books – RVArt Review

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

(abridged)

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

Presented by: Richmond Shakespeare

At: Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse, 600 E. Grace St., RVA 23219

Performances:

Ticket Prices: $22-$47 [Adults $47; Seniors 65+ with ID $42; Military with ID $27; College Students with ID & Children $22] Seating is General Admission.

Info: (804) 340-0115 or http://www.richmondshakespeare.org

There’s not much that needs to be said about The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). The title tells (most of) it all. William Shakespeare is considered (one of) the most famous writers of all time. And in his time, he wrote 37 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 long narrative poems, and a number of other works. The task of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) is to perform ALL 37 of Shakespeare’s play in 97 minutes. Of course, this is impossible. What we get is a side-splitting comedic take on Shakespeare that includes scenes, passages, or catch phrases from every play, along with a more extensive treatment of Romeo and Juliet at the top of the show and Hamlet at the end.

Sydnee S. Graves, one of the trio of thespians in this production, sets the pace with her well-timed introduction by unrolling a long scroll that contains the notes for her “brief” introduction. Graves invites us, in elaborate and flowery terms, to share space in the theater – the place where the magic happens.

Rachel Marrs is introduced by Graves as a pre-eminent Shakespearean scholar, and Marrs arrives in a black academic gown that does little to conceal her lack of scholarship – all in good fun, of course!

Joshua Mullins completes the pre-show banter with a ChatGPT – generated biography of Shakespeare that conflates the words and deeds of Shakespeare with America’s 16^th president – Abraham Lincoln. (This is clearly propaganda designed to convince the audience that reading is fundamental.

Highlights of the show include the rendering of Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus, as a cooking show, and Othello summarized as a performance by a rap trio. All 14 comedies are rolled into a single medley, Macbeth is performed by two of the actors in kilts, their swords replaced by golf clubs, while Two Noble Kinsman, a play authored jointly by Shakespeare and John Fletcher, (and here characterized as neither a comedy or a tragedy, but a “bad” play) offers Mullins an opportunity to shill T-Mobile Kinsman cell phone service.

Shakespeare’s histories are grouped together and played as a football game. All 154 sonnets have supposedly been printed on a single 3×5 index card that proves impossible for even a young audience member with strong eyes to read – even after Marrs offers her a series of magnifying glasses. But there are two scenes that stood out for me. The first is the abridged Othello performed as a lively rap performance and the second occurred when in the midst of an argument about not wanting to perform Hamlet, Mullins, who has been acting the fool all night, surprises audience and fellow cast members alike by delivering Hamlet’s soliloquy with heartfelt sincerity.

Dressed in a foundation of short pants, long-sleeved peasant-style shirts, and colorful high-top chucks, the tripartite ensemble moves at breakneck speed, adding and subtracting garments, wigs, and props for each play or scene. Shakespeare wrote plenty of racy dialogue and the salacious plot elements and double entendre are emphasized. There are many references to buns and sausages, and Horatio is misnomered as Fellatio, to name just two and, lest I forget, there is high level and intricate audience participation – with multiple parts! Mullins takes an unnatural level of juvenile-level glee in a long-running bit about vomiting, and he runs across the width of the audience, even up the stairs, to pretend to spew vomitus on audience members or in their drinks.

Graves, Marrs, and Mullins have quite different assignments, with Graves seeming to take on the bulk of the organizing and public interaction, such as announcements. Marrs is in charge of history and props. Mullins is, well, Mullins – a master of quick change and pratfalls. The three of them together form a solid ensemble knit together under a banner of riotous comedy, and often very physical humor. They must be exhausted at the end – after performing multiple versions of Hamlet. Speaking of the end, in his end notes for this production, Director Joe Pabst writes, “Comedy is one thing I know a lot about,” and “I love figuring out what makes people laugh.” To that end, I say to Pabst, “No lies detected,” and “You understood the assignment.”

—–

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)

Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield

with new revisions by Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield

Directed by Joe Pabst

CAST

Sydnee S. Graves

Rachel Marrs

Joshua Mullins

PRODUCTION TEAM

Costume Design …………… Anna Bialkowski

Lighting Design …………… Trisan Ketcham

Scenic Design …………… James Ricks

Production State Manager …… Jordan Dively

Run Time: 97 minutes; there is one intermission

———-

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

– Comedies –

All’s Well That Ends Well

As You Like It

The Comedy of Errors

Love’s Labour’s Lost

Measure for Measure

The Merchant of Venice

The Merry Wives of Windsor

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Much Ado About Nothing

The Taming of the Shrew

The Tempest

Twelfth Night

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Winter’s Tale

– Tragedies –

Antony and Cleopatra

Coriolanus

Cymbeline

Hamlet

Julius Caesar

King Lear

Macbeth

Othello

Romeo and Juliet

Timon of Athens

Titus Andronicus

Troilus and Cressida

– Histories –

Henry IV, Part I

Henry IV, Part II

Henry V

Henry VI, Part I

Henry VI, Part II

Henry VI, Part III

Henry VIII

King John

Pericles

Richard II

Richard III

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1987.

Photo Credits: Richmond Shakespeare Facebook page

Make a one-time, monthly, or annual donation to show how much you love rvart review.

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

Or enter a custom amount

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate Donate monthly Donate yearly

LORD OF THE FLIES

There’s No Escaping the Ravages of War

A Theater Review by Julinda D. Lewis

Presented by: Richmond Shakespeare

At: Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse Dominion Energy Center, 600 East Grace Street, RVA 23219

Performances: October 17 – November 10, 2024

Ticket Prices: $15-$47 [Adults $47; Seniors 65+ with ID $42; Military with ID $27; College Students & Children $22; VTA $15 with Password] Seating is General Admission.

Info: (804) 340-0115 or http://www.richmondshakespeare.org

Lord of the Flies is one of those productions that’s hard to write about because there’s good, bad, and ugly. The good things are all about the production. The bad and ugly things all have to do with the things the book and this production reveal about humankind. This is not a production you can say that you liked or enjoyed, but it is a production you need to see.

If it’s been a long time since you’ve read William Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies – or if you’ve never read it – the story is about a group of boys and young men who, while being evacuated from a nuclear attack, experience a plane crash and become marooned on a tropical island. With only eleven young survivors and no adults or other authority figures in sight, they are left to figure out how to survive and soon divide into two groups. Those who follow Ralph want some semblance of order and civilization, while those who follow Jack prefer a more chaotic life of hunting and tribal dancing. They hunt wild pigs and a malevolent force known as “the beast” that they believe jumps from body to body – meaning that no one is safe from being hunted.

The boys in the original story were upper class British boys from several different prep schools. That detail seems to have fallen by the wayside, as only one or two of the boys in this cast have adapted a British accent or mannerisms. They are a diverse bunch – in real life as well as onstage – thus giving the tale a more universal appeal.

Interestingly, author Harding’s 1954 publication was based on a children’s novel that promoted the civilizing influence of British colonialism. [Not my words, I’m just reporting here.] Golding apparently found that novel unrealistic and wanted to write a book about children marooned on an island who behaved as he believed children would really behave in such circumstances. As you might suspect – it isn’t a pretty sight.

A cast of 11 young actors, ranging from a sixth grader (Hank Astoria, who already has an impressive bio with several productions under his belt – if young people still wear belts) to college students, recent graduates, and young professionals commandeers the unnamed island and captures the hearts of the audience at the Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse – the temporary location of this island. Lindsey Kelley has designed a simple, two-level set that transforms the theater space into a tropical paradise gone rogue. There’s a beach, a mountain, and a forest. Special effects include lighting, a soundscape, a realistic looking fire, smoke, and an eerie projection that the boys believe is the dreaded “beast.”

I attended on the second night of the run, and already it seemed that a high level of camaraderie and commitment to the ensemble had begun to emerge among the “boys.” This is something very necessary for a show that delves into depravity, chaos, and anarchy, a show that upends morals and tosses rules off a cliff into a swift-flowing current. If the audience is silent and contemplative while leaving (as many were), I can only imagine how much Lord of the Flies weighs on its young cast.

(BTW, I couldn’t help but think of how on the previous Sunday the RTCC or Richmond Theater Community Circle celebrated youthful energy in theater, and not one week later I viewed two plays about young people! I also saw H*tler’s Tasters on Thursday night. You can read my thoughts on that show here: https://jdldancesrva.com/2024/10/18/htlers-tasters/ But I digress.)

Tavares Taylor and Liam Storm quickly established an uneasy rapport as Ralph, the winner of the popular vote, and Piggy, his advisor and confidant. Sawyer Williams emerged even more quickly as the island’s resident bully, Jack, a section leader of his school choir who soon turned rogue leader of a band of hunters and marauders.

Anthony Hernandez owned the role of Simon, the misunderstood spiritual leader of the group whose natural discernment was both indispensable and disparaged. Abe Timm straddled the line as Jack’s seemingly reluctant sidekick, Roger. Perhaps, in Roger’s internal war between morality and immorality, survival won.

Hank Astoria won hearts, on and off the stage, as the youngest castaway, Perceval. Aiden Denton and Eli Davis mastered the roles of the twins, Sam and Eric, who often completed each other’s sentences in that simultaneously annoying and weird manner some twins exhibit. The cast was completed with Maahin Kumar as Bill, Talon Bleacher as Maurice, and Ishaan Kulkarni as Henry, all in supporting roles as a part of Jack’s band of bare-chested, face-painted, and far-from-merry men.

Jeffrey Cole directed. What en experience that must have been for both Cole and the cast. Here are his own words from his director’s notes: “Deep down, we all feel the need to belong to something that’s bigger than ourselves.” In this story, on this island, “it’s important for us in the audience to remember that, at all times, in all situations, these are children…. With no training, no preparation, and no guidance, these boys must follow their basest biological imperative: survive.” Could you have done any better? Would you have done anything different? Do you think you would have lived to tell the tale? And if you did survive, who would you be after that ordeal?

Lord of the Flies asks the hard questions. It explores the effectiveness of different leadership styles: intimidation versus compassion. It examines the consequences of war – nuclear war in particular; that’s how these boys ended up on this island, unsure if their families and friends had survived, or if they were the only ones left on earth. What would you be willing to do to survive? Do you have what it takes to keep the fire burning?

—–

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County. When not writing about theater, she teaches dance history at VCU and low impact dance fitness classes to seasoned movers like herself, and occasionally performs. Her most recent (ad)venture was the premiere of a solo work, The Waters of Babylon or Psalm 137 Revisited: a Post-Exodus Reflection in Movement Choreographed from Collective Memories for the debut of the Critical Race Theatre Project, right here at RTP in August 2024.

—–

Lord of the Flies

Written by William Golding

Adapted for the Stage by Nigel Williams

Directed by Jeffrey Cole

Cast

Ralph …………… Tavares Taylor

Jack …………… Sawyer Williams

Piggy …………… Liam Storm

Simon …………… Anthony Hernandez

Roger …………… Abe Timon

Sam …………… Aiden Denton

Eric …………… Eli Davis

Bill …………… Maahin Kumar

Maurice …………… Talon Bleacher

Henry …………… Ishaan Kulkarni

Percival …………… Hank Astoria

Production Team

Artistic Director …………… James Ricks

Managing Director …………… Jase Smith Sullivan

Director …………… Jeffrey Cole

Assistant Director …………… Sim Nakamura Rivers

Production Stage Manager …………… Nata Moriconi

Assistant Stage Manager/Props Design … Jordan Dively

Costume Design …………… Lindsey Ladnier

Lighting Design …………… Tristan Ketcham

Scenic Design …………… Lindsey Kelley

Sound Design …………… James Ricks

Scenic Builder …………… Brok Décor

Run Time: approximately 2 1/2 hours, including two 10-minute intermissions

———-

Photo Credits: Aaron Sutten

Make a one-time, monthly or annual donation to support RVArt review

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

Or enter a custom amount – no amount is too small, no amount is too large

Your contribution is appreciated. – Julinda AKA Dr. Yaya AKA MommaJ

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate Donate monthly Donate yearly

BORN WITH TEETH

Words Matter

A Theater Review of an East Coast Premiere by Julinda D. Lewis

By: Richmond Shakespeare

At: Gottwald Playhouse at Dominion Energy Center, 600 E. Grace St., Richmond, VA 23219

Performances: January 25 – February 11, 2024

Ticket Prices: $20 – $45

Info: (804) 340-0115 or http://www.richmondshakespeare.org

Death and life are in the power of the tongue… – Proverbs 18:21

The time is the late 1590s. The place is a private room in a London tavern. The political climate is volatile – an authoritarian regime is in charge, freedom of speech does not exist, heretics and atheists – and apparently Catholics – are tortured and killed. A plague was ravaging society – the Black Death – a pandemic that killed thousands, causing the collapse of what little social structure remained after the political purge, leaving fields unplowed, and little to eat.

There are more spies than crimes to spy out. – BWT

This is where playwright Liz Duffy Adams saw fit to open up a voyeuristic window into the world of two writers – the well-established Christopher “Kit” Marlowe (Avery Michael Johnson) and the upstart William Shakespeare (James Murphy) – as they meet in the private back room of a pub to collaborate on a series of historic plays. But this collaboration is a contentious literary partnership, rife with jealousy, political unrest, and rumors of espionage, religious persecution, and sexual tension. This collaboration is Born With Teeth.

We are subjects, not citizens. – BWT

The flexible space of the Gottwald Theatre has been transformed for this occasion. A long (perhaps 12’?) table dominates the room, slashing diagonally through the space. It is placed on a sturdy parquet floor, and surrounded by 10 leather topped rectangular stools. The audience is seated on either side of the table, close enough for the first row to be showered by scattered sheets of paper during the two playwrights’ scuffles. This awesome set was designed and constructed by W. Reed West III.

You are so much stupider than you look; how is that possible? – BWT

William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe did indeed collaborate on the Henry VI trilogy, Parts I, II, and III, Marlow was stabbed to death in the summer of 1593. But much of the relationship between Shakespeare and Marlowe – both their authorship and personal – is a matter of speculation and mystery. So that raises the question, how much of Born With Teeth is historical clarification, and how much is pure fantasy? And given the truths expressed and exposed of human interaction – oppression, suppression, persecution, ego, love – does the former question matter?

Worse than nowhere is somewhere you don’t want to be. – BWT

Avery Michael Johnson and James Murphy literally burst onstage, and give us a solid 90 minutes of drama, melodrama, angst, bravado, fear, backstabbing, lust, equivocation, love, revelation, caution, optimism, conciliation, espionage, and more. Born With Teeth is loud, frightening, and funny – sometimes all at once. Marlowe denigrates the upstart Shakespeare, until he reads a page or two of the play they’re working on and realizes that Shakespeare can, indeed, write. But at a time when there is not such thing as freedom of speech or religion, words can cut more sharply that a sword, and speech can be the currency of life or death.

I don’t deny God, I just don’t like him very much. – BWT

Murphy plays the role of Shakespeare with a bit of caution, much more reserved than his more outgoing and outrageous counterpart who may, in turn, be overly confident in the sovereignty of his benefactor. Johnson’s Marlowe never walks but strides. He stomps about in his tall boots – there’s a knife strapped into the right one – he leaps from the floor to the top of the table and lands on the tabletop, the floor, or Shakespeare like a cross between a pouncing panther and a WWE wrestler. Sitting in the front row, I could see each bead of sweat on Johnson’s brow and distinctly hear the intake of breath when he rapaciously sniffed Murphy. Born With Teeth is a physically demanding play, fueled by quick dialogue that is alternately witty, cutting, and always demanding. It isn’t Shakespeare, but it is the essence of Shakespeare. It isn’t classical, but it is archetypal. It isn’t orthodox, but it does all the things you want live theatre to do.

—–

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County. When not writing about theater, she teaches dance history at VCU and low impact dance fitness classes to seasoned movers like herself, and occasionally performs.

—–

BORN WITH TEETH

by Liz Duffy Adams

Directed by Andrew Gall

Cast

Kit …………… Avery Michael Johnson

Will …………… James Murphy

Production & Design Team

Artistic Director ……. James Ricks

Managing Director ……. Jase Smith Sullivan

Playwright ……. Liz Duffy Adams

Director ……. Andrew Gall

Stage Manager ……. MariaElisa Costa

Assistant Stage Manager … Kiari Hicks

Costume Design ……. Anna Bialkowski

Intimacy Choreographer … Lucinda McDermott

Lighting Design ……. Tristan Ketcham

Set Design ……. W. Reed West III

Sound Design ……. James Ricks

Run Time: About 90 minutes; no intermission

Content Disclosure: This production contains mature themes, strong language, & sexual/suggestive content.

———-

Photo Credits: Promotional Video by Eric Hackler & Photos from Richmond Shakespeare Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1088997112419759

Make a donation to support
rvart review

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

$5.00

$15.00

$100.00

Or enter a custom amount

Your contribution is appreciated. Thank you!

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate Donate monthly Donate yearly

Make a one-time, monthly, or annual donation to show how much you love rvart review.

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Make a one-time, monthly or annual donation to support RVArt review

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Make a donation to supportrvart review

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Make a donation to support
rvart review