THE THIEVING MAGPIE – REVIEW OF 2016 GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

The Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra, for sticklers) is a delightful opera that gets a rousing and captivating production directed by Peter Kazaras at the Glimmerglass Festival.

Rossini’s 1817 romp has been assigned a number of tags but I think it is an opera buffa at heart but more about this later.

Plot main: The lovely servant Ninetta (Rachele Gilmore) loves her employer’s son Giannetto (tenor Michele Angelini). Fabrizio, his father, approves; Lucia, his mother does not because she thinks Ninetta is a thief because of missing silverware. Subplot one: Ninetta’s father Fernando arrives as an army deserter sentenced to death. Subplot two: The town mayor has his eye on Ninetta and is prepared to blackmail her. We have about two and a half hours to enjoy the opera and solve all these problems.

Rachele Gilmore as Ninetta, Ensemble member Simon Dyer, Musa Ngqungwana as Gottardo, Calvin Griffin as Fabrizio Vingradito, Michele Angelini as Giannetto and Leah Hawkins as Lucia in The Glimmerglass Festival's production of "The Thieving Magpie"

Our main concern is Ninetta who stands accused of theft, must protect her father and defend herself from the lecherous Mayor. Get a grip on yourself because she is convicted and sentenced to death. Soprano Rachele Gilmore with her delicious voice, vivacious manner and strong character leaves no doubt that she will pull through but she does come awfully close to losing all.

Angelini as Giannetto looks and sound like a tenor that came from central casting, as they used to say. Tall, faithful, ardent, with a martial bearing and high notes that just fly from his chest, he never leaves us in doubt that Ninetta and their love will triumph.

Bass-baritone Musa Ngqungwana sings exceptionally well as the lecherous and corrupt Mayor but let the latter have Ninetta? We wouldn’t trust him with a plastic magpie let alone an anthropomorphic or ornithological one.  

   Leah Hawkins as Lucia, Calvin Griffin as Fabrizio Vingradito, Michele Angelini as Giannetto and members of the ensemble in The Glimmerglass Festival's production of "The Thieving Magpie"

Bass-baritone Dale Travis was disappointing as Ninetta’s father Fernando. He sounded almost hoarse and off his voice. Soprano Leah Hawkins was an authoritative Lucia and bass-baritone Calvin Griffin was her nice and obedient husband in good performances.   

You can’t have a thieving magpie without a magpie and that can be a plastic one in a cage or a dancer. Kazaras has choreographer Meg Gillentine in an ornate “magpie” costume greet the patrons as they take their seats in the theatre. She has a large cage on the stage and she dances in and out of it in a delightful performance.

The opera is set in and around the spacious courtyard of Fabrizio’s house and outside the jail cells of the town. Set Designer Myung Hee Chung has her own idea for the large yard and the town setting. A large wreath (or is it the outline of a cage?) enfolds the front of the stage with a vista of blue sky in the background. The scene does change for the jail scene but the simple idea of the wreath remains.

The Thieving Magpie has been described as a melodrama, a rescue opera, a tearjerker, a tragedy, a comedy and no doubt some other names. It is a classic comedy. The old try to interfere with the course of true love of the young; a dirty old man does the same; integrity is questioned but in the end wins. The usual obstacles of comedy are all there as is the happy ending.

Kazaras does excellent work with all of those elements. The opera can take well over three hours to perform. He cuts it down to less than two and a half hours excluding intermission.

The Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Joseph Colaneri maintain a brisk pace from the drum roll of the overture right up to the happy ending.

A simply delightful evening at the opera.

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The Thieving Magpie by Gioachino Rossini (music) and Giovanni Gherardini (libretto) opened on July16 and will be performed eight times until August 25, 2016 at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or www.glimmerglass.org

LA BOHÈME – REVIEW OF 2016 GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

James Karas

The Glimmerglass Festival’s chestnut offering this year is Puccini’s La Bohème. Yes, the one where she coughs in the first scene, dies in the last and there isn’t a dry eye left in the house. And rightly so.

Director E. Loren Meeker and designer Kevin Depinet have set the opera in the Paris of the Belle Époque, the Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec which was beautiful, colourful, and full of life and joy. This is the image conveyed successfully in the Café Momus scene in the Latin Quarter. Depinet makes full and very intelligent use of the small stage of the Alice Busch Opera Theatre to convey a vivacious party atmosphere without the paraphernalia one sees in larger houses. More about this later.

 

 Rhys Lloyd Talbot as Colline, Brian Vu as Schaunard, Raquel González as Mimì, Michael Brandenburg as Rodolfo and Hunter Enoch as Marcello in The Glimmerglass Festival production of Puccini's "La bohème." Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival

How about our Mimi? Soprano Raquel González breaks our hearts very easily. Sure her candle goes out and she knocks on Rodolfo’s loft door, but after that she sees what she wants and goes for it. She drops her keys and makes sure her candle stays out. Rodolfo sees what he likes too and a couple of arias and a duet later, it is love at first sight.

González sings sweetly, lovingly, effortlessly. Her outpouring of emotion from “Mi chiamano Mimi” to “Donde lieta usci” to the final love duet is delivered with vocal beauty and deep feeling that goes straight to our heart.

What about the object of her love – Rodolfo? We are not sure about his character, especially his jealousy, but that is not our concern here. Tenor Michael Brandenburg does well in his protestations of love when in the midrange of his voice but he does not always do as well in his high notes. He is quite ardent in the beginning and in the end but what he does well emotionally he does not always match vocally.

 

Hunter Enoch as Marcello, Vanessa Becerra as Musetta, Brian Vu as Schaunard, Michael Brandenburg as Rodolfo and Raquel González as Mimì in The Glimmerglass Festival production of Puccini's "La bohème." Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival

His loft-mate Marcello, baritone Hunter Enoch, makes a significant vocal impression in the relatively minor role. His voice resonates with emotion and beauty in a fine performance. Bass-baritone Rhys Lloyd Talbot as the philosopher Colline and baritone Brian Vu as the musician Schaunard (both Young Artists) do fine work as Rodolfo’s rowdy but decent friends.

Soprano Vanessa Becerra (another Young Artist on her way up) as Musetta showed spunk and gave us a very vivacious flirt.

The loft of the first act is well-designed with its entrance from a door on the floor. The scene at the gates of Paris is realistic and appropriate. The relatively short scene in the loft where Mimi and Rodolfo meet and go to the café in the Latin Quarter usually requires an interval to change the set. In this production no interval was needed and (the set was changed in a matter of seconds. Bravo for the entire design including the quick change.

Joseph Colaneri conducted the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra and Chorus.

Meeker deserves kudos for his conception and execution of this familiar work. He stays the middle course without any off the wall takes and gives us exactly what Puccini intended. A tragic love story, well sung, well done and well wept.   

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La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini (music) and Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (libretto) opened on July 8 and will be performed thirteen times until August 27, 2016 at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or www.glimmerglass.org

THE CRUCIBLE – REVIEW OF OUTSTANDING 2016 GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

James Karas

The Glimmerglass Festival on the shore of Lake Otsego is up and running for its 41^st season. A few kilometers away from Cooperstown and the museum that honours people who hit balls with a bat, it provides cultural nourishment, intellectual pleasure and spiritual enrichment for modest people who enjoy opera. You may roll your eyes now.

One of this year’s eclectic choices is The Crucible by composer Robert Ward and librettist Bernard Stambler. It gets a superb production conducted by Nicole Paiement and directed by Francesca Zambello.

 

 The Glimmerglass Festival's production of Robert Ward's "The Crucible." Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival

The Crucible is, of course, based on Arthur Miller’s 1953 play that deals directly with the Salem witch trials of 1682 but more cogently with the American witch trials of the 1950’s under Senator McCarthy.

Ward and Stambler captured and indeed heightened the dramatic events of the play. Nicole Paiement conducts the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra in an intense and nuanced performance emphasizing every dramatic chord.

The singing is affecting and frequently outstanding if just as frequently uneven. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton gave perhaps the best performance as Elizabeth Proctor, a troubled woman who betrays her husband while trying to save him. Her marvelous voice conveyed pathos and she gave us an Elizabeth that we fully sympathized with. A nice combination of vocal beauty and acting ability.

Baritone Brian Mulligan has the taxing role of John Proctor, a practical farmer who committed a sin and is caught in the maelstrom of insanity led by a few girls. He is caught up in the vortex of religious fanaticism, vengeance and greed that will lead to his death. In the end he rises to heroic if tragic stature in a fine performance by Mulligan.

Tenor Jay Hunter Morris sang the role of the Judge Danforth, the man who arrogates to himself the role of God’s spokesman and Satan detective. Morris may have been having a bad night but he sounded strained at times even though he never failed to be dramatic.

 

Jamie Barton as Elizabeth Proctor, Brian Mulligan as John Proctor and Maren Weinberger as Mary Warren in The Glimmerglass Festival's production of Robert Ward's "The Crucible." Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival

Most of the cast of The Crucible comes from the Festival’s Young Artists program and their performances were overall admirable. Most notable were soprano Ariana Wehr as Abigail Williams, baritone Michael Miller as the nasty Thomas Putnam, mezzo-soprano Helena Brown as Rebecca Nurse, and Maren Weinberger as Mary Warren.   

Zambello’s production is taut but Spartan. The set by Neil Patel consists of bare gray walls with windows that serves for interior and exterior scenes. The only change is the scene between John Proctor and Abigail where the same gray motif prevails but there is a fallen tree in the background.

The staging is done expertly and the drama proceeds to its ultimate climax inexorable and dramatically.

A superb night at the opera.  

And speaking of baseball, some of you American aficionados may wish to acquaint yourselves with opera. The World Series is coming faster than a curve ball and where will you go when the Blue Jays clobber all the American teams? Remember, the lights go down during an opera performance.  

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The Crucible  by Robert Ward (music) and Bernard Syambler (libretto) based on Arthur Miller’s play opened on July 23 and will be performed nine times until August 27, 2016 at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or www.glimmerglass.org

FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS - REVIEW OF SOULPEPPER PRODUCTION

Reviewed by James Karas

*** (out of 5)

Father Comes Home From The Wars is a three-part play by Suzan-Lori Parks that deals with the lives of a group of slaves during the American Civil War. At almost three hours, it is not a snappy evening and the pace set by director Weyni Mengesha makes it seem even longer. The virtues of fine acting help, the Homeric references add interest but the final result is not entirely satisfactory.

We are in Texas in 1862 and a slave named Hero (Dion Johnstone) is faced with a dilemma. His owner, a Colonel (Oliver Dennis) in the Confederate Army, wants him to follow him in the war and promises to free him in return. A slave fighting with the Confederate Army on the promise of freedom is laden with more irony than one can bear.

 Lisa Berry, Dion Johnstone, Walter Borden, Akosua Amo-Adem, Marcel Stewart, Daren A. Herbert, Peter Fernandes, Roy Lewis. Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann

Should Hero accept his owner's offer?

Four other slaves (the Chorus of Undesirable Slaves played by Akosua Amo-Adem, Peter Fernandes, Roy Lewis and Marcel Stewart) along with the Oldest Old Man (Walter Borden), a slave named Homer (Daren A. Herbert) and Penny (Lisa Berry) discuss and some even take bets on whether Hero will accept his owner’s offer.

If you are wondering about the Homeric references, Hero is Odysseus, the father who returns from the wars, Penny is Penelope, his faithful wife with a twist and Homer is really one of the suitors in The Odyssey, again with an interesting twist. There is also a faithful and talking dog names Odyssey (Peter Fernandes). Don’t sweat the classical references.

The second part takes place near a battlefield where the Colonel and Hero have Smith (Gregory Prest), a captive Union officer kept in a cage.  The conversation among the three takes a wide range but it does not always keep one’s interest. But there are a couple of twists to Smith’s story that arouse interest but they do not get us anywhere.

The final part takes us back to Texas where some of the slaves are running away but there is a delay (they discuss things endlessly) and Hero, now called Ulysses returns home. There are a number of plot twists as the play winds its way to the end. Odyssey Dog appears and he does an extensive and even entertaining comedy routine but it does not quite fit the rest of the play. Was Parks running out of ideas and started adding plot twists and standup comedy by Dog?

The fate of Penny, Homer, Ulysses and the escaping slaves is finally resolved but in an unsatisfactory way.

Marcel Stewart, Lisa Berry, Roy Lewis, Akosua Amo-Adem. Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann 

Johnstone is a heroic and complex man who must deal with essential decisions including loyalty and treachery, fidelity and survival. For example, if he is to avoid following his owner into the Confederate Army, he contemplates cutting off a foot.

Oliver Dennis is the classic slave owner, arrogant, demanding loyalty without having to practice it himself and with a sense of superiority over his slaves based on skin colour. He can be cruel and treacherous and Dennis does a fine job in the role.

Penny is a sympathetic woman caught up in the maelstrom of war and a husband who wants to join in it. Her fate becomes even more distressing in the end and Berry draws our sympathy and admiration

Prest does a fine job as Smith the prisoner who is threatened with death and must talk his way out of being killed. There are a couple of plot twists involving Smith as well.

The set by Lorenzo Savoini suggests a barren landscape with a tree stump and a couple of rocks.

There is a great story to be told about a slave who chooses to follow hos owner in the Confederate Army but Parks is only partially successful in telling it and Mengesha in conveying it.

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Father Comes Home from the Wars, (Parts I, II III) by Suzan-Lori Parks opened on August 4 and will run until August 17, 2016 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Tank House Lane, Toronto, Ontario. www.soulpepper.ca  

A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE – REVIEW OF 2016 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

James Karas

**** (out of five)

The Shaw Festival in its fine production of Wilde’s A Woman Of No Importance manages to gives us two shows for the price of one. We get Wilde’s play, of course, full of aphorisms, balanced phrases and witty lines. But we also get a fashion show designed by Michael Gianfranceso based on Cecil Beaton’s designs.

Director Eda Holmes sets the play in England in 1951 where the upper class is reestablishing its fashionable dominance in London after the grim years of World War II.

 

(l to r): Matthew Finlan as Farquhar, the servant; Mary Haney as Lady Caroline Pontefract, Fiona Reid as Lady Hunstanton, Diana Donnelly as Mrs Allonby, Claire Jullien as Lady Stutfield, Julia Course as Miss Hester Worsley and Landon Doak as Francis, the servant. Photo by David Cooper.

Wilde sets up issues of high-toned morality and religion in a social class that is concerned mostly with its own entertainment. Lord Illingworth (Martin Happer) is rich, amoral and wants to enjoy life, especially women. He does have a secret that will visit him soon (no, it will not come to haunt him) but in the meantime he appoints Gerald Arbuthnot (Wade Bogert-O’Brien) as his private secretary.

The magnificently dressed ladies (the men are nicely dressed too, but who gives a hoot about them) are gathered on the terrace of Huntstanton Chase for the play and the accompanying fashion show. The set for the opening scene consists of an ugly curtain that looks like it was hastily hung up by stage hands on Sunday morning. Happily it is the only ugly part of the stage design and it disappears after Act I.

With the exception of Lord Illingworth and Gerald Arbuthnot, the men in the play are mostly necessary space fillers. Sir John Pontefract (Jim Mezon) takes pictures, Mr. Kelvil MP (Jeff Meadows) has his name mispronounced, Lord Alfred Rufford (Thom Marriott) and Archdeacon Daubeny (Ric Reid) are there too.

If you want high morality straight from the mouth of an Old Testament patriarch just listen to Mrs. Arbuthnot (Fiona Byrne). She believes in Original Sin which condemns all and is passed from generation to generation. Her reference is personal but her high-toned morality is intact. Unlike the fashionably attired ladies, Mrs. Arbuthnot wears a tasteful but by no means haute couture dress and she has a lot to be angry about. Byrne’s characterization in the end comes out as more forceful and righteous than pretentious and self-righteous.

 Martin Happer as Lord Illingworth and Diana Donnelly as Mrs Allonby. Photo by David Cooper

The fashion show is led by Diana Donnelly as Mrs. Allonby and all one can say is that they don’t make them like they used to. Mrs. Allonby kisses Lord Illingworth passionately but nothing comes of it.

We have Hester Worsley (Julia Course), the American millionairess, whom we like even after she is called a Puritan but I am not sure why she does not speak with a clear American accent. Claire Jullien as Lady Stutfiel has a nice dress but ugly glasses and no doubt there is a reason for that.

Fiona Reid provides much of the laughter as Lady Huntstanton who is not too swift and admits it but can deliver lines with perfect intonation and spot-on pauses that are simply a delight. Mary Haney as Lady Caroline Pontefract is also funny.       

When we are not watching the fashion show, we pay attention to Lord Illingworth, Mrs. Arbuthnot and her son Gerald Arbuthnot with meaningful glances towards the lovely Hester.

There are no doubt many who have not seen or read A Woman of No Importance and they may enjoy finding out who the “woman of no importance” is and who is the man of no importance in the play.   

They will enjoy Wilde’s wit, Eda Holmes’ fine directing, get a lot of laughs and a fashion show and discover who is who and get a fine night at the theater.

What more do you want?

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A Woman of no Importance by Oscar Wilde continues until October 22, 2016 at the Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. www.shawfest.com.

THE DANCE OF DEATH – REVIEW OF 2016 SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

**** (out of five)

Reviewed by James Karas

The Dance of Death is a series of variations on the theme of spousal hatred. August Strindberg was no stranger to marital acrimony and he did not have to go too far from his home when he wrote the play that premiered in 1900. Martha Henry directs the play for the Shaw Festival with powerful performances by Jim Mezon, Fiona Reid and Patrick Galligan.

Edgar (Jim Mezon) is an army captain in charge of a fortress on an island near a port in Sweden. His wife Alice (Fiona Reid) is a former actress and the two are about to “celebrate” their silver wedding anniversary. Perched above the sea, the fortress is in fact a former prison but it is the perfect living quarters metaphorically and realistically for the warring couple which are isolated from the rest of the community and are left with only a Sentry (Landon Doak) walking silently back and forth outside their residence.

Jim Mezon as Edgar, Patrick Galligan as Kurt and Fiona Reid as Alice. Photo by David Cooper.

Mezon with his shaven pate, generous size and thundering voice gives us a powerful Edgar. The power may be more apparent than real because Edgar has some health issues including poor eyesight, excessive use of alcohol and collapsing fits. He admits to nothing and his booming voice brooks no argument.

Fiona Reid’s Alice is no pushover. Her hatred of Edgar is a powerful as his for her and she wants revenge and elimination of him. She engineers his arrest and incarceration but is unsuccessful He attempted to kill her but failed. He chases her around with a sword, makes a shambles of their apartment and as if by divine contempt, they cannot get rid of each other. Fiona Reid excels in comic roles with splendid intonations, physical moves and hilarious pauses. Here we see her in a dramatic role that she handles superbly.

The catalyst for some of the more egregious explosions of marital loathing is the arrival of Alice’s cousin Kurt (Patrick Galligan). He is a quarantine master sent to open a quarantine station on the island. Edgar hates him and wants to destroy him directly and indirectly by affecting his son’s future. Kurt has some experience in spousal combat. A court ordered him to have no communication with his some fifteen years ago.

Galligan’s Kurt can stand his ground against Edgar and he goes many steps further with his attraction to Alice. The two express great passion for each other and plan to get rid of Edgar. This is not a comedy and as you may suspect they do not succeed.

The only other character in the play is the silent Sentry who walks back and forth in the first half without any sign of weariness but who limps during the second half.

The play profits from playwright Conor McPherson’s translation and syncopation. He gets rid of the minor characters of the maid Jenny and the Old Man and provides a colloquial language that is not stilted or awkward. The natural flow of the dialogue works exceptionally well in moving along the plot of a play that has very little plot. 

Jim Mezon as Edgar, Fiona Reid as Alice and Patrick Galligan as Kurt in The Dance of Death. Photo by David Cooper

The set by William Schmuck gives the impression of an apartment above the harbor that still seems claustrophobic and indeed prison-like. Going down to the harbor requires descending numerous steps and Martha Henry makes sure we hear the loud footsteps when the characters go down or come up the stairs.

The dance of Death is not always easy to bring off but Martha Henry with an excellent cast and a superb version of the play by Conor McPherson succeeds in bringing the Strindbergian war into a fine evening at the theatre.

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The Dance of Death by August Strindberg in a version by Conor McPherson runs until September 10, 2016 at the Studio Theater, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, www.shawfest.com/

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE – REVIEW OF 2016 STRATFORD FESTIVAL PRODUCTION

**** (out of 5)

Reviewed by James Karas

You look at the 2016 list of productions at the Stratford Festival and see Shakespeare (4), musicals (2), classical (3), modern (3) and a World Premiere (1). You applaud enthusiastically. Then you see Shakespeare in Love in a North American Premiere. Is that the 1998 movie with Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes adapted for the stage in a moment of desperation and utter failure of original creativity?

Please, gimme a break.

Well, eat your words and your ham sandwich and treat yourself to a literate, hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable romp in Elizabethan England. Yes, Lee Hall has adapted Marc Norman’s and Tom Stoppard’s screenplay but he has done an expert job of contraction and conversion without taking anything away from the original and indeed adding something to it.

 

Members of the company in Shakespeare in Love. Photography by David Hou

The main plotline involves the beautiful Viola (Shannon Taylor), the daughter of Sir Robert de Lesseps (Michael Spencer-Davis) who has money but no social status. He wants her to marry the boorish, titled but broke Lord Wessex (Rylan Wilkie). She loves poetry, the theatre and acting which lead her to the theatre and into the arms of the upstart playwright from Stratford-upon-Avon.

The play moves quickly through the theatrical world of 1590’s London where we meet familiar names like Marlowe, Alleyn, John Webster, Henslowe, Burbage and a number of fictional characters. Backstage rivalries, auditions, theft of scripts, financial skullduggery and performance terror all combine to produce laughter and simple joy, all associated with the love of theatre and poetry.

Luke Humphrey as Shakespeare has a writer’s block can’t write a single line of a sonnet or come up with a scene for his new play Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter which he has sold to two producers. Enter Thomas Kent who turns out to be the lovely Viola who can read poetry. Humphrey gives us all the energy, guile and even deviousness that Shakespeare needs to survive in the rough and tumble world of the theatre.

Shannon Taylor reminds us (not that we need it) why we are in love with Shakespeare’s poetry as we admire her pluck and intelligence as a true lover of theatre and language. No wonder Shakespeare falls in love with her.

There is no shortage of characters and superb actors who portray them that make us laugh. Stephen Ouimette is hilarious as the producer Henslowe who has to pay up for money that he borrowed to avoid further methods of persuasion (a.k.a. torture) by his lender Fennyman. Poor Henslowe gives a role to his tailor who has a serious speech impediment and cannot utter a line. Reason: he owes him money.

Fennyman the money lender (played superbly by Tom McCamus) may be a thug but he is a funny one especially when he is given a part in a play.

 Shannon Taylor as Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love. Photography by David Hou.

Shakespeare’s rival and at the time superior playwright, Christopher Marlowe (Saamer Usmani) is a sneaky presence who nevertheless helps the bard. In the end in a “Salieri killed Mozart” scenario, Shakespeare feels that he caused Marlowe’s death.

The egotistical actors Alleyn (Brad Hodder) and Burbage (Steve Ross) are there as is the creepy and bloodthirsty John Webster (Tal Shulman). There is an assortment of characters that are on stage creating the excitement and energy we imagine happening backstage when everything goes wrong with a performance. It is splendid ensemble acting.

Paddy Cunneen adds some lovely songs based on verses from Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets and Jane Gibson provides the choreography.

Shakespeare in Love opened in London in 2014 directed by Declan Donnellan and that production has been imported for the play’s North American premiere at Stratford. Designer Nick Ormerod provides a wood-paneled backdrop with a balcony and moveable panels for the change of scenes such as the introduction of the bed, the entry of the Queen and the indication of action behind the curtain. It is excellent for quick scene changes in a play that is fast paced.

What can one say about a play that covers Shakespeare, love, laughter, theatre, and a “familiar” setting no matter how fictional?

How about: “Thanks for the break…the laughter…the ”visit”…the wonderful production.

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Shakespeare in Love based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, adapted for the stage be Lee Hall continues in repertory until October 26, 2016 at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca