Interludes

REPORT CARD: Shakespeare-mania, or the 2013-2014 New York Theater Season

• By drediman
• April 13, 2014
• No Comments

As the 2013-2014 New York theater season comes to a close, it seems appropriate to take the time to provide an overview of the unprecedented plethora of Shakespeare productions that have graced New York stages in recent months. The season brought no less than 15 productions of Shakespeare plays, including major productions of two “Hamlet”s, two “Twelfth Night”s, two “King Lear”s, and two “Romeo and Juliet”s. For the most part, the quality of these productions was impressive, thanks in large part to some wonderful collaboration between theater companies on both sides of the pond. Indeed, given the sheer quantity and quality of the Shakespeare productions in New York this season (I have yet to look forward to the Public’s magical Shakespeare in the Park productions at the Delacorte this summer), I have not felt the itch to go north to get my Shakespeare fix at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, and elsewhere, which is saying something. In order of excellence, here’s my report card (unfortunately, I was unable to catch a handful of Shakespeare productions, like the Public’s Mobile Shakespeare Unit production of “Much Ado About Nothing”, but I do come close to a comprehensive list).

 

Hamlet (Bedlam Theater) ****

Immersive, intelligent, and hugely likable. I’ve never felt so consistently engaged nor had so much fun at “Hamlet” than in this four actor version (the same can be said of their “Saint Joan”, which ran in repertory with the Dane). The guys at Bedlam are like mad scientists, and this experiment was a resounding success. I’m very much looking forward to see what these guys come up with next.

 

Julius Caesar (St. Ann’s Warehouse via Donmar Warehouse) ****

This all-female rendition set in a women’s penitentiary was one of the definitive takes on this popular Shakespeare play I’ve seen, and I’ve seen many over the years. This visceral, no-holds-barred production nailed me to my seat with committed performances from the entire company. It out-macho’d the many “Julius Caesar”s I’ve seen, no question.

 

Othello (National Theatre) ****

Although this “Othello” was not performed live in New York, I did catch a screening of the effectively claustrophobic modern-dress National Theatre production, courtesy of NT Live. Adrian Lester as the title character and, especially, Rory Kinnear as Iago were in top form; their scenes together were sizzling. It was fascinating to see Mr. Lester in person later in the season in “Red Velvet” (see Note below).

 

Twelfth Night (Broadway via Globe Theatre) ****

Although Mark Rylance’s rightly celebrated, daringly unstable, and neurotic Olivia was the main draw, the success of the production was also undoubtedly attributable to the equally fine company of Globe actors around him, particularly Samuel Barnett, who played an absolutely incandescent Viola. I loved this original practices production so much that I saw it three times.

 

Richard III (Broadway via Globe Theatre) ***1/2

Mr. Rylance took and equally daring approach in his portrayal of Richard III, highlighting the impish comedienne in the villainous king. Again, the daring approach paid off by giving us a fascinatingly sadistic and humorous profile of the title character, but not without compromising the depravity of his treachery.

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatre for a New Audience) ***1/2

After the “Spider-Man” debacle, director Julie Taymor was back in top form with this season’s “Midsummer”. Although we’ve seen most of the arsenal she deployed in this production before and the acting was decidedly serviceable, the magical whole was an inspired vision with a beating heart and a perfect match for Shakespeare’s enchanted and enchanting comedy.

 

King Lear (Theatre for a New Audience) ***1/2

Michael Pennington was a vulnerable, self-aware Lear that you wanted to protect and defend from the world as he descended in to madness. This was a fascinating interpretation given that majesty and authority are characteristics long associated with the role. I loved the lean but sharp production and, to answer your question, yes, I preferred this psychologically astute production over Langella’s more traditional Lear.

 

King Lear (BAM via Chichester Festival) ***

Langella’s Lear is everything I expected it would be: majestic, forceful, present. Maybe that was the problem; it was merely great controlled theater. Transcendent theater needs to challenge expectations and hinge on reckless abandon. Regardless, this was a lucid, traditional staging that I am very happy to have caught.

 

Measure for Measure (Fiasco Theater) ***

The Fiasco scored a great critical and public success with their madcap “Cymbeline” a few seasons ago. Although their “Measure” was more somber affair, the charismatic, energetic bunch injected this “problem” play with much needed storytelling verve so as to mask much of the difficulties in characters and situations inherent in the play.

 

Twelfth Night (Pig Iron Theatre Company) **1/2

Like Fiasco, Pig Iron is another young, talented company committed to creating adventurous and creative theater. Although their Eastern European “Twelfth Night” faced problems with uneven casting and pacing (and incredibly stiff competition from the outstanding aforementioned uptown production), it was still an overall joyous experience.

 

Antony and Cleopatra (Public Theater & Royal Shakespeare Company) **1/2

Playwright and now director Tarell Alvin McCraney is one of the bright lights in the young crop of American theater artists coming up. Although his updating of “Antony and Cleopatra” (now set in 1800s Haiti and France) was a mixed bag in its concept and execution, I thought it showed a refreshing eagerness to rethink the presentation of Shakespeare through McCraney’s unique theatrical bag of tricks.

 

Romeo and Juliet (Classic Stage Company) **

The two R&J’s this season were relative duds. The first was the wildly uneven but moderately entertaining CSC production. Although it featured some zesty acting from the supporting cast (Daphne-Rubin Vega as the Nurse!), the woeful inconsistency in tone was frustrating. However, Elizabeth Olsen pleasantly surprised me with her fresh (in both senses of the word), defiantly willful Juliet.

 

Romeo and Juliet (Broadway) **

As with the CSC production Off-Broadway, the main reason to see David Leveaux’s dull Broadway production was the supporting cast, which included the likes of Brent Carver as the Friar and Jayne Houdyshell as the Nurse. Orlando Bloom was merely serviceable as Romeo and the talented Condola Rashad was painfully miscast as Juliet.

 

Macbeth (Broadway) *1/2

Ethan Hawke starred in the title role of this limp, gimmicky production. Suffice to say, I was heartily disappointed, particularly given the caliber of the talent involved (the production was directed by the typically solid Jack O’Brien). Mr. Hawke seemed bored in what should have been a tour de force performance. The elaborate, albeit bloated, production could not hide the fact that this outing was a dud.

 

Hamlet (The Acting Company) 1/2*

Excruciatingly bland and poorly executed all around. The less said about this “Hamlet” the better. It ran in repertory with the infinitely more successful “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” by Tom Stoppard.

 

 

Cry, Trojans! (The Wooster Group) 1/2*

I was practically clueless throughout this frustrating adaptation of “Troilus and Cressida”, a co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Some fascinating intellectual gimmicks couldn’t hide the fact that this one was a dud.

 

 

NOTE: You may have noticed that the list above does not include productions that were inspired by Shakespeare, most of which are composed of opera and dance adaptations of Shakespeare plays. This season, these included the Metropolitan Opera productions of Verdi’s “Falstaff” (Verdi’s adaptation of “The Merry Wives of Windsor”), Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and the Baroque jukebox opera “The Enchanted Island” (whose plot is a mash-up of “The Tempest” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”). The season also brought the historical spin-off “Red Velvet” (based on true events surrounding a controversial 1833 production of “Othello” in London), written by Lolita Chakrabarti and starring Adrian Lester, at the St. Ann’s Warehouse via London’s Tricycle Theatre, and the classic philosophical spin-off of “Hamlet”, Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” by the Acting Company. And of course, Punchdrunk’s immersive noir- and “Macbeth”-inspired “Sleep No More” continues to draw big crowds down in Chelsea. As for dance adaptations of Shakespeare, City Center’s indispensable Fall for Dance Festival included two choreographic interpretations of “Othello”: Jose Limon’s classic “Moor’s Pavane” and Doug Elkins’ fascinating Motown-inspired “Mo(or)town/Redux”.  Shakespeare in dance can also be found this spring in the upcoming Shakespeare Celebration program (including Ratmansky’s “The Tempest” and Ashton’s “The Dream”) from the American Ballet Theatre, and Balanchine’s full-length “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from the New York City Ballet.