessed with some great musicians and you have given them a high class focus for their talents.”
Keith Richardson

“Congratulations on Tuesday's performance! Everyone at my table was ecstatic; none had heard the IJO before and all said they'd be at future concerts.”
Ron Sweetman, jazz writer and radio producer

Other photos available at
http://www.impressionsinjazz.ca/gallery/v/2007-2008/CP-120607/

Soul Cleanse

“El arte lava del alma el polvo de la vida cotidiana.”

Pablo Picasso
(The art washes away from the soul the dust of the daily life.)

The above quote was given me by Silvana Goldemberg, the mother of playwright, Muriel Faifman, whose new play, Waves of Immigration, we just workshopped last week in a collection of one acts called Sea of Stories. The stories were commissioned by the Gateway Theatre in Richmond BC in an admirable effort to reach out to their community which consists largely of emigrants.

The performance consisted of 6 new short plays, all tales of emigration, all by women, which together created a powerful evening. I found there to be common threads of great hardship and suffering woven with great redemption and hope. The countries represented included: Russia, Argentina, India, Japan, Switzerland and Canada.

I got to play Muriel's great grandmother, Guite, who fled a pogrom in Russia and emigrated to Argentina. Muriel's family fled recent violence in Argentina and now live in Richmond, BC, Canada. The two stories were woven together giving us the simultaneous impact of generations of a strong family fleeing violence and seeking a better lives for their children.

No matter how I might have felt personally last week, which wasn't always great, the creative process and artistic result left me with a cleaner soul and a great sense of pride in what we accomplished.

Quelemia Sparrow - actor, Elaine Avila - director/dramaturge, Ian Farthing - actor, Bill Clark - composer, Gabriel Faifman - actor, Molly Lyons - actor, Muriel Faifman - actor / playwright and new Canadian citizen.
(And she turned 11 years old during our rehearsal process.)

ML

The Work of my Artist / Teacher Peers

When my mentor, Bill James, was advising me on becoming a teacher and my nose wrinkled, as if to say, “but I’m an ARTIST,” he said: "those who can, do; those who can do better, teach."

Recently, when seeing the work of my several of my fellow teacher / artist peers, I fondly remember how wise my mentor was.

I saw David Smukler, AIRE voice instructor, in The Seagull in Toronto in February. I thought he was charming, dotty, funny, vulnerable, surprisingly forceful … a wonderfully dimensional performance. Wonderfully Chekhovian, too, because he brought both HUMOR and pathos to the play. (Can't resist saying that Kate Fenton, as Masha, with whom I worked at St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, was born to do Chekhov! So terribly funny until the last moment when her grief retched out of her on one breath.)

I saw Ted Hoerl, AIRE audition instructor, in The Weir in Chicago in March. Now, this is a play I LOVE and it is based in the area of Ireland from whence my people hoist their pints. Of the many compliments I paid Ted, one was: “I recognized you as a guy from my town sitting on the bar stool.” The other amazing thing he did was LISTEN like nobody’s business and this is no small feat, especially with the staging of this particular production. He actually made other people’s stories come to life without detracting from their telling in the least.

I saw AIRE’s scene work instructor, Steve Scott’s production of Rabbit Hole in Chicago in March. How does one recognize the work of a great director? It is nearly invisible, really, but Emi Clark & Betty Lorkowski (who saw the show with me) and I agree that there is a recognizable Steve style: careful attention to human detail. Particularly in the supporting characters, there were such amazing human quirks and foibles, little lifts of the eyebrow or tiny straightenings of the spine that told me Steve spent weeks asking questions! (Review of Steve's recent work, Frozen, is a couple of posts below.)

Although not directly Green Wood Studio / AIRE related, I saw colleague Craig Walker in Candida in Kingston, Canada, last week. Craig is a drama professor at Queen’s University, hence the relevance, & played Benedick to my Beatrice last summer in St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival’s Much Ado About Nothing (co-directed by meself & Steve Scott). Tricky thing for Craig with Candida was, he directed himself as one of the leads: Rev. James Morrell. I thought his direction of the show was excellent: clear, clean, uncluttered, no schmacting; his take on the show seemed to be to let Shaw's feckin brilliant text shine. I also liked his performance very much. He gave us a full range of human behavior: warts and all. Who the heck is crazy enough to take on a role like that and direct themselves? What was he thinking? Oops. Pots & kettles calling each other black.

(Reviews of 3 of the shows below.)

It gives me great satisfaction to say that I am blessed to work with a fistful of artist / teachers who can do better.

This summer, I get to work with two of them again: Steve Scott is directing A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Craig Walker is playing Bottom and I am playing Hippolyta / Titania. Craig is directing me as Nurse in Romeo & Juliet.

www.stlawrenceshakespeare.ca

P.S. Want to guarantee I'll not miss a show you're in? Remind me OFTEN and give me comps. So many students & colleagues ask me to see their shows: making it easy on me will ensure I'm there. If I'm in town ....