Month: December 2018

Bare Bones Shakespeare has escaped my radar, but last Friday night I remedied that and took my buddy to see A Midwinter Night’s Dream. What hits you first is the utter absence of scenery. Not a chair. Not a table. Not a ladder. Not a painted wooden cube. The actors all wear black. It’s baffling, yet intriguing. And then the curtain speech,a kind of backstory/manifesto. Simplicity is their calling card.Perfection their aspiration. Preparation their mandate.

And then the enchantment begins. Shakespeare’s A Midwinter Night’s Dream (seasonal title change) intersects three different plots: 1. two women + two men = muddled and misguided romance. 2. The Fairy King’s moonstruck by Fairy Queen, but she won’t give him the time of Day. 3. Jilted Fairy King sends mischievous Puck to wreak havoc. Among Shakespeare’s comedies,Night’s Dream might be the most charismatic, fanciful and playful. Crowded with capricious sprites, nymphs, minor deities of air, mountain, water and woods, it dallies and meddles in the affairs of the privileged, blue collar and supernatural.

A group of merchants(think Chamber of Commerce) stage a humble yet spirited production of Pyramus and Thisbe. Puck (ever the reckless prankster) turns Bottom the Weaver into a donkey. Then, he casts a spell, infatuating the Fairy Queen with Bottom the Donkey. [Call Dr. Ruth!] The rest(and there is much, much more) considers the role of destiny,happenstance and intensity in that miraculous insanity “…we talk about, when we talk about love.” Obsession gives way to whimsical, other-worldly interference, resentment yields to cherishing, authority is defeated by youthful defiance, and the sanctity of true romance is turned on its head. Consistent with the light, freewheeling premise suggested by its name, Night’s Dream juxtaposes the supposedly serious nature of sexual attachment with the chaos of actual experience. There may be a healthy dose of skepticism behind Shakespeare’s take on the nature of adoration, but also (let’s be fair) a reality check on a feeling that’s often 90 % intoxication.

The delightful secret of Bare Bones is their dedicated, intuitive approach to the script. They do not recite, but speak their lines (to quote the legendary Pauline Kael)as if they’ve “…spoken that way, all their lives.” What they may “lack” in production values, is eclipsed by their energy,showmanship, ingenuity and panache. Their performance style is relaxed, focused, good-natured and wildly entertaining. Imagine if the most gifted actors decided to make a play happen, with a few props,plainclothes and gobs of moxie? What a joy to feel the essential core of Shakespeare’s vision come through by sheer force of will and theatrical mastery. Bare Bones delivers and slyly puts the bounce back in our weary steps.

Bare Bones Shakespeare and Rover DramaWerks presents A Midwinter’s Night Dream playing December6th-22nd, 2018. 221 West Parker Road, Suite 580, Plano, Texas 75023.(972) 849-0358. (469)701-3228. barebonesshakespeare.com.

An exquisite drama of the American Theatre Canon, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, depicts the struggling Wingfield family. The Wingfields have left the deep South and moved to St. Louis, where they barely keep the bills paid. Amanda Wingfield, the matriarch, comes from privilege and dominates the home, perhaps after the father abandoned them, and perhaps before. The daughter, Laura, is too emotionally besieged to earn a wage, so it’s up to the son, Tom Wingfield, who works at a shoe factory, to support them. Tom is the narrator of The Glass Menagerie, and a character. When he speaks directly to the audience, he uses a poet’s diction and imagery : “…the fiery braille of revolution, delicate cuplike breasts, the cities swept about me like dead leaves…”. Tom’s extended monologue (for lack of a better word) places the story firmly in the context of a dreamworld that is just anchored enough to be canny.

There is a remarkable undercurrent to The Glass Menagerie, a pervasive sense of sadness, loss, longing and resignation. Amanda cares for her grown children, but can’t seem to give them the space to find what refuge they can. Tom works diligently to keep food on the table, but instead of appreciation, Amanda won’t give him a moment to himself. She evokes memories of the halcyon days when even malaria couldn’t keep her sequestered, and sweet, gracious young men regularly came to call. Amanda cannot relinquish the past, Tom dreams of adventure and a life that’s just his own, and Laura loses herself in the fragile, kaleidoscopic dazzle of her small glass animals. In the second act, Tom brings home Jim, a buddy from work, who coincidentally went to high school with him and Laura. Amanda gets Laura dressed and lovely, in hopes of securing a fiance for her.

The current production of Glass Menagerie at Collin Theatre Center (closing this Sunday) is an evocative mix of the wistful, tragic and lurking sense of despair. The sense that the Wingfields are inhabiting a realm cut off from forward motion is palpable. The set is minimal, distressed wood, and welded iron that makes skeletons of a telephone, or Victrola, or typewriter. When the Wingfield home is decorated for the arrival of a guest, it might just as easily be haunted. The lighting creates pale, effulgent, white pools of light and shadow. There’s a sophistication that Williams evinces from dialogue that may seem quaint, or naive or bellicose. The cast tackles the script with energy and purpose. When they explore the nuances of familial conversation, a more pensive, reflective tone might be preferable. Their dedication and vigilance is undeniable.

Collin Theatre Center presents The Glass Menagerie, playing December 6th-9th, 2018. 2800 East Spring Creek Parkway, Plano, Texas 75074. collinuniversitytickets.com.

Bare Bones Shakespeare has escaped my radar, but last Friday night I remedied that and took my buddy to see A Midwinter Night’s Dream. What hits you first is the utter absence of scenery. Not a chair. Not a table. Not a ladder. Not a painted wooden cube. The actors all wear black. It’s baffling, yet intriguing. And then the curtain speech,a kind of backstory/manifesto. Simplicity is their calling card.Perfection their aspiration. Preparation their mandate.

And then the enchantment begins. Shakespeare’s A Midwinter Night’s Dream (seasonal title change) intersects three different plots: 1. two women + two men = muddled and misguided romance. 2. The Fairy King’s moonstruck by Fairy Queen, but she won’t give him the time of Day. 3. Jilted Fairy King sends mischievous Puck to wreak havoc. Among Shakespeare’s comedies,Night’s Dream might be the most charismatic, fanciful and playful. Crowded with capricious sprites, nymphs, minor deities of air, mountain, water and woods, it dallies and meddles in the affairs of the privileged, blue collar and supernatural.

A group of merchants(think Chamber of Commerce) stage a humble yet spirited production of Pyramus and Thisbe. Puck (ever the reckless prankster) turns Bottom the Weaver into a donkey. Then, he casts a spell, infatuating the Fairy Queen with Bottom the Donkey. [Call Dr. Ruth!] The rest(and there is much, much more) considers the role of destiny,happenstance and intensity in that miraculous insanity “…we talk about, when we talk about love.” Obsession gives way to whimsical, other-worldly interference, resentment yields to cherishing, authority is defeated by youthful defiance, and the sanctity of true romance is turned on its head. Consistent with the light, freewheeling premise suggested by its name, Night’s Dream juxtaposes the supposedly serious nature of sexual attachment with the chaos of actual experience. There may be a healthy dose of skepticism behind Shakespeare’s take on the nature of adoration, but also (let’s be fair) a reality check on a feeling that’s often 90 % intoxication.

The delightful secret of Bare Bones is their dedicated, intuitive approach to the script. They do not recite, but speak their lines (to quote the legendary Pauline Kael)as if they’ve “…spoken that way, all their lives.” What they may “lack” in production values, is eclipsed by their energy,showmanship, ingenuity and panache. Their performance style is relaxed, focused, good-natured and wildly entertaining. Imagine if the most gifted actors decided to make a play happen, with a few props,plainclothes and gobs of moxie? What a joy to feel the essential core of Shakespeare’s vision come through by sheer force of will and theatrical mastery. Bare Bones delivers and slyly puts the bounce back in our weary steps.

Bare Bones Shakespeare and Rover DramaWerks presents A Midwinter’s Night Dream playing December6th-22nd, 2018. 221 West Parker Road, Suite 580, Plano, Texas 75023.(972) 849-0358. (469)701-3228. barebonesshakespeare.com.