My last two trips of the season to Stratford produced four excellent shows, two of which I'll look at this week and the final two in a few days, as we wrap up another season of great theatre at the Stratford Festival.
In the small Studio Theatre space tucked in behind the larger Avon Theatre downtown, John Murrell's Taking Shakespeare continues until September 27th. If you have not made plans yet to see this show, I strongly suggest you try to beg, borrow or steal tickets (well, maybe not the last one!) to the show, which was extended a week due to popular demand. I enjoy John Murrell's work; he is well represented at Stratford as well as other major theatres in North America and has been for about thirty-five years now; for me, I came away loving this piece of theatre.
Director Diana Leblanc in her notes explains she wants to make you a Shakespeare lover. Speaking from personal experience, living with someone who has yet to warm to the charm of The Bard, I know that is a tall order. But what we have here is a wise, wise-cracking teacher (Prof, played by Martha Henry) trying to enlighten young Murph (played by Luke Humphrey) on the wonders that are indeed Shakespeare. You see, Murph's mother is concerned about her 24-year-old son who loves nothing more than to play mindless video games; she is also concerned about Prof, who has been sliding at the University it seems far too long. Murph's mother, who also happens to be the Dean of Humanities, hopes Shakespeare will light a fire under each of them.
Oh, there's fire all right. Prof dismisses Murph early on as simply not interested; Murph to his credit doesn't immediately walk out completely, but can't get his head around Shakespeare and his plays and that certainly tests Prof's patience. As they embark on a journey to discover the real meaning behind the play Othello and why Iago is the way he is, they eventually come to terms with their situation and somehow find a way to make it work.
By the second act the two have an abiding respect for each other, although the much younger Murph shows much more respect than the Prof, it seems, who has just been turfed from her teaching position and has to move on. Murph won't have any of it; he is finally beginning to understand and appreciate the intricacies of Shakespeare in general and Othello in particular and wants to continue the journey with Prof.
The two protagonists here are perfectly matched and in spite of Luke's inexperience compared to Martha Henry, he is up to the task of working with one of our national treasures. By the end of the play, you can't help but imagine Henry would be great fun at any party with the conversations that ensue. Here, she is bitchy, snarky, unexpectedly sexy and an absolute joy to watch.
The set looks to be transferred directly from the interior of Book Stage, the iconic bookstore located just across the street from the theatre, with old books piled high and shelves overflowing from top to bottom. It is a comfortable set, depicting a life well lived; books well loved.
Taking Shakespeare takes me back to Grade 10 English class, where the teacher tried to instill in us a love of Shakespeare as well, but he droned on as he dissected MacBeth day after day, ultimately having the opposite effect for many in the classroom years ago. It wasn't until we started our annual school field trips to actually see the plays live on stage at Stratford we began to appreciate the works for what they were and Shakespeare as the great playwright he always was and still is.
Hopefully your memories of studying Shakespeare in high school are better than mine were. Either way, you'll love this generational give-and-take with Othello as the catalyst. Taking Shakespeare continues at the Studio Theatre until September 27th and rates a solid four out of four stars.
It just so happened my schedule worked out I would see Taking Shakespeare in the afternoon and then in the evening I would move up to the larger Avon Theatre for this season's production of Othello, starring Dion Johnstone in the title role of Graham Abbey as Iago.
As usual with Othello, you wind up with a pile of bodies on stage during a brutal finale, but the route taking us there, courtesy of director Chris Abraham, is an interesting one.
As Othello, Johnstone is good; his accent is a little disconcerting at first, but eventually you warm up to the exotic flavour it adds to the play. His wife, the lovely Desdemona, is played here by Bethany Jillard who is beautiful, poised and well cast. She is full of the beautiful innocence needed for the role, thereby making Othello's crazed rationalizations for killing her all the more horrific. The actual scene of Desdemona's death is particularly effective in this production.
Othello starts out as a reasonable guy, but spurred on by Iago's agenda his world unravels as the play continues, leading us to the unfortunate conclusion with so many deaths at the end. As Iago, Graham Abbey is evil to be sure, but I found the last production of Othello with Colm Feore as Iago just that much more chilling and heartless.
The rest of the cast is very strong here, with Mike Shara's Roderigo, Brian Tree's Gratiano, Keith Dinicol's Montano and Peter Hutt's Brabantio worthy of mention. Incidentally, when Brabantio refers to someone being a senator in the first act, a good deal of laughter can be heard in the audience - certainly Canadians to be sure!
Abraham has set the play with period costumes but with a more modern, minimalist set and it somehow works; combined with the industrial music composed and performed by Thomas Ryder Payne, this Othello crosses many boundries, not allowing itself to be pigeon-holed. I quite like how everything seems at odds yet work together well.
Is it a worthy Othello? It most certainly is, and rates a respectable 3 out of 4 stars. Othello continues at the Avon Theatre until October 19th.
Enjoy the theatre!
September 4th, 2013.
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