Bootleg Shakespeare

Posted by James Ricks, Artistic Director, Henley Street Theatre
I’ve been invited by Barksdale to say a few words on the subject of the upcoming Bootleg Shakespeare Project to be performed for its third year at Barksdale Willow Lawn. Before I go into all that, I have to say that we at Henley Street Theatre are truly blessed to have such good friends at Barksdale to welcome us into their space and present something as special as an evening of free theatre to the community. It’s always an amazing experience and we couldn’t do it without 'em. Thanks again guys!

So...what is Bootleg Shakespeare?

Bootleg: v.tr/n - an audio and/or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist, or under legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging.

This kind of production has taken various forms across the U.S. at some of the larger Shakespeare companies, but the term ‘Bootleg’ was coined by my good friends in Washington, DC at Taffety Punk Theatre who host their annual Bootleg Shakespeare at the Folger Theatre. Taffety Punk is a company comprised mostly of classically trained actors who froth at the mouth at the idea of taking on some of Shakespeare’s lesser known works and kicking it around in a free and friendly environment. That is exactly what the Bootleg shows are designed to do. I took part several years ago playing Henry in their production of Henry VIII and I can describe it as nothing less than a transformative and magical experience. It’s also the kind of theatre that I knew Richmond audiences would love.

Yes James, but you haven’t told us what it is yet…
Right, so here it is…

A cast of actors are given their roles 30 days before the day of the performance. Those actors are responsible for learning their lines on their own and assembling their own character, right down to all their props and costumes. On the day of the performance, this cast of lion-hearted actors meet at 7:30 am at Barksdale Theatre where we stage the show as thoroughly (and quickly) as we can. We repose for dinner and then mount the production at 7:30 pm, to a free and usually full house.

This project is awesome for three reasons:

1. The actors that take part in this project take their preparation quite seriously. Their primary direction from me during those 30 days of homework is to bring in strong choices. It’s only one night after all. Why just come in and recite lines? It’s always exciting to see what actors bring in.

2. These actors come into a performance environment where they don’t have the benefit of repetition and the comfort of getting familiar with those that are on stage with them. This can strike fear into the hearts of modern actors who are comfortable with a long rehearsal process. This project forces them to not only rely on their own devices and creativity, they also have to be hyper-aware of everything that’s going on around them within each moment. They don’t necessarily know what another actor is going to send their way. For me, it’s a perfect demonstration of what makes theatre magical: Actors that are truly living in the moment and listening to all the new stimulus around them, saying words with a freshness and vitality that feeds directly off the energy coming from their fellow actors.

3. The audience is complicit in this type of performance because they are aware of the rules of the exercise. They charge the air with their excitement and anticipation over any potential train-wreck. Interestingly, when a train wreck does occur, the audience rewards the actors with a kind of love you’d never see in a rehearsed production. Most importantly, they are even more energized by all the beautiful moments that actors find, even without the benefit of rehearsal. This energy creates a form of communication between actor and audience that is fearless and loving. I think that’s the kind of relationship we all strive for in life. To experience it on stage, even if for only a couple of hours, is pretty special. If you come to the show, you will see that this dynamic is palpable.

I kept the name ‘Bootleg Shakespeare’ because it lends itself to a feeling of illicitness and irreverence. This is not museum piece Shakespeare. While these actors are highly trained and come in tremendously prepared, there is a youthful, almost child-like approach to the work. Usually with the Bootlegs we produce the plays of Shakespeare that are not very well known. This prevents actors from falling back on their preconceptions of how it is ‘supposed to be done’. Rather, it gives them permission to dive into the deep end of the creative pool. As long as it tells the story, the actors are free to make as bold a choice as possible. It’s only one night after all – and it’s free. No worry of setting off some punctilious reviewer and no worry over the box-office take. It’s a celebration of theatre and it’s actor driven.

At the end of the night, we hope people are galvanized by the fact that they saw a play by Shakespeare they will likely never see, even at a professional Shakespeare company. They will see actors perform a production that is very often much better than many main stage productions, simply due the energy that can only be found at a ‘one-night-only’ performance. They will feel the playfulness that actors bring to the text, thereby giving them permission to listen and react in a way that they might not at a ‘proper’ production where they might feel more self-aware. And at the very end of the night, they will be introduced to the final member of the cast, Phil. Phil, the bucket. I don’t think I need to go into detail about Phil. But I will say that he is hungry to help us keep doing what we do.

I highly encourage you to come out and experience what is truly a memorable evening of theatre. It really is enormously fun, it’s full of great talent and hey, it costs you nothing to attend. What more could you ask for in this economy?

Here are the artists involved in this year’s production: Daryl Clark Philips, John Mincks, Zoe Speas, Foster Solomon, Joe Carlson, Liz Blake White, Kerry McGee, James Rees, Brendan Titley, Jeff Cole, Emma Mason, Ryan Bechard, Adam Mincks, Dean Knight, Matt Hackman, Zach Page, Stan Baranowski, Chris Yarbrough and Cynde Liffick.
Music by: Beggars of Life & Drawn a Blank

The performance is on October 22 at Barksdale’s Willow Lawn theatre. The box office opens at 6:00 pm where people can grab their tickets. There is a two ticket limit per person, so get there early!

There is a preshow performance in the lobby at 7:00 by Beggars of Life, where you can sit and enjoy the offerings of Barksdale’s bar.

For more information, check us out at:
HenleyStreetTheatre.org

Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting live theatre!

--James Ricks, Artistic Director – Henley Street Theatre

All photos courtesy of Henley Street Theatre

A Quick Read on "The Book of Mormon"

Posted by Bruce Miller
On our recent theatre trip to NYC, my daughter Hannah and I saw The Book of Mormon. Almost locked-in to win the Tony Award for Best Musical, Mormon is the hottest ticket on Broadway. So it's the one show we bought in advance, paying $352 (before box office service charges) for two seats in the rear mezz. Yikes!

I read a rave review on Facebook from one of the Richmond theatre artists I most respect. His glowing assessment echoed the sentiments of virtually every mover and shaper in American theatre. Mormon has already won Best Musical nods from the New York Drama Critics' Circle, the Drama Desk Awards, the Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the Drama League Awards.

Ben Brantley in the New York Times called it "the best musical of this century." Peter Marks gushes in the Washington Post: "Matt and Trey: where have they been all my life? The Book of Mormon deserves worship." The critic in Vogue proclaims it "the best new American musical of the last 25 years." And Entertainment Weekly describes it as "a perfect Broadway musical," adding, "This is what 21st Century Broadway can be."

The youthful, packed house on the Sunday evening performance we attended went WILD--the most enthusiastic audience response I've witnessed on Broadway since the euphoric reaction that followed Jennifer Holliday singing And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going in the pre-Tony Award months of the original run of Dreamgirls in 1982.

So what did we think of The Book of Mormon? I liked it more than Hannah did. There were elements I liked a lot. If the rest of the world weren't getting all orgasmic, I'd be talking about how fun it was. But the best musical of the century or the last 25 years? Better than Into the Woods, The Lion King, Rent, Wicked, Spring Awakening, and Light in the Piazza? I have to admit that I just don't get it.

I'm sure part of it is that I'm 60 years old. I've never watched South Park, also written by two of the creators of Mormon, even for five seconds. When I watched that South Park "Hamlet" take-off that James Ricks posted on Facebook a week or so ago, I found it confusing and annoying and not funny in the least. I'm 60 years old, which I know is no excuse, but it seems to me like maybe it's germane.

My taste in musicals was forged during the era of Stephen Sondheim. My favorite musical of all time is A Little Night Music. My favorite musicals of this century are Wicked, Spring Awakening, and Light in the Piazza. I NEVER thought I'd say this about Sondheim (Night Music), but I fear and suspect that my beloved musicals of days gone by now seem terribly old school to young, savvy theatregoers who find Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon to be what American musical theatre needs today.

To me, The Book of Mormon was a lot of fun, clever and energetic, full of sound and fury signifying ... not a heck of a lot. To me, it was mostly derivative. Like Spamalot and Avenue Q, it revels in its irreverence. Like Drowsy Chaperone, it celebrates unapologetic musical comedy technique. Like Urinetown, it finds much of its humor from referencing other musical theatre hits. Like The Producers, it rejoices in an old fashioned bring-on-the-dancing-girls (in this case boys) sensibility that is almost quaint. Like In the Heights, it wraps everything up at the end with a tidy sentimental bow.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Unlike the great works of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Kander and Ebb, it breaks no new ground with its production, libretto or score. It challenges nothing (seriously, find me an easier target for satire). It takes us nowhere we haven't been before. It teaches us very little. But it doesn't intend to do any of that.

Also, full disclosure time, I experience discomfort making smart-aleck fun of anyone's faith, no matter what that faith may be. Early in the show, there's a jaunty song that repeats the catch phrase, forgive me, "f... you God," I knew my father, were he alive, would be deeply hurt to see me applauding.

So, let me say what I LOVED about the show:

The CONCEPT: Take the squeakiest clean, fastest growing religion in the world and insert two of its virgin missionaries into Uganda, the most hellish place on earth (at least as described in this show), and see what they can do to convert a populace that is being decimated by AIDS, barbaric war loads, and enforced female circumcisions. View everything though the lens of American musical comedy. A GREAT idea.

The PERFORMANCES: I thought Josh Gad as a Mormon Zach Galifianakis (Jack Black?) and Andrew Rannells as a Mormon Bradley Cooper were full of talent and energy, as were their Mormon back-up singers. Nikki M. James, the beautiful black woman who is the first to convert, is a joy to watch. Everyone sings, dances and acts with such a love of all things Broadway, they send your spirits soaring.

The RESOLUTION: Using the mythology of the Broadway musical to shed light on the mythology of Mormonism (standing in for all the world's religions), and watching the Disneyworld Africans discover that, yes, mythology is make-believe but that's all it's ever been intended to be--stand-ins for the truths of love and interconnectedness. Yes, it is a small world after all.

I honestly did think the show was fresh, excitingly performed, and a lot of fun. At the end, it's even sorta sweet. I wasn't offended, just a little uneasy. In the overall arc of musical theatre, I think this show will go down as very 2011. Which is in many ways a great compliment.

--Bruce Miller

The First of November, 2009

Posted by Bruce Miller
Yesterday from two until four we said goodbye to Souvenir, and then from six until last call we celebrated the life and legacy of Jack Parrish.

Prior to making it out to Hanover Tavern, I was with my mother at Westminster-Canterbury. She’s a 93-year old with advanced Alzheimer’s and she was having a bad day. I was called in by the nurses to try to calm her down, to stop her screaming and fighting, to bring her back to this world from the terrifying places to which her disease takes her from time to time.

Just before visiting Westminster, I team-taught with Katy Sproul (Firehouse actress Amy Sproul’s mom) our Sunday School class at Bon Air Pres, as I do every week. The topic was gun control, and our class decided to try to persuade our church, and other churches, to take a stand on closing the gun show loophole here in Virginia and nationally.

It was a roller coaster of a day.

Politics can be so polarizing. All of us are demeaned and diminished when we allow ourselves to be manipulated into corners and fail to come together for the common good.

Disease can also force us into isolated corners—making us feel alone and afraid. Doctors and nurses, despite their many skills and heartfelt care, cannot always pull us back from these dark places. But even on these bad days, "family" can usually make a difference.

True performers like Florence Foster Jenkins (and thank you, Debra and Jonathan for bringing her true story to life in Souvenir) refused to be relegated to a corner. Relying on the strength of her intentions, Ms Jenkins transformed self-doubt into confidence, self-effacement into assertiveness, convinced that it is only through truly sharing innermost gifts and selves that any of us will bring joy and community to others.

Jack Parrish also knew this strength and these intentions. He lived his life center stage. He loved his family and friends. He threw himself into each new adventure. He embraced Shakespeare’s magnificent advice to the players, so beautifully recited last night by James Ricks. In the whirlwind of his passion, Jack acquired and begat a temperance that gave it smoothness.

Jack's friends by the hundreds gathered again last night to honor his legacy in different cities around the world. Jokes and songs, toasts and memories filled with truth even if, sometimes, a little fuzzy on accuracy. Testament to a life well lived. Tribute to all those who come together, join together to bring fullness, not fretting, to this brief hour upon the stage.

God bless Jack and Florence, my mother and my Sunday School class. God bless us every one.

--Bruce Miller

Shining Actors

Posted by Bruce Miller

I saw Shining City tonight. I loved the way Henley Street (or whomever) has upgraded the space. I love the new risers and raked seating. I didn’t see True West last season (I heard it was great). But I’ve seen many other shows at Pine Camp. Shining City was by far the most satisfactorily produced play I’ve seen there. Sets, lights, sound and overall ambiance seemed indeed to have been kicked up a notch.

I loved James Ricks’s pre-show speech—very casual, friendly, confident, charming and short. Those speeches are tough and few people do them well. James's speech was great.

I can’t say enough about the talents of Joe Inscoe. He’s world class—as good as anyone you’ll see anywhere. What an amazing actor. He’s a Broadway star right here in Richmond. I’m being completely serious.

If I ever go to see a therapist, I hope he’s just like Larry Cook. Larry's was a very comforting presence. I thought he was great.

Same thing for Jacob Pennington, except different profession.

I think Lyddall Bugg is a talented actress, and I’m sorry I didn’t become more familiar with her work when she toured in Huck and Tom and the Mighty Mississippi for Theatre IV.

Bo Wilson is one of the smartest guys in Richmond theatre and an astute director. I need to ask him to direct something at B'dale someday.

Henley Street is growing impressively. New artistic director James Ricks has hit the ground running. I applaud his talent, vision and ambition.

--Bruce Miller

PS Some anonymous commenters tell me I see plays at Virginia theatres other than Barksdale for terrible reasons. They say I'm trying to be like a plantation master proving that all the other theatres are beneath Barksdale and needy of my largesse. They say I write about the things I like at other theatres mostly to damn through omission those things I don't like. They say I want to make the other theatres look and feel small.

God help me if that is how this is coming off. None of that is my intention.

I go to other theatres to be supportive of other theatres. I think it's important for me to be supportive, and I take that responsibility seriously. I write about other theatres also to be supportive--of the theatres themselves and the artists who work there. If any artistic or managing director would prefer that I not come to their theatre and/or not write about their theatre on this blog, just let me know. You all know how to reach me. Thanks.

Some commenters still think I hate the Richmond critics; they believe I viewed the recent Artsie awards with derision and contempt. I don't and I didn't. If I come off that way, chalk it up to my being a horrible writer who can't make his opinions clear. I'm nothing but respectful of the critics, and actually quite fond of the several of them I know. I LOVED the Artsies. I've said it, I've written it, and I mean it.

Last but not least, when I recently wrote nice things about some Richmond theatre artists who didn't win Artsies, some commenters suggested I must really have it in for Joe Doran, Ron Keller, Audra Honaker, Ali Thibodeau, Marta Reiner and Jeff Cole (the Jeff part came from a response I wrote to a 'Rick Gray comment). You can believe me or not, but the truth is I actually care a lot about Joe, Ron, Audra, Ali, Marta and Jeff. I'm actually pretty crazy about them. I admire their talents. They are my friends.

That's all for now. Thanks.

--Bruce Miller