Poetry Friday: Shakespeare under the Stars

One of my favorite memories of summer: standing in line with friends at New York's Central Park, waiting for free Shakespeare tickets. It was hot, but companionable. The reward was coming back later in the evening for top-notch Shakespeare under the stars, produced by the Public Theater.

I saw Patrick Stewart dancing the conga as Prospero in a Caribbean-infused The Tempest. Christopher Walken played Iago to Raoul Julia's Othello (a review of that production is here).

My husband and I moved to central Maryland twelve years ago. In those years, a local Shakespeare troupe started up. We started taking the kids to Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's productions when my daughter was about six and my son was nine. We'd read a picture book version of the play, pack some snacks, and we were good to go. The kids followed the action just fine, thanks to fabulous acting.

CSC's summer home is the ruins of a Victorian girls' finishing school, The Patapsco Female Institute. There's no roof -- just add a stage and voila, Shakespeare under the stars. Going every summer is a family tradition. (You can read a piece I wrote about how much fun we have at CSC here.) 

A few years back, my daughter started doing camp with Chesapeake Shakespeare performers. It's one thing to be a drama kid -- Shakespeare theater kids are her people.

Miss J (left) and a camp-mate show off their stage-fighting skills.

Performing a monologue as Viola from Twelfth Night.

This summer, CSC's two plays are Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice. Be still my romantic heart! It's opening night for R&J tonight. I can't make it, but I'll be there -- picnic and bug spray in hand --  with the family on Sunday. (All Sunday performances are family-friendly. Kids 19 and under are free with a paying adult at *every* performance.)

My friend Jenny Leopold is directing Romeo and Juliet. I can't wait to see her poetry-focused interpretation, which includes elements of slam-style performance. The Queen Mab speech as a slam poem? Can't. Wait.

Sunday evening's performance opens with a Youth Spoken Word Festival. Three young performers will strut their verbal stuff before the show.

Back when I still lived in the New York suburbs, I taught ninth grade English. Romeo and Juliet was part of our curriculum. Every year, my students memorized the play's prologue, a sonnet that outlines the story to come. The poem is stuck is indelibly stuck in my brain.

Prologue (Romeo and Juliet)

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Enjoy your Poetry Friday. May we all get to see Shakespeare under the stars this summer.

That delicious dish, Jama Rattigan, is our Poetry Friday host today. I'm sure she's cooked up some wonderful early-summer treats for all of us.

Amok at "That Play"

The fabulous Karen Nitkin -- freelance writer and friend extraordinaire -- took me to see "the Scottish Play" Friday night. Our local Shakespeare troupe, the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, stages great productions of The Bard's plays. They perform outdoors at the ruins of a women's school in old Ellicott City. We've taken the kids to two summer productions -- A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest. Both excellent. Are the kids too young for Shakespeare? Nay! We prep by reading picture book versions together. Maybe watch "Shakespeare -- The Animated Tales" and they are good to go. Being familiar with the plot, characters, and a few famous speeches is enough for kids to enjoy live Shakespeare. The costumes, props and acting do the rest. However -- Miss J was not so sure about seeing Macbeth. Her "Stories from Shakespeare" --retold by Nicole Baxter -- has a drawing of Banquo's ghost that gives her nightmares. She settled for my promises to tell her all about it. Both kids were hysterical and intrigued about the "curse" on this play. I taught them that they must call it "That Play" or "The Scottish Play." Check out this article on the curse from the Austin Chronicle. Karen and I chatted as we trudged up the hill to the ruins. Then we realized the play was starting in the parking lot. No fourth wall tonight! We trudged back down -- good thing it was a beautiful night. The audience participation was cool. During the early scenes of the play, the audience followed the Scottish generals around on a dark battlefield as if we were infantrymen. Another scene that worked well was the banquet where Banquo's ghost appears (great acting, BTW). We sat around tables as if we were partying with Macbeth and his cohorts. It added depth to a scene where Macbeth's cracks are starting to show. But, as Karen pointed out, it was a bit much. We never sat for more than 15 minutes and often stood, wrangling for a view. The last scene was played in near darkness. Here comes Macduff with -- what is that he's holding? Macbeth's head on a stick?! Glad I didn't bring the kids. The prop head looked enough like the actor to be freaky. So, Karen and I got our exercise. The leads were terrific. Loved the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech. Loved how Lady Macbeth appeared physically smaller as the weight of her actions caught up with her conscience. Look for a link to Karen's theater review in the Baltimore Sun later this week. Next summer, the troupe has the comedy "Twelfth Night" on its schedule. It's Miss J's absolute favorite. We can't wait! I know it's been over two weeks, but I can't let go of the Dodge Festival yet. A bit more on that this week.