596 years after the King’s Men first performed William Shakespeare’s epic tragedy, Othello, the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival will mount a production of the play as part of its 5th Anniversary Season.
Othello was written during Shakespeare’s great tragic period, which also included the composition of Hamlet (1600), King Lear (1604–5), Macbeth (1606), and Antony and Cleopatra (1606–7).The play takes place during the wars between Venice and Turkey that raged in the latter part of the sixteenth century.Cyprus, which is the setting for most of the action, was a Venetian outpost attacked by the Turks in 1570 and conquered the following year.
Shakespeare combined the history of the Venetian-Turkish and an Italian prose tale written in 1565 by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinzio (usually referred to as Cinthio).The original story is the framework for Shakespeare’s plot: a Moorish general is deceived by his ensign into believing his wife is unfaithful.To Cinthio’s story Shakespeare adds supporting characters such as the rich young dupe Roderigo and the outraged and grief-stricken Brabanzio, Desdemona’s father.Shakespeare compresses the action into the space of a few days and sets it against the military conflict.And, most memorably, he turned the ensign, a minor villain, into the arch-villain Iago.
Othello is a noble figure of great authority, respected and admired by the duke and senate of Venice as well as by those who serve him, such as Cassio, Montano and Lodovico.Only Iago voices an explicitly stereotypical view of Othello, depicting him from the beginning as an animalistic, barbarous, foolish outsider.
The story is one of intrigue, love, jealousy, rage and racism.It’s clear that Shakespeare was at the zenith of his creative career.The language in the play is lyrical.The tightly woven plot is artfully crafted.The action and larger-than-life characters will keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
Othello runs from August, 4 -15 at the McGlohon Theatre at Spirit Square in Uptown Charlotte.
Show times are:
Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7:30pm
Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm
Saturday 8/7 & 8/14 at 2:00 & 8:00 pm
Sundays 8/8 & 8/15 at 3:00 pm
Come early and enjoy Festivities, pre-show entertainment featuring an eclectic group of musicians, poets, improvisational comedians and others.
There is no admission charge, but a $5 donation per person is suggested.For more information, visit www.charlotteshakespeare.com.
Shakespeare’s script is living in the actors.The choreography for the scene changes is finalized.The props gathered.Entrances are timed.The lighting cues are on paper.The music is set.The final tweaks to the costumes are done.
The curtain goes up on the 5th season of the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival on June 3 at 8:00 at The Green in Uptown Charlotte.
Comedy of Errors, one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, opens the Festival’s season.It’s a familiar Shakespeare story, doubled.The Bard often uses mistaken identity as a plot device.In Comedy of Errors, he introduces not one, but two sets of identical twin brothers and their identical twin bondmen.
We learn from an old Syracusian merchant that the two brothers and their servants were separated during a raging storm at sea.Twenty-five years after their separation, Antipholus of Syracuse, searching for his lost brother, lands in Ephesus with his Dromio.As chance - and Shakespeare - would have it, the other twin Antipholus and his servant, Dromio, live in the city.
When their paths crisscross, the town’s inhabitants are convulsed in confusion.A gold chain becomes a flash point for the chaos. The Antipholuses and Dromios are mixed and matched.Finally, Shakespeare sorts everything out and adds a happy surprise to the last scene.
The Charlotte Shakespeare Festival (www.charlotteshakespeare.com) presents Comedy of Errors under the stars on The Green Uptown from June 3-20.Admission is free.Bring a blanket, food and drink and come early to enjoy Festivities, the special pre-show entertainment.
Rehearsals for Comedy of Errors are underway. Actors are learning their lines and their entrances and exits. Director Joe Copley is setting the blocking - the position and movement of actors on the stage...or in this case, The Green.
Right now the cast is primarily focused on making sure the words ring out clearly. Catching all the nuances in Shakespeare's Elizabethan English can be a challenge for the audience. It's made more difficult if the actors don't pay attention to the Bard's script clues.
The cast will be "off book" on May 24. That means the words will live in each of the actors. The cast will no longer be tied to their scripts. That's the time to start adding the little touches that make the play come alive. Gestures. Working with props. Reactions. Creating each character's idiosyncrasies.
Unique to this production is a series of Interludes, wordless scenes that help connect and explain the scenes in the play. The Interludes will add another layer of zaniness to Shakespeare's fast-paced Comedy of Errors.
The Charlotte Shakespeare Festival (www.charlotteshakespeare.com) presents Comedy of Errors under the stars on The Green Uptown from June 3-20. Admission is free. Bring a blanket, food and drink and come early to enjoy Festivities, the special pre-show entertainment.
Next Post: Meet the actors learn about the challenges of The Green.
Mistaken identity is a common theme in Shakespeare’s plays. In Comedy of Errors, the Bard ratchets up the chaos by introducing two sets of identical twins, identically named.
Antipholus and his twin, Antipholus - see, this is getting confusing already - are separated by a disaster at sea. They end up in different locations, thinking the other has drowned. The twins each have a servant, also twins, both named Dromio.
One Antipholus lives in Syracuse. The other in Ephesus.
Rounding out the twin’s family is the father, Egeon of Syracuse, who in his search for the lost twin, Antipholus…not that one, the other one…has come to Ephesus. The matriarch of the family, Emilia, also thought to have been lost at sea, makes a dramatic appearance during the play and tries to sort everything out.
Solinus is the Duke of Ephesus. He condemns Egeon to death in the very first scene only to be moved by Egeon’s sad tale of his separated (and confusing) family.
Also in the cast of players are Adriana, wife of Antipholus of Syracuse, Luciana, her sister and Luce the kitchen maid.
Adding to the confusion - and fun - are a group of characters who get caught up in the mistaken identities. Balthazar is a prominent Ephesusian merchant. Angelo is the goldsmith. Doctor Pinch is a conjuring schoolmaster.
It would be helpful if all the characters wore name tags, but Shakespeare would have none of that - besides name tags hadn’t been invented in the 1590s. The audience will just have to pay close attention and like the characters, struggle to keep everyone straight. And that’s where the fun in Comedy of Errors begins.
The Charlotte Shakespeare Festival (www.charlotteshakespeare.com) presents Comedy of Errors under the stars on The Green Uptown from June 3-20. Admission is free. Bring a blanket, food and drink and come early to enjoy Festivities, the special pre-show entertainment.
Comedy of Errors is one of the Bard’s most farcical, full of slapstick, puns, word play and mistaken identity.
Last summer, the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival produced, Twelfth Night, which featured identical twins separated during a storm at sea.When both arrive at the same city, hilarious confusion ensues.
In Comedy of Errors, the confusion doubles as Shakespeare introduces the audience to two sets of identical twin brothers.Creating even more chaos, the two sets of brothers share the same names: the gentlemen, Antipholus and their servants, Dromio.
When Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse journey to Ephesus, home of their long lost twins, the other Antipholus and Dromio, wild mishaps multiply.Mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-seduction, an arrest, theft, madness, accusations of infidelity and demonic possession.
As the play races at breakneck speed toward the final act, the audience will wonder: How can the Bard bring order to all the comical disorder?Before the curtain falls, there’s a surprise appearance by a long-lost spouse, a gold chain claimed by several people, a “spherical” kitchen maid, an exorcism and a commuted death sentence, just in the nick of time.
Director Joe Copley has a few tricks up his sleeve regarding set design, costumes and music.
“The tone I want to set for the show is catchy, up-tempo and fun, almost wacky - but not quite,” explains Copley.“This will be a very physical show, with lots and lots of sight gags, punctuated by music.Some of gags will occur between scenes, with no dialogue, to move the story along - and get some laughs.”
The Charlotte Shakespeare Festival (www.charlotteshakespeare.com) presents Comedy of Errors under the stars on The Green Uptown from June 3-20.Admission is free.Bring a blanket, food and drink and come early to enjoy Festivities, the special pre-show entertainment.
In the middle 1500’s, there were no theatres in England. Entertainment was provided by wandering minstrels who moved from castle to castle, town to town.
Traveling actors played before audiences in courtyards of taverns called inn-yards. Some of the largest inn-yards could hold 500 people.
The actors / minstrels were not held in the highest esteem. People thought of most of them were vagabonds and thieves. They had to have a license to move about the country and were treated with suspicion especially during Bubonic Plague outbreaks.
Finally regulations were written and licenses granted to English nobles who began to maintain troupes of players.
In 1576 James Burbage (father of famous Elizabethan actor, Richard Burbage) built the first theatre, appropriately called The Theatre, in London. The Theatre was a smaller version of the Roman Coliseum but with a capacity of 3000 people. In 1577, work began on another theatre, The Curtain, followed by the Rose in 1587.
The Bubonic Plague and rowdy theatre-going crowds caused problems in the City of London. Many Londoners were strict Puritans and abhorred the theatres and the types of the people they attracted. Finally, in 1596 London authorities banned the public presentation of plays and all theaters within the City limits of London. So, actors and theatre owners picked up and crossed the Thames where the south bank was outside the London city limits.
Between 1592 and 1594, as theatres became more popular, William Shakespeare wrote one of his earliest plays Comedy of Errors, based on two comedies by Roman playwright, Plautus.
In 1599 the Globe Theatre was built on Bankside, in the south of London. William Shakespeare was a co-owner and chief playwright. The Globe Theater - and Shakespeare - proved to be huge successes.
Four years later another outbreak of the Bubonic Plague killed 33,000 people In London and all theatres are closed until the deadly outbreak subsided.
On June 29, 1613 a cannon fired in one of the plays started a huge fire that consumed the Globe Theatre. The Globe was rebuilt in 1614 on its original foundations but this time the roof was tiled, not thatched. Three years later William Shakespeare was dead.
This summer, June 3-20, the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival, www.charlotteshakespeare.com, presents Comedy of Errors outdoors on The Green in Uptown Charlotte. Admission is free. Bring a blanket, food and drink and come early to enjoy Festivities, special pre-show entertainment.
It’s not hard to imagine strolling minstrels, stilt walkers, fortune tellers, fire eaters, sword swallowers and jugglers roaming the grounds of the Theatre, the Rose and the Globe in London in the late 1500’s or early 1600’s prior to the afternoon shows.
It’s conceivable a group of these performers entertained patrons as they came to watch one of William Shakespeare’s earliest plays, Comedy of Errors.
This year, modeled after this Elizabethan tradition, the 5th anniversary edition of the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival will feature an exciting pre-show experience for its patrons called Festivities.
Before Comedy of Errors (June 3-20 at The Green Uptown) and Othello (August 4-15 at the McGlohon Theatre in Spirit Square), a diverse group of performers will entertain Festival goers.
Since admission to both plays is free, crowds tend to assemble early to snag choice seats.Now as patrons mill about the McGlohon lobby or lay out a picnic on the lawn at The Green, they’ll enjoy first-class entertainment.
Artists interested in performing during Festivities should visit www.charlotteshakespeare.com, read the details and fill out an application.
This summer the fun starts before the curtain rises at the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival.
A group of actors and Shakespeare enthusiasts sat on the edge of their seats as Dennis Krausnick, director of training for Shakespeare & Company in Lenox Massachusetts, explained the Bard had salted his texts with clues on how to perform - and enjoy - his plays.
The workshop was sponsored by Collaborative Arts Theatre, the producing company for the Charlotte Shakespeare Festival and by an Arts and Science Council theatre education grant funded by the Charlotte law firm, Parker Poe.
Helping the Actors
Dennis explained Elizabethan actors had little or no time to rehearse and had to learn their parts quickly.Back then, too, there were no directors to help them interpret the lovesick musings of Juliet, understand Richard's evil intentions or untangle the confusion caused by two sets of identical twins in Comedy of Errors.To guide the actors, Shakespeare filled the text with tips and tools.
Dennis explained that the crazy capital letters, strange spellings, unusual punctuation signaled which words the actors should emphasize.Shakespeare even indicated when the actors should breathe - at the end of each line.
The Authoritative First Folio
Seven years after Shakespeare died; two of his partners collected and published the authoritative version of 36 Shakespeare plays in the First Folio.
Over the last 400 years, editors have tweaked the Shakespeare texts - sometimes carefully and thoughtfully, but often completely clouding Shakespeare’s original intent.That’s why, Dennis said, you have to go to the First Folio for the most accurate representation of the plays.
The three hours went by too quickly.For many in attendance, though, it was like getting a Ph.D. in Shakespeare.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The region’s only free Shakespeare festival returns for a 5th year as Collaborative Arts presents The Charlotte Shakespeare Festival. The festival will be expanded in 2010 to feature two mainstage productions, a new Festivities pre-show performance series, free educational workshops for young people and adults, and a new Shakespeare in the schools education program.
The 2010 mainstage season kicks off with William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors outdoors at The Green Uptown June 3-20, 2010. The festival continues indoors August 4-15 at the McGlohon Theatre with the drama Othello. Both productions offer audiences a chance to see two plays that are rarely produced in the Charlotte region.
About The Comedy of Errors
If you enjoyed one set of twins in last season’s hit production of Twelfth Night, then double your pleasure this summer with The Comedy of Errors. Not one, but two sets of estranged twins find themselves unwittingly wandering through the streets of the same town, where the men are jealous, the women are furious and there’s a priceless gold chain that everyone wants.
“Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s least performed comedies,” says Joe Copley, Festival Managing Director who will direct the play.“It’s also Shakespeare’s first play, and one that sets up comedic devices that will be used again and again in later plays.It’s zany, fast-paced and fun - perfect entertainment for a summer picnic on The Green.”
Performances of The Comedy of Errors take place June 3-20 on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00pm and Sundays at 6:30pm.The Green is located in Uptown Charlotte at 401 S. Tryon Street, between 1st Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Street, directly across the street from the Charlotte Convention Center.Sundays are Family Days at The Green with an earlier family-friendly curtain time of 6:30pm.Free educational workshops for young people ages 8 and up are also offered at 5pm on Sundays during the run of the show.
About Othello
In Shakespeare's monumental tragedy Othello, a tender love story is shattered by one man's hatred of another.“More than any other of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Othello explores human emotions at a personal level,” says Elise Wilkinson, Festival Artistic Director who will direct Othello.“The play is a highly-charged tale of jealousy, prejudice and revenge that
combines some of Shakespeare’s most beautiful language with some of man’s ugliest behaviors such as jealousy and racism.”
Performances of Othello take place August 4-15 on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00pm, Saturday afternoons at 2pm and Sundays at 3pm.The McGlohon Theatre is located in Uptown Charlotte at 345 N. College Street.
About Festivities (pre-show entertainment)
In celebration of its 5th anniversary, The Charlotte Shakespeare Festival will launch a new pre-show performance series called Festivities featuring a variety of local artists. Since many of our audience members arrive very early for our shows to reserve seats, the festival is pleased to present special pre-show entertainment starting approximately one hour before each show’s curtain time.Whet your appetite with a short performance lasting 20-40 minutes featuring local performing artists from a variety of disciplines. A full performance schedule will be available in May.
Artists interested in participating in the Festivities series are encouraged to contact Elise Wilkinson, Artistic Director, at elise@collaborativeartstheatre.com.
Admission and Seating
There is no admission charge for performances or workshops, but a minimum donation of $5 per person is strongly encouraged and appreciated. For performances at The Green, patrons are encouraged to bring blankets or lawn chairs and may bring food and beverages (including alcohol), if desired.
Seating areas at The Green open 90 minutes prior to curtain. Seating in the McGlohon opens 30 minutes prior to curtain. Seating at both shows is first-come, first-served. A limited number of reserved seats are available for donors. Contact the festival at hi@collaborativeartstheatre.com or 704-625-1288 for more information.
Educational Workshops
As in past years, the festival will offer free educational workshops for young people ages 8 and up at 5pm on Sunday June 6, 13 and 20 at The Green Uptown. Attendees will gain a greater understanding of The Comedy of Errors through hands-on exercises and participating in the performance of a 15-minute version of the play.
In addition to the free workshop series, the festival is pleased to announce the expansion of its education program to include workshops and performances for schools.For more information on how to bring our education programs to your school, please email education@collaborativeartstheatre.com.
About Collaborative Arts
Collaborative Arts is a non-profit, professional theatre company dedicated to producing inventive productions of classical and contemporary plays.Our goal is to offer programming not frequently available in Charlotte – in particular classical theatre, site-specific productions and professional-level training opportunities for local actors. The company produces 3 – 4 shows each season, including The Charlotte Shakespeare Festival (the region’s only free Shakespeare festival).For more information, please visit www.collaborativeartstheatre.com or call 704-625-1288.
