|
(Click here to read an independent review of this production.)
Theatre South Carolina’s next production—Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost—is chock full of challenges.
“There was a time in history when this play was not produced for nearly 200 years,” said New York-based guest director J.R. Sullivan. “People found the language to be daunting, and it is dense with metaphor and imagery. There’s the usual amount of low humor that audiences of Shakespeare’s time understood immediately but which is lost to us today. And the original play is long: Shakespeare’s audiences felt cheated if they weren’t sitting in the audience for three or four hours.
 |
| King Ferdinand falls hard for the Princess of France in Love's Labour's Lost. |
“Nowadays much of Shakespeare’s work requires judicious and careful editing that preserves the core and spirit of the work but doesn’t spoil it by having too much of a good thing,” said Sullivan, who is also an artistic director at the Utah Shakespearean Theatre. “I think a director’s biggest task is ensuring clarity, and to achieve that we’ve edited quite a bit of this play.”
Faced with these challenges, why then is the director, the 21-member cast, wig and make-up artist Valerie Pruett, costume designer Lisa Martin--Stuart, set designer Nic Ularu, and lighting designer Jim Hunter so devoted to the production?
“The idea of the play is a real charmer,” explained Tim Donahue, marketing and development director for the theatre department. “Four young men decide they are going to better themselves, so they vow to stop carousing with women and devote themselves to their books. As soon as they commit to this new way of life, around the corner comes the beautiful Princess of France and three of her lovely ladies-in-waiting. The men go ga-ga, and the battle between love and logic begins.”
Or, look at it this way:
“It’s the head versus the heart, and of course the heart wins,” said Jim O’Connor, artistic director and department chair.
What can audiences expect when the play opens April 16?
Director Sullivan has moved the play out of its original Elizabethan era and into the Romantic era, with its emphasis on nature, poetry, and individual expression. And an ensemble of graduate students, undergraduates, and actors from the community will fill the stage.
“Just about everyone in the show is wigged, and we create the wigs from scratch," said Pruett, who is being assisted by a graduate student in the time-consuming process of making wigs and extensions. "The men in that period had longer hair, and it’s very soft and romantic, with mutton chop sideburns. We create that, too.”
Part of costume designer Martin-Stuart’s job is to get the actors accustomed to the period costumes.
“It’s a very pretty time, a very ornate period,” said Martin-Stuart, associate professor and head of costume design. “The clothing is elaborate, particularly for men, because they wore specially cut tailcoats, boots, cravats, waistcoats. One character in the play has a sword and sword belt. Getting the actors to understand that the look is really romantic, getting them to embrace that, and trying to explain what a ‘waistcoat’ is part of the costuming process.
“The women are elaborate, too, but very delicate,” she continued. “Their dresses are sheer with floral brocades. It was a chivalrous period when women were put on a pedestal and pampered, which is kind of ironic because in this play the women play tricks on the men, and it’s humorous to watch these almost-porcelain women being very strong.
“And in contrast to our lovely men and women, there are a whole group of rustics who make a nice counterpoint to these ladies and gentlemen. They are the townsfolk, and they are a little more bawdy, a little more uncouth, and they add a nice comic element.”
All these elements will enhance the timeless, tender story.
“Love’s Labour’s Lost is a story audiences are always interested in: how people who are capable of great love find each other,” Sullivan said. “And it ain’t always easy.”
4/04
|
