Shakespeare Here and There: Director’s Approach to Shakespeare on Broadway
Every time someone would claim, “Time has changed everything,” “The New York City we live in now is very different from the one before” or even trail off into a flashback moment with the overused “Back-when-I-was-a-child” thought, I would inadvertently think to myself, “Why would someone feel the need to say something as clichéd as that?”
Of course, the world we live in now is drastically different from the one our ancestors resided in, for instance, the 1590s. Technology, innovation, and discoveries have transformed our way of life, but have our choices changed as well? Do we not seek entertainment in the same form as the past generations did? Do people, specifically, New Yorkers, not relish in the same William Shakespeare plays that repeatedly enthralled the audiences of the Renaissance?
Recently, four of Shakespeare’s plays—Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and Richard III—have been adapted and are currently playing on Broadway. The fact that we continue to watch and ask for more Shakespeare plays speaks to the power of Shakespeare’s writing and classical ideas. Directors staging such plays today have two options: 1) they can choose to present the play as it was intended, thereby preserving its content and meaning conveyed through execution; or 2) they can create modern adaptations of the plays to form a connection with the present audience. Regardless of which path a director chooses, he or she must ensure that the quality of the play and the greater picture is not being sacrificed in the course of his or her actions.
Director Tim Carroll is a stern believer in the appeal of the classics. He would agree that certain arts are deemed “classic” because the themes they entail hold relevance regardless of the era. In fact, Carroll remarked, “It’s not necessarily a question of trying to find ancient techniques, so much as trying to invite the audience into an imaginative leap so that we place the play in the world when it was written and for which it was written – and see how much of it comes alive by that method.” Thus, Carroll justifies that his approach to maintain authenticity in his plays is strictly an artistic choice that is ironically contemporary for our time.
Carroll’s Twelfth Night and Richard III, starring Mark Rylance, is made under what is called the “Original Practices” production—the purpose of which is to give the audience the closest “Shakespearean” experience conceivable and feasible. As a result, Shakespeare’s Globe theater company casts men to essay the male and female roles. In addition, the stage is not designed to provide the exposition of the play or a certain scene; instead, Carroll says the audience has to use its imagination just like Shakespeare’s audience did. Then again, the directors have to provide some form of visual aid to assist the audience. For instance, in Twelfth Night, changes in day and night need to be illustrated through sunlight and sunset. The problem, however, is depicting the change in time (without any technological devices) in a theater with a roof. In this case, Carroll follows the precedent of Shakespeare’s performances—instead of resorting to an advanced and anachronistic approach, he uses candles and “artful lighting” to emulate the effect created in the original performances of the play. Further, music provides another visual treat to the audience. According to Jeff Lunden, an arts reporter and producer, today’s audiences will “hear” the play just like Shakespeare’s audiences did. Director Carroll uses music originally composed by John Dowland and “traditional Elizabethan instruments” to allow the audience to see through music.
As one would expect, the production faces several challenges when it chooses to remain true to the original plays. For one, the media frequently questions the theater company if it is attempting to establish male dominance with its all male cast. However, time and again, representatives like Tim Carroll stand up to dismiss such arguments. In a recent interview, when asked, Carroll calmly responded, “I don’t think it’s sexist in terms of its motivation – that’s the crucial thing. You get a reward from embracing the fact that some people will be cross with you for not casting women– that is, the extraordinarily heightened artificiality.” Here, Carroll clears the flawed idea that all male casts create an air of controversy around the play.
Twelfth Night successfully battles such odds and crafts an atmosphere that makes critics like Ben Brantley think, “This is how Shakespeare was meant to be done.” For a comedy like Twelfth Night, it is almost necessary to include an all male cast to retain the flavor of deception in disguise. If a man, acting as a woman will pretend to be in disguise as a man, and a man, acting as a woman will fall for that man who is playing a woman but is disguised a man, the audience will invariably fall in the web of laughter that Shakespeare fabricated through the overarching theme of deception. Indeed, Carroll’s calculated risks work to his advantage. The sheer comic effect of cross-dressing and hysteria within the dialogue delivery (including Rylance’s “halting intonations” as Olivia) produce the desired outcome of a Shakespeare slapstick comedy. Therefore, Carroll’s attempt to stage a show in line with Shakespeare’s original play and performance has been lauded by numerous critics. New York Post’s critic Elisabeth Vincentelli went on to claim, “You’re not just going to the [Belasco] theatre – you’re experiencing what makes it magic.”
Unfortunately, however, the viewer does not experience the same luxury of watching an authentic Shakespeare play in Romeo and Juliet. The reason? Some directors get trapped in a time warp and feel the urge to create modern adaptions of Shakespeare’s plays. Although seemingly harmless, this strategy damages the essence of what makes the classic a classic. Director David Leveaux has introduced numerous changes in his production. The primary change, (which has had a ripple effect on the events that follow as well as the overall affect of the play), is the shift of the setting to a modern times where people somehow continue to speak in Elizabethan English. (Here is the time warp!)
Another quite drastic change is introduced through the character’s costumes. Charles Isherwood, an art critic for The New York Times aptly comments, “Wherefore art though riding a motorcycle, Romeo?” Isherwood’s witty remark questions the director’s choice of modernizing the play through clothing (and setting) while retaining the language. After all, who would’ve thought that Romeo would enter on a motorcycle, wearing a classic white shirt, black leather jacket, ripped jeans, and red shoes? Isherwood even used the slippery slope argument to question what it would be like if, for instance, Julius Caesar’s plotters wore business suits in Julius Caesar. Many critics have raised a similar point to criticize the play.
On the other hand, Tracy Sallows (who plays Lady Montague) believes…[the following lines cannot be put on the blog due to the interviewee’s request]…Perhaps, Sallows is correct in claiming so. The audience has always been the first priority in theaters and films because ultimately, the purpose of arts is to entertain people while stimulating thoughts. Even Isherwood concedes that modern adaptations should not be judged solely on the changes they introduce, but also on “whether they can infuse these magnificent, challenging texts with the life blood of honest feeling and formal beauty.” Romeo and Juliet leaves no stone unturned in that evaluation. Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad’s chemistry is remarkable. They feel their characters and speak from their hearts, and perhaps, that is the reason the audience understands the poetic lines written in iambs. Bloom’s acting, in particular, helps create the “beauty”. His painful eyes that simultaneously rage and wail his banishment substitute for the discomfort and out-of-place feeling the audience inevitably experiences at the start of the play. Ben Brantley, too, agrees that once he looked passed the “unfortunate motorcycle” (and by association, other alterations made in the adaptation), he was able to enjoy the play.
As long as the audience is entertained and directors and actors have done justice to the classic works, either of the two options could be employed to stage Shakespeare’s plays. The challenge, however, is capturing the zeitgeist of Shakespeare’s plays without sacrificing their intricacies. As more and more directors stand up to the challenge, we witness growing numbers of Broadway shows inspired by Shakespeare. And, as anticipated, the audiences continue to laud efforts (since the shows are consistently sold-out) to bring Shakespeare in New York. How, then, can one say that we have we changed? If anything, the only change to account for is our shift to watching more Shakespeare plays than ever before. After all, what took Shakespeare thirteen years to write, it took Broadway two months to adapt.
Works Cited
“$25 on Stage Seating Now Available for TWELFTH NIGHT and RICHARD III. Boneau/Bryan-Brown. Boneau/Bryan-Brown, 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://www.boneaubryanbrown.com/blog/2013/10/25-on-stage-seating-now-available-for-twelfth-night-and-richard-iii/>.
Brantley, Ben. “Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad in ‘Romeo and Juliet'” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/theater/reviews/orlando-bloom-and-condola-rashad-in-romeo-and-juliet.html>.
Brantley, Ben. “‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘Richard III’ With Mark Rylance.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/theater/reviews/twelfth-night-and-richard-iii-with-mark-rylance.html?ref=arts&_r=1&pagewanted=1>.
Carroll, Tim. “Director Tim Carroll on Making 17th Century-Style Theatrical Magic in Twelfth Night and Richard III.” Broadway.com. Broadway.com, 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.broadway.com/buzz/172357/director-tim-carroll-on-making-17th-century-style-theatrical-magic-in-twelfth-night-and-richard-iii/>.
Isherwood, Charles. “To Renovate or Not to Renovate?” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/theater/to-renovate-or-not-to-renovate.html>.
Lunden, Jeff. “Here’s A Wild Idea For Shakespeare: Do It His Way.” NPR. NPR, 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://www.npr.org/2013/11/10/243787060/heres-a-wild-idea-for-shakespeare-do-it-his-way>.
Marks, Peter. “Mark Rylance’s Arresting Performance in Broadway’s ‘Twelfth Night’.” Web blog post. The Style Blog: Art, Culture, and Commentary from Style Writers. The Washington Post, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2013/11/11/mark-rylances-arresting-performance-in-broadways-twelfth-night/>.
Nestruck, J Kelly. “Stratford Goes Back in Time with ‘Original Practices’ Romeo and Juliet.” The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc., 24 May 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/stratford-goes-back-in-time-with-original-practices-shakespeare/article12133556/?page=all>.
Trueman, Matt. “Reviews Roundup: Broadway Critics Swoon over Mark Rylance’s Shakespeare.” The Guardian. The Guardian, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. <http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/nov/11/reviews-mark-rylance-shakespeare-broadway>.
“Twelfth Night & Richard III.” Boneau/Bryan-Brown. Boneau/Bryan-Brown, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://www.boneaubryanbrown.com/show/Twelfth_Night_&_Richard_III/>.
