Upcoming: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Austin Shakespeare Youth Troupe, June 21 - July 1

presents

Julius Caesar

by William Shakespeare

directed by Ann Ciccolella

June 22 - July 1, Thursdays - Sundays at 8 p.m.

Curtain Theatre, 7400 Coldwater Canyon (click for map)

 

This is Young Shakespeare's fourth annual show but this is the first time being directed by Ann Ciccolella, Artistic Director of Austin Shakespeare and creator of the Young Shakespeare company.

We welcome several new company members to the cast this year but we also have some longtime company members joining us, sometimes, for the fourth year in a row.

Here are some cast members whom you may remember:

Brutus: Georgia McLeland (Thomasina in Austin Shakeps's "Arcadia")
Mark Antony: Liam Dolan-Henderson (Hector in Troilus and Cressida)
Cassius: Kelsey Hockmuller (Odysseus in Troilus and Cressida)

Please join us at Richard Garriot's Curtain Theater for a night of classic Shakespeare for two weekends, Thursdays-Sundays at 8 PM. Opening June 21st.

"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!"

Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, Austin Shakespeare at the Rollins Theatre, Long Center, February 2 - 19

Last Friday the first question to Director Ann Ciccolella during Austin Shakespeare's regular post-performance talk-back with the audience was "How do you choose the plays for the Austin Shakespeare season?"

"The language," Ciccolella replied without hesitation. 'I'm always looking for plays that are rich in language, like this one."

Tom Stoppard's Arcadia shines with wit and whimsicality. The dialogues between these characters are so quick and clever that sometimes you perch on the edge of your seat, breathlessly holding back your laughter so that you won't miss a single syllable. This is wit writ deep -- in the characters, their contrasting views of the world and their social positions; in dissembling, feuding and courtship; and in the juxtaposition and then the overlapping within the same genteel English estate of events that occurred in 1809 and modern- day investigations of those events by archeologists and academics. The message is that truth is unknowable and that life occurs only in the flicker and illumination of the present moment.

Unlike other arts, theatre performances occur in all four dimensions. The fourth, that of time, is the most challenging, for actions occurring before your eyes will never exactly replicate themselves.

For example, we attended this remarkable production on the second day of a three-weekend run. Perhaps you witnessed it the night before or at some succeeding performance. We can exchange views about it -- about the superb acting, the richness of language, the verisimilitude of those English accents, Jonathan Hiebert's costumes, Jason Amato's mastery of mood and lighting, the startling simplicity and sublime concept of Ia Ensterä's set. But we were not there at the event. Language fails to capture adequately even a shared reality; how much more tenuous it becomes when we describe different although related events.

In keeping with that theme, Arcadia is both an investigation and a detective story. It opens in 1809 as impecunious tutor Septimus Hodge is artfully avoiding difficult questions posed by his aristocratic pupil Thomasina Coverly. "Carnal embrace" becomes a theme of equivocation, not only in the classroom but also when outraged versifier Ezra Chater accuses Hodge and demands the satisfaction of a duel.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Troilus and Cressida, Austin Young Shakespeare at the Curtain Theatre, June 23 - July 3

Although the performance took place in the idyllic lakeside setting for The Curtain Theatre, Troilus and Cressida was no picnic. Austin Shakespeare put this summer's 16-member Young Shakespeare teen troupe into one of Shakespeare's grimmest and most cynical works.

The epic characters of Homer's Iliad manifest gallantry and heroic courtesy, and the Trojan lovebirds Troilus and Cressida, grafted from medieval courtly romances via Chaucer, plunge into oaths and carnal pleasure. But the guiding spirits here are lechery in the form of uncle Panderus and spite, in the figure of bitter, railing Thersites. Shakespeare viciously undercuts the build toward the romance as King Priam sends gentle Cressida to her traitor father Calcas in the Greek camp in exchange for a captured Trojan noble. The playwright gratifies the audience with some exultant, head-banging combat between heroes but then empties the meaning from their courtesies in the final scene when Achilles ambushes the weaponless Hector and cuts his throat.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Comedy of Errors, Young Shakespeare at the Curtain Theatre, June 25 - 28

Playing Shakespeare is art but it is also craft, and there's no better way to learn both aspects than by studying and rehearsing under the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher. Austin Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors illustrates that dictum and provides fine summer evening delights at the Curtain Theatre.

The lively young company has been forced by the unusually brutal heat to cancel two afternoon matinees -- both Saturday and Sunday. But don't hesitate to drive the very short distance to the Curtain, located lakeside just west of the 360 bridge, for the evening performances that remain. Last Thursday was equally hot during the day, but as promised by Alex Alford to KEYE-TV, the 8 p.m. performance was cooled by breezes from the water.

This is sprightly Shakespeare, an early work that trades on confusions of identity, separated families, married love and budding romance. There's lots of jesting and farce. The production moves quickly, arriving at its happy ending in just about 2 hours, including the intermission. The young players take visible delight in the action, and we in the audience share fully that pleasure.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .