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larryland · 5 years

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by Jenny Hansell

Cross-dressing, mistaken identity, unrequited love, bawdy humor, and a few heart-stopping moments of darkness and deep emotion: Shakespeare & Company’s hugely talented and appealing company works hard to make every word of Twelfth Night breathe as if freshly written.

Sticking with the play pretty much as written (recent productions in New York and New Haven have included full-on musicals, casts of puppets, fully modern language and many other variations) this production, directed with energy and style by Allyn Burrows, is set on a boardwalk at the beach in 1959. The plentiful music, which winds throughout, draws on jazz, early Motown, and classic 50’s harmonies.

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A young woman named Viola washes up on the beach at Illyria after the shipwreck that swept away her beloved twin brother Sebastien. She disguises herself as a young man, Cesario in order to work for the local nobleman, Duke Orsino. She quickly falls in love with the Duke, who is in love with Lady Olivia. Olivia in turn falls for Cesario when “he” is sent to plead the Duke’s case. In addition to this trio, we have another: Sir Toby, Olivia’s drunk Uncle; Toby’s friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Maria’s lady-in-waiting, Maria, who tease and taunt one another and Olivia’s uptight steward, Malvolio. The clown of the house, Feste, hovers around, offering songs and silliness.

A theme of real trauma underlies the comedy: Olivia (Cloteal L. Horne, passionate and very funny) is in mourning for her beloved brother. Malvolio (Miles Anderson) is truly devastated by the cruel prank Maria and Toby play on him. Viola’s brother Sebastien, when he reappears, is stunned to be reunited with his lost sister – Deaon Griffin-Pressley is particularly moving as he realizes she is not dead after all. And as Viola, the superb Ella Loudon finds new shades to a young woman who is struggling with her own identity: she doesn’t want to shed her man’s clothing at the end (and this Duke is fine with that). Nigel Gore stood out as the absurd suitor Aguecheek, and as Toby, Steven Barkhimer was a bit more low-key than his drinking buddies, but he played at least three instruments in the clever songs (mostly performed by Gregory Boover as Feste.)

The sharp costumes were designed by Govane Lohbauer; the 1959-accurate dancing and battles overseen by movement director Susan Dibble.

Twelfth Night is funny, moving and hugely entertaining –in a crowded Berkshires summer of theater, it’s a real standout.

Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, through August 4, 2019 at Shakespeare & Co., Tina Packer Playhouse, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA. Tickets at www.shakespeare.org. Director: Allyn Burrows. Voice Coach: Ariel Bock. Movement Director: Susan Dibble. Set Designer: Cristina Todesco. Costume Designer: Govane Lohbauer. Lighting Designer: Deb Sullivan. Sound Designer & Composer: Arshan Gailus. Music Director: Gregory Boover. CAST: Martin Jason Asprey (Antonio/Sea Captain), Steven Barkhimer (Sir Toby Belch), Gregory Boover (Feste), Nigel Gore (Andrew Aguecheek), Deaon Griffin-Pressley (Sebastian), Cloteal L. Horne (Olivia), Ella Loudon (Viola), Bella Merlin (Maria), Miles Anderson (Malvolio), Bryce Michael Wood. (Duke Orsino)

Tickets for Twelfth Night are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company’s box office at (413) 637-3353. The Tina Packer Playhouse is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble St. in Lenox, Massachusetts. Twelfth Night is generously sponsored by Dr. Donald and Phoebe L. Giddon.

Additionally, Shakespeare & Company invites audiences to participate in a Free Pre-Show Talk on Tuesday, July 9th at 6:15pm as we provide insight into the plot and characters of the play to enhance your experience. Join Artistic Director Allyn Burrows and cast members for the Director’s Panel on Saturday, July 20th at 11am for a discussion of the creative journey of bringing Twelfth Night to the stage. Adult tickets for the Director’s Panel are $10 for adults and free for students. For tickets and more information visit shakespeare.org.

REVIEW: “Twelfth Night” at Shakespeare & Company by Jenny Hansell Cross-dressing, mistaken identity, unrequited love, bawdy humor, and a few heart-stopping moments of darkness and deep emotion: …

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larryland · 5 years

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Shakespeare & Company Wins Six Berkshire Theatre Critics Awards

Top honors for Outstanding Play Production went to the Company’s production of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog

(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company is proud to have been honored with six Berkshire Theatre Critics Awards. At a ceremony held in Pittsfield last week, the Board of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association presented 23 Berkshire Theatre Awards. This was the fourth year the awards…

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larryland · 5 years

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by Roseann Cane

I lived in Manhattan for many years, and, particularly downtown and in other neighborhoods heavily populated with tourists, fast-talking young men enticing naive people to bet on a game of three-card monte were a familiar sight. Standing behind makeshift tables made of a few crates and topped with a large piece of cardboard, the scammer rapidly moves three face-down playing cards, two of which are similar, all the while talking nonstop about how easy it is to win a bet by choosing the different card. A man will usually emerge from the onlookers, make a wager, and select the correct card, winning money. Inevitably, someone else will want to make some quick cash, and lays down some bills. But nobody wins three-card monte; the first “winner” was a ringer, in on the scam, and the marks who lose may be otherwise intelligent and sophisticated, but greed overrides their skepticism, and when they see someone whom they perceive to be just another passerby make an easy profit, they easily fall into the trap.

Now playing at Shakespeare & Company, Suzan-Lori Parks’s 2002 Pulitzer Prize winning play, Topdog/Underdog, tells the story of two African-American brothers who live together in an SRO (single-room occupancy hotel or building, typically gritty, with a shared bathroom on every floor). Named Lincoln (Bryce Michael Wood) and Booth (Deaon Griffin-Pressley) by their parents as a joke, we soon learn that their names foretell lives laced with sibling rivalry and resentment.

Nimbly directed by Regge Life, Wood and Griffin-Pressley grace the stage with what may well be the most dynamic, artful, affecting performances I’ve seen this season. The relationship between the brothers is complex. Abandoned by their parents early in their lives, the slightly older Lincoln, called Link, stepped in at age 16 as a parent to Booth. Booth, impulsive, quick to anger, brags about his sexual conquests and his plans to make a fortune as a three-card monte hustler. He is both in awe and jealous of Link, who had been highly successful in making money from three-card monte. But Link is much more subdued, mourning the end of his marriage, and giving up the scam to earn an honest living. Link has an unusual job: playing Abraham Lincoln in an arcade, wearing a fake beard and a top hat, and slathered in whiteface at his employer’s insistence to make him appear more authentically like the president. The effect is, of course, rather grotesque. At the arcade, he reenacts the final moments of the president’s life, sitting in a display as customers shoot him in the back of the head with a cap gun.

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When Link loses his job at the arcade, Booth lures him back to his former life as a player of three-card monte. Link’s self-confidence and remarkable skill brings Booth’s resentment of his brother to a volcanic eruption, and he confronts his brother with a bitter history of betrayal.

It is a testament to Life’s masterly direction and to Griffin-Pressley and Wood’s splendid acting that, although we can easily imagine what’s coming, we are utterly shocked at the play’s climactic moment. I heard myself gasping and shrieking involuntarily with the rest of the audience. It is also a tribute to Parks’s playwriting genius.

It’s no small thing that I gained insight into my own preconceptions–indeed, prejudices–through experiencing this work. I think of the hundreds of times in Manhattan when I walked away whenever I spotted a three-card monte player in my path. I wanted to physically distance myself from what I perceived to be an unredeemable thief. I wanted to display to the curious onlookers, the potential marks, that they were being set up for a con. It’s much easier to deplore a one-dimensional stereotype than it is to try to understand another vulnerable human being, a human being damaged by an environment that, by an accident of birth, you escaped. With Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks has achieved something monumental. Theater, at its best, is transformative, and this production certainly is theater at its best.

Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Regge Life runs from August 13 to September 8 in the Tina Packer Playhouse at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. Set design by Cristina Todesco, costume design by Stella Schwartz, lighting design by Matthew Miller, sound design by Brendan Doyle, weapons master Bob Lohbauer, stage manager Hope Rose Kelly, assistant stage manager Maegan A. Conroy, wardrobe/assistant stage manager Melissa Ziccardi, associate technical director Caleb Harris. CAST: Deaon Griffin-Pressley as Booth and Bryce Michael Wood as Lincoln.

Tickets for Topdog/Underdog are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company’s box office at (413) 637-3353. The Tina Packer Playhouse is indoors, air-conditioned, and wheelchair accessible. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble St. in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Join the Company for a free pre-show talk on August 20 at 6:45 pm for insight into the plot and characters of the play to enhance your experience. Additionally, Director Regge Life and cast members host a Director’s Panel on Saturday, August 17 at 11:00 am. Tickets for the Panel can be purchased at shakespeare.org.

REVIEW: Topdog/Underdog” at Shakespeare & Company by Roseann Cane I lived in Manhattan for many years, and, particularly downtown and in other neighborhoods heavily populated with tourists, fast-talking young men enticing naive people to bet on a game of three-card monte were a familiar sight.

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larryland · 5 years

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(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company presents MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient Suzan-Lori Parks‘ pulitzer prize-winning play, Topdog/Underdog directed by the distinguished Regge Life, who helmed the Company’s acclaimed razor sharp comedy God of Carnage in 2017. Topdog/Underdog is a dynamic comedic drama running from August 13 to September 8 in the Tina Packer Playhouse.

“Topdog/Underdog is one of the most powerful and moving plays from the theater; and in my opinion it’s Suzan-Lori Parks’ greatest work,” said Director Regge Life. “What makes the play so special and important is in the way she has chosen to show what it means to be an African-American man in the U.S. today. Like Ralph Ellison did with Invisible Man in the 1950’s, peeling away the outer layer of the African-American man, the surface that you encounter day to day, to reveal the core that existentially faces the traps of an uncertain and precarious life in the American experience, Topdog/Underdog updates this story with flair and honesty through the lives of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers who, like the historical characters they were named after, are predestined by their history.”

Named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” in 2002, Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her Broadway hit Topdog/Underdog. This darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity is Parks’ original riff on the way we are defined by history. The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future.

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With her trademark explosive language, Suzan-Lori Parks explores the deepest of connections, and what it means to be a family man. Shakespeare & Company’s production of Topdog/Underdog stars Bryce Michael Wood (Lincoln) and Deaon Griffin-Pressley (Booth). Led by Director Regge Life the creative team includes Hope Rose Kelly (Stage Manager), Maegan A. Conroy (Assistant Sage Manager), Cindy Wade (Tech Week Assistant Stage Manager), Cristina Todesco (Set Designer), Stella Schwartz (Costume Designer), Matthew Miller (Lighting Designer), Brendan Doyle (Sound Designer), Melissa Ziccardi (Wardrobe/Assistant Stage Manager), Bob Lohbauer (Weapons Master), and Caleb Harris (Associate Technical Director).

“Suzan-Lori is a piercingly brilliant writer, whose recent production of White Noise Off-Broadway proved once again that her imperative of challenging norms and perspectives is critical in furthering conversation about who were are in this country,” said Artistic Director Allyn Burrows. “Topdog/Underdog established her unequivocally as a voice to be heard and reckoned with, and we’re proud to present it in these times.”

Tickets for Topdog/Underdog are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company’s box office at (413) 637-3353. The show runs from August 13 to September 8. The Tina Packer Playhouse is indoors, air-conditioned, and wheelchair accessible. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble St. in Lenox, Massachusetts.

The Company’s 2019 Summer Season also includes Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and a special workshop production ofCoriolanus; plus Tony Award nominees The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, and Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies.

AT A GLANCE: PRODUCTION: Topdog/Underdog PLAYWRIGHT: Suzan-Lori Parks DIRECTOR: Regge Life STAGE MANAGER: Hope Rose Kelly ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: Maegan A. Conroy TECH WEEK ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: Cindy Wade SET DESIGNER: Cristina Todesco COSTUME DESIGNER: Stella Schwartz LIGHTING DESIGNER: Matthew Miller SOUND DESIGNER: Brendan Doyle WARDROBE/ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: Melissa Ziccardi WEAPONS MASTER: Bob Lohbauer ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Caleb Harris

CAST MEMBERS: BOOTH: Deaon Griffin-Pressley LINCOLN: Bryce Michael Wood

SCHEDULE: AUGUST Tuesday, August 13 – 8:00 pm (Preview) Wednesday, August 14 – 8:00 pm (Preview) Thursday, August 15 – 2:00 pm (Preview) Friday, August 16 – 8:00 pm (Opening) Saturday, August 17 – 2:00 & 8:00 pm Sunday, August 18 – 8:00 pm Tuesday, August 20 – 8:00 pm Wednesday, August 21 – 2:00 pm (Press Night) Thursday, August 22 – 2:00 pm Friday, August 23 – 8:00 pm Saturday, August 24 – 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm Sunday, August 25 – 8:00 pm Tuesday, August 27 – 8:00 pm Wednesday, August 28 – 8:00 pm Thursday, August 29 – 2:00 pm Friday, August 30 – 8:00 pm Saturday, August 31 – 2:00 & 8:00 pm

SEPTEMBER Sunday, September 1 – 8:00 pm Friday, September 6 – 8:00 pm Saturday, September 7 – 2:00 & 8:00 pm Sunday, September 8 – 2:00 pm (Closing)

About Suzan-Lori Parks First Season (Playwright, Topdog/Underdog) A playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and songwriter, Suzan-Lori’s play Topdog/Underdog won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 2001 she received a MacArthur Fellows “Genius” Grant, and she holds Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degrees from Mount Holyoke College and Spelman College. Her work is the subject of the PBS film “The Topdog/Underdog Diaries,” and her plays are published by Theatre Communications Group and Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Her first feature-length screenplay was “girl 6,” for Spike Lee. She has also written screenplays for Jodie Foster, Danny Glover, and Oprah Winfrey. Other screenplays include adaptations of Toni Morrison’s novel “Paradise,” Zora Neale Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” and screenplays for Miramax and Brad Pitt. Her plays include In The Blood (2000 Pulitzer nominee), Venus (1996 Obie Award), Fucking A, The America Play, Imperceptible Mutabilities In The Third Kingdom, (1990 Obie Award), The Death Of The Last Black Man In The Whole Entire World, and 365 Days/365 Plays. Topdog/Underdog (2002 Tony nominee) has had successful runs on Broadway, in cities throughout the United States, and in London at the Royal Court Theatre. Additional recognition includes two NEA playwriting fellowships, a W. Alton Jones Grant, a grant from The Kennedy Center Fund For New American Plays, the Whiting Writer’s Award, and grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the CalArts/Alpert Award, the PEW Charitable Trusts, and The Guggenheim Foundation. Suzan-Lori is a professor at the California Institute for the Arts where she heads the Dramatic Writing Program. Her first novel, “Getting Mother’s Body,” is published by Random House. www.suzanloriparks.com

About Regge Life Fourth season (Topdog/Underdog, Director) At Shakespeare & Company, Regge Life directed the wildly acclaimed Morning After Grace last season, God of Carnage in 2017 and Kaufman’s Barbershop in 2013. He has directed across the country with credits such as Cross That River at 59E59th and for the Aspen Theater, I Just Stopped by to See the Man for Milwaukee Rep, Yellowman and Gem of the Ocean for Pittsburgh Public Theater, Ghosts for the Pearl Theater, Piano Lesson for Virginia Stage Company, A Walk in the Woods at Capital Rep, Rebel Armies into Deep Chad, Laurence Fishburne’s Riff Raff and Arthur Miller’s The American Clock for the Juilliard School and Living in the Wind and Do Lord Remember Me at The American Place Theatre.

About Shakespeare & Company Located in the beautiful Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Shakespeare & Company is one of the leading Shakespeare festivals of the world. Founded in 1978, the organization attracts over 40,000 patrons annually. The Company is also home to an internationally renowned Center for Actor Training and award-winning Education Program. More information is available at www.shakespeare.org.

Shakespeare & Company Presents Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Topdog/Underdog” (Lenox, MA) - Shakespeare & Company presents MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient Suzan-Lori Parks' pulitzer prize-winning play,

#Allyn Burrows #Bob Lohbauer #Brendan Doyle #Bryce Michael #Caleb Harris #Cindy Wade #Cristina Todesco #Deaon Griffin-Pressley #Hope Rose Kelly #Lenox MA #Maegan A. Conroy #Matthew Miller #Melissa Ziccardi #Regge Life #Shakespeare & Company #Stella Schwartz #Suzan-Lori Parks #Tina Packer Playhouse #Topdog/Underdog

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larryland · 5 years

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Shakespeare & Company Presents Presents “Twelfth Night,” Directed by Allyn Burrows

Performances Run July 2 – August 4, 2019

“What relish is in this? How runs the stream? Or I am mad, or else this is a dream!” – Twelfth Night: Act IV, Scene I

(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company presents William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, directed by Company Artistic Director, Allyn Burrows. This classic showcases a rich, affecting, and deeply funny story of longing, love, and laughter which…

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larryland · 5 years

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Shakespeare & Company Announces 2019 Summer Season Casting

(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company is proud to announce its 2019 Summer Season casting. Under the direction of Artistic Director Allyn Burrows the Company’s Summer Season includes a roster of audience beloved artists, critically-acclaimed actors, and a host of newcomers. The season opens Memorial Day Weekend with Pulitzer Prize finalist The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan, directed by…

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larryland · 5 years

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Shakespeare & Company Announces Full 2019 Summer Season

(Lenox, MA) – Shakespeare & Company is thrilled to announce its 2019 summer season, May 23 – October 13, 2019. Under the theme, “The Strings of the Heart,” the season includes Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew, and, in a special work-shop production, Coriolanus. The contemporary plays this season are the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Waverly Gallery b…

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larryland · 6 years

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by Jenny Hansell

A wooded glade lined with white pine trees in the Berkshires is a perfect stand-in for the Forest of Arden, the setting for As You Like It, the tale of palace intrigue, battling brothers, pastoral comedy and young love now at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox.

Duke Frederick has banished his brother, Duke Senior, from court, but allowed Duke Senior’s daughter Rosalind to stay as companion to his own daughter, Celia. Young Orlando has been forced into poverty by his brother Oliver, who is withholding the fortune Orlando inherited from their father. As the play gets underway, Duke Frederick has a change of heart and sends Rosalind away, accusing her of being a traitor like her father. She and Celia decide to disguise themselves and go to the Forest of Arden, but not before she has fallen in love with Orlando after watching him in a wrestling match. Later, in the forest, disguised as Ganymede, a young page, she tests Orlando’s love for his fair Rosalind.

The director, Allyn Burrows, has set the play in the Roaring ‘20s, and the young women wear drop-waist dresses and cloche hats designed by Govane Lohbauer. The cast is filled with S&Co regulars and a few first-timers, all of whom handle the language and the slapstick comedy with equal ease.

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As Rosalind, Aimee Doherty sparkles brightly, her singing voice as strong as her acting. Her loyal bestie, Celia, is played with understated wit by Zoë Laiz, who is also weird and hilarious as Adam, Orlando’s pal, who is variously dragged around in a wheelbarrow or carried like a scarecrow. Ella Loudon shines in the dual roles of LaBelle, who she plays like a gangly French-accented schoolgirl, and Phoebe, the disdainful object of Silvius’s desperate affection. The latter two are played as backwoods hicks in overalls, caught up in a love triangle (quadrangle really) with Ganymede and Orlando, played with passion and wide-eyed innocence by Deaon Giffin-Pressley. As Silvius, Gregory Boover ably accompanies the plentiful songs on guitar.

Touchstone, the fool, is here female, and her lover is now Aubrey instead of Audrey. As played by MaConnia Chesser and Thomas Brazzle (who is also the dastardly Oliver), they are as lusty and bursting with earthy puns, commenting on the love travails of the others.

The play touches lightly on its themes of love (love at first sight, love between brothers and sisters, lusty love) and the benefits of nature over the artificial constraints of life at court (especially appropriate for a production set in our beautiful Berkshires). But mostly it’s just a romp, with happy endings all around.

As You Like It by William Shakespeare, directed by Allyn Burrows, runs from August 9-September 2, 2018 outdoors in the Roman Garden Theatre at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. Assistant Director: Lydia Barnett-Mulligan. Set Designer: Jim Youngerman. Costume Designer: Govane Lohbauer. Sound Designer And Original Music: Arshan Gailus. Stage Manager: Diane Healy. Vocal Coach: Ariel Bock. Movement Coach: Karen Beaumont. Choreographer: Susan Dibble. CAST: Gregory Boover as Silvius; Thomas Brazzle as Oliver/Aubrey; MaConnia Chesser as Touchstone; Aimee Doherty as Rosalind; Nigel Gore as Duke Senior/Duke Frederick; Deaon Griffin-Pressley as Orlando; Zoë Laiz as Celia; Ella Loudon as Phoebe; Mark Zeisler as Charles/Jacques.

Tickets for As You Like It are available online at shakespeare.org or by calling Shakespeare & Company’s box office at (413) 637-3353. The Roman Garden Theatre is outdoors and wheelchair accessible. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble St. in Lenox, Massachusetts.

REVIEW: “As You Like It” at Shakespeare & Company by Jenny Hansell A wooded glade lined with white pine trees in the Berkshires is a perfect stand-in for the Forest of Arden, the setting for As You Like It, the tale of palace intrigue, battling brothers, pastoral comedy and young love now at…

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larryland · 6 years

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by Barbara Waldinger

Imagine a production of Macbeth without the witches. No “When shall we three meet again?” No “Double, double toil and trouble: Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.” No cauldron for that matter; no murderers to kill Banquo or Macduff’s family—only blood magically spurting from their chests. These are some of the many alterations imposed on the text of Macbeth now playing at Shakespeare & Company in their two- hour version of Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy.

Under the direction of Melia Bensussen in her debut with the company, lines and scenes have been cut, added, rearranged and with a small cast of only nine named actors supplemented by members of the ensemble, several roles have been doubled, sometimes leading to difficulty identifying the characters. This especially true in the case of the female Banquo (Ella Loudon), fresh from her fine work as a male character in last year’s Cymbeline.

Bensussen explains in a Director’s Note that although an Elizabethan audience would regard witches as “demonic agents,” today Wicca beliefs are celebrated in a positive way, so we would not be frightened of them. As a substitute, there is one actress (uncredited), all in white, who prowls around observing the action, calling forth thunder and rain (yes, there literally is rain on the set) with a gesture, and speaking a few artificially amplified (otherworldly) predictions. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” in lieu of witches, Bensussen appeals to incorporeal, psychological terror. Costumes (by Olivera Gajic) are set in Poe’s time—late nineteenth century. Bensussen’s concept is for Macbeth to confront the audience, forcing us to see the results of his (and our) unbridled imagination, leading him (and perhaps even us) into darker and more evil deeds—“that’s the ghost story of Macbeth this summer.”

This approach may explain the repetition of the banquet scene, which ends the first act and then begins the second. Banquo, whose murder has recently been arranged by Macbeth (Jonathan Croy) and executed by unseen hands, appears as a ghost at a (sparsely attended) banquet where Macbeth and his wife (Tod Randolph) have greeted their guests. The ghost is visible only to the audience and Macbeth, who becomes unhinged. Following intermission this scene is repeated without the appearance of Banquo, except in the mind of Macbeth. Is this Bensussen’s attempt to underline the terror caused by the guilty King’s imagination? One wonders why the director takes the time to repeat these lines when she has cut so many others.

Make no mistake: there is much to admire in this production. The design team does an expert job creating the sense of urgency Bensussen is seeking. Tension is heightened thanks to the impressive lighting design of Dan Kotlowitz, the powerful sound design by Brendon F. Doyle, and Cristina Todesco’s Japanese-style hanamichi and other effects. Used in Kabuki theatre, this is a raised platform running from the back of the theatre to the stage. In this case, Todesco runs it from the stage towards the downstage audience, bringing the action as close to them as possible, serving as a platform for scenes, a battle arena, the banquet table and other unusual functions. A two-story window on the stage allows for rain to fall behind it, which turns red as Macbeth is more and more steeped in blood. Todesco’s use of ladders and climbing poles enable the athletic actors to move easily from one level to another and Bensussen uses every possible exit and entrance in the theatre, creating a feeling of surprise because we never know when or where actors will suddenly appear. Ted Hewlett, the fight choreographer or “violence designer” provides us with the only violence we see in the production: an extended and very exciting ultimate duel between Macbeth and Macduff, unencumbered by other characters.

Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Gregory Boover, Jonathan Croy, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Jonathan Croy, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Photo by Daniel Rader.

Thomas Brazzle, Gregory Boover. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Mark Zeisler, Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Mark Zeisler, Thomas Brazzle, Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Deaon Griffin-Pressley, Thomas Brazzle, Mark Zeisler. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Ella Loudon, Nigel Gore, Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Deaon Griffin-Pressley and Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Mark Zeisler, Gregory Boover and Jonathan Cory. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Nigel Gore, Gregory Boover, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Nigel Gore. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Ella Loudon and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Mark Zeisler, Jonathan Croy,Deaon Griffin-Pressley, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Nigel Gore, Gregory Boover and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Eloy Gracia.

Mark Zeisler. Photo by Eloy Garcia.

Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Eloy Garcia.

Tod Randolph. Photo by Eloy Garcia.

Gregory Boover. Photo by Eloy Garcia.

Thomas Brazzle and Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Eloy Garcia.

Thomas Brazzle and Gregory Boover. Photo by Eloy Gracia.

Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Eloy Garcia.

Ella Loudon. Photo by Eloy Garcia.

Thomas Brazzle and Gregory Boover. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Ella Loudon, Thomas Brazzle, Gregory Boover. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Mark Zeisler, Gregory Boover Jonathan Cory and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Gregory Boover and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader

Nigel Gore, Gregory Boover and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Mark Zeisler, Gregory Boover, Jonathan Croy, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Jonathan Croy, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Ella Loudon, Gregory Boover, Thomas Brazzle, Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Mark Zeisler, Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Thomas Brazzle. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Thomas Brazzle,Dean Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Nigel Gore. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Nigel Gore. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Jonathan Croy and Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Zoe Laiz. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Ella Loudon. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Gregory Boover, Tod Randolph. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Tod Randolph and Jonathan Croy. Photo by Daniel Rader.

Deaon Griffin-Pressley. Photo by Daniel Rader.

The major roles, as we have come to expect from Shakespeare & Company, are filled by consummate actors, practiced in the delivery of Elizabethan lines. Jonathan Croy, in the title role, is above all absolutely clear in his intentions—his monologues are delivered straight out to the audience, among whom he sometimes perches, as he takes us with him on his journey from a man “too full o’th’milk of human kindness” (his wife’s critical description) to a monster. Nigel Gore plays two characters who couldn’t be more different: old King Duncan and the drunken porter, and is equally adept at both. To say the choices he makes as the porter are unexpected is an understatement, but his performance, involving some lines definitively not in the text, is a highlight. Another highlight is the scene where Malcolm (Deaon Griffin-Pressley) through misdirection tests the loyalty of Macduff (Thomas Brazzle).

The performance of Tod Randolph as Lady Macbeth is puzzling. It has always been a joy to see her work with the company, but her interpretation of this character disappoints. It feels as though the Strasberg school of realistic acting has intruded on this character, robbing her of power, persuasiveness and seduction. Randolph’s most effective moment is the sleepwalking scene, as though when the character’s mind snaps, the actress is free to let herself go.

For those who are not purists, this production is enjoyable, fast- paced, and stimulating. But for those who prefer Shakespeare’s text as written, it can be a challenge.

MACBETH runs from July 3—August 5. Tickets may be purchased online at shakespeare.org or call 413-637-3353. Shakespeare & Company presents MACBETH by William Shakespeare. Directed by Melia Bensussen. Cast: Gregory Boover (The Young Men), Thomas Brazzle (Macduff), Jonathan Croy (Macbeth), Nigel Gore (Duncan/Porter), Deaon Griffin- Pressley (Malcolm), Zoe Laiz (Hecate/Lady Macduff), Ella Loudon (Banquo), Tod Randolph (Lady Macbeth), Mark Zeisler (Ross). Set Designer: Cristina Todesco; Costume Designer: Olivera Gajic; Lighting Designer (Dan Kotlowitz), Sound Designer: Brendan F. Doyle; Violence Designer: Ted Hewlett; Vocal Coach: Ariel Bock; Stage Manager: Hope Rose Kelly. Running Time: two hours plus intermission; Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA.; from July 3; closing https://www.shakespeare.org/

REVIEW: “Macbeth” at Shakespeare & Company by Barbara Waldinger Imagine a production of Macbeth without the witches. No “When shall we three meet again?” No “Double, double toil and trouble: Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.” No cauldron for that matter; no murderers to kill Banquo or Macduff’s family—only blood magically spurting from their chests.

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