August 2024– SANTA CRUZ, CA—Santa Cruz Shakespeare (SCS), celebrating 12 years as a nationally recognized non-profit professional repertory theater company with history in Santa Cruz County going back more than 40 years, has announced its lineup of four productions for its 2025 season.
Performances will take place from July 13 to September 27 in the Audrey Stanley Grove (The Grove) in Santa Cruz’s DeLaveaga Park.
” … this season looks to bring our incredible community closer …”
The productions of the 2025 season include:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Pericles by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins
Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard
Into the Woods, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine, licensed by Music Theatre International
“This season’s unifying theme is No One is Alone, as the four masterpieces we’re producing all examine the threads that tie us together, from love, marriage or lust to adventure, catastrophe or redemption,” said Charles Pasternak, SCS artistic director.
“Whether it be threads woven by gods or giants or threads woven by the discovery of our shared humanity, in each of these plays the world is torn apart, sometimes quite literally. But it is knitted anew by recognition – recognition of ourselves in each other, in our need for each other. None of us is an island.
We hope the 2025 season helps us consider ourselves in a larger context than that of the individual. We need each other – now more than ever – and through both laughter and heartbreak, this season looks to bring our incredible community closer together.”
John Heimbuch’s William Shakespeare’s The Land of the Dead is a pairing that almost works at The Pear Theater in Mountain View. That it keeps the audience’s attention as much as it does is due in large part to some fine acting performances and the steady direction of Sinjin Jones, The Pear’s artistic director.
Welcoming the audience at the first performance of Dead, Jones described it as a “Shakespeare-adjacent play.”
Photo (“LoTD_3”): L-R – Helena G. Clarkson (Queen Elizabeth), Adam C. Torrian (Soldier 1), Marc Berman (Sir Francis Bacon).
Though there’s no scientific data to back up this reviewer’s opinion, it’s likely there are more Shakespeare-inclined people in the “50-and-older” category, while the majority of Zombie lovers skew younger. Some audience members will be thrilled to hear Marc Berman as Sir Francis Bacon make the Bard proud. He has an extensive background in Shakespearean roles.
Other cast standouts include:
— Helena G. Clarkson as the white-faced (and white accordion-collared) Queen Elizabeth. Her heavily British-accented lines make her a force to be reckoned with.
–Arturo Dirzo as Richard Burbage, also uses a fine British accent. He’s also credited as the fight choreographer for Dead.
–William J. Brown III as Shakespeare himself. Perhaps Brown could have been a bit more forceful in his portrayal, but his commanding physical presence is impressive.
It’s best not to read too much ahead of time about this play….
As Kate, Nique Eagen is another forceful character. She and Burbage are lovers, and he wants to marry her as soon as possible. They both show real passion in their romantic scenes, although Eagen can talk so fast that this reviewer found it difficult to catch what she said, on occasion.
L-R – Adam C. Torrian (Sinklo) and Nique Eagen (Kate Braithwaite).
One of the fun parts of Heimbuch’s script is how many references to Shakespeare’s real plays are slipped it here and there by different cast members. Dirzo can barely keep a laugh from escaping when he mentions “To be….” And then mumbles “…or not to be.”
When Zombies show up –- and they show up many times –- there’s more than one insinuation that they represent the famous London plague of 1592-93. Whatever they represent, be prepared to be horrified as they seem to bite into the flesh of other actors on stage. Stage blood also appears which horrified one young girl at the Nov. 18 matinee. Nevertheless, holding tightly to her mother, she stayed to watch the entire production.
Surprisingly, it’s a tiny wisp of a character, Olga Molina (as Rice) who is the glue that holds this production together. Molina plays a boy who must wear a young maid’s dress in Shakespeare’s play, so when he gets offstage, he wants to take it off, but other characters are always commanding him to keep the dress on and go fetch something for them.
L-R – William J. Brown III (William Shakespeare), Marc Berman (Sir Francis Bacon) and Nique Eagen (Kate Braithwaite)
Molina also delivers a moving speech toward play’s end that almost made all that Zombie gore acceptable!
So: Is it true what one character says (“Only the dead shall reign”)? Best to see for yourself. Dead plays in repertoire with District Merchants by Aaron Posner through Dec. 10 in case you’d like a dash of the dead for your holiday merriment.
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Aisle Seat Executive Reviewer Joanne Engelhardt is a Peninsula theatre writer and critic. She is a voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC). Contact: joanneengelhardt@comcast.net
As You Like It, the Musical at SF Playhouse is delightful. Originally presented by The Public Theater, The New York Times named it among “The Best Theater of 2017.”
The performances are terrific, all the actors clearly having a great time onstage, totally invested in giving their absolute best to drive the show along and to entertain. This modern adaptation of a Shakespearean classic is well-directed by Bill English, who on opening night graciously thanked members of the press for attending.
The show is just plain fun!
Entrances and exits are head-spinningly perfect, the rollicking energy spectacular. The spare sets by English and Heather Kenyon are great, the lighting superb, (David Robertson), the choreography marvelous (Nicole Helfer), the costuming charming (Kathleen Qiu), and the live band terrific (Dave Dobrusky + 4). The show is just plain fun! They even threw in a Kanye West joke.
Oliver (front left: Ryan Torres) is summoned into court by Duke Frederick (Will Springhorn Jr. – center back), viewed by (l to r: Renee Rogoff, Jillian A. Smith, Johann Santiago Santos) in SF Playhouse’s musical version of “As You Like It”. Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli
The production has many elements of an English pantomime, a Christmas-season tradition in the UK. This reviewer would have enjoyed seeing even more of this. Slapstick components include topical humor, call-and-response lines with the audience, a “drag” character (in addition to Rosalind, the Bard’s original), and some lame “badda-bing” jokes such as:
“Did you know that I own a pencil used by William Shakespeare? He chewed on it a lot though, so I can’t tell if it’s 2B or not 2B.”
“Did you know that Shakespeare was able to write with either his left or right hand equally well? Yes, he was iambidextrous.”
“Over-the-top” is a perfect description of this show. My guest loved it and so did the entire audience. The 17 players received a well-deserved standing-O at the end.
Orlando (Nikita Burshteyn) invades the forest community of Arden (l to r: Ezra Reaves, Emily Dwyer, Jillian A. Smith) in the forest of Arden in San Francisco Playhouse’s musical version of “As You Like It,” performing now through January 14, 2023. Photo Credit: Jessica Palopoli
Even though the songs in this show are written by Shaina Taub, currently working with Sir Elton John on a musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, I didn’t leave the auditorium singing or even humming the songs, My Fair Lady it ain’t, but how many musical shows are? Even so, as a fun, entertaining theater experience, it was “as I like it.”
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Mitchell Field is a Sr. Contributing Writer for Aisle Seat Review. Based in Marin County, Mr. Field is an actor and voting member of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle (SFBATCC). Contact: mitchfield@aol.com
Production
As You Like It, the Musical
Written by
William Shakespeare - adapted by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery Music and Lyrics by Shaina Taub
Ron Campbell has pulled off the near-impossible— he convinced the large opening-night crowd at Marin Shakespeare’s debut of their witty adaptation of Don Quixote (by Peter Anderson and Colin Heath) that he was both a man and a horse. Truly no mean feat, that.
Then again, Mr. Campbell is no mean actor. A man, a wooden broom and a watering can? Gesticulating arms and pumping legs? An energetic and comedic recitation of a classic text invigorated with new life? He’s certainly all of that, to be sure. But to stop there would be to damn with faint praise.
Instead, one simple phrase comes to mind: theatrical magic.
Mr. Campbell’s physical comedy gifts are so sublime that one could not help but believe that he was in fact Quixote himself. And Rocinante, the horse. Or both at once, in action on the stage. Mr. Campbell’s unquenchable dedication to seeing, feeling and embodying the evolving demands of each succeeding microsecond of the script and character represents a master’s thesis in acting.
Ably supporting Mr. Campbell was John R. Lewis as everyone’s favorite squire Sancho Panza. Panza translates literally in English to “belly” or “paunch”, and while Mr. Lewis was indeed suitably paunchy, he brought a world-weariness combined with a rich sense of humor and formidable physical comedy chops to a role too often played to its lowest common denominator. Solid marks for Mr. Lewis.
The play, making its U.S. debut, is ably directed by Ms. Lesley Schisgall Currier in a production that appears to a take on elements of the Commedia dell’arte style: spare sets, masked actors, and standardize costumes. Direction was largely spot-on if a tad slow at times.
Visually, Ms. Currier kept the set design simple and even spare. Lighting and sound designs worked well, if hard as they often do in an outdoor setting. Costumes were well designed and carefully rendered. Pops and set pieces were thoughtful, spare, and effective.
Paired with hand-selected segments of the text by Miguel de Cervantes, the show unfortunately succeeds in feeling a bit like the books upon which the play is based — by the end of the show it felt somewhat like a long visit by a good friend: you’re at once delighted to have been so entertained but wish the evening’s festivities would wrap-up.
In all, a solid, well directed, new adaptation of Don Quixote which this reviewer hopes will benefit from a bit of a duration trim on its way to becoming a theatrical staple, and a tad of tempo tightening during its current run. The play was very, very well-served by the addition of Mr. Campbell and Mr. Lewis.
***
Kris Neely is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle and a Theater Bay Area (TBA) Adjudicator.
Mr. Neely’s blogs on theater and performing arts are found on Aisle Seat Review at www.AisleSeatReview.com and also on For All Events at www.ForAllEvents.com.
