By BRIANA SPINA
Staff Writer
Three of Shakespeare’s plays were paired with their contemporary musical counterparts last Saturday at the Saint Rose Theatre in an innovative performance called Battle of the Bard.
The show was a scene festival that incorporated Hamlet and The Lion King, Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, and The Taming of the Shrew and Kiss Me Kate. In total, there were six scenes, one from each show.
Director Lauren D’Annibale said the show is different from what people may have seen before.
“You don’t often get to see shows that run on a balance like Bard does,” she said, “Each scene and musical number was chosen with the idea of providing a balance to its counterpart.”
One example is the the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet,
“It’s sweet and romantic, it’s full of hope for a new and budding relationship,” said D’Annibale. “The counter to that scene is West Side Story’s “Somewhere,” which is quite a melancholic scene that takes place near the end of the musical. It’s much heavier, and while there is a building hope throughout the scene, it’s very much weighed down by the intense consequences that Tony and Maria’s relationship have brought about.”
This is a completely new experience for D’Annibale, who has been involved with the Saint Rose Theatre for about five years as an actress, stage manager, and director. Bard is her second directing experience, and she drew inspiration from her current studies as a graduate student in Literacy as well as her position as an adolescent English teacher.
“This is really a perfect integration of so much of what I’m learning,” she said, “Showcasing the classics in a new format to give a more universal appeal and bridge gaps for people from so many different backgrounds and experiences is what I strive to do when I teach, and Bard is the perfect way to go about doing that.”
The cast is made up of fourteen people, whom D’Annibale describes as “wonderful and talented.” She thoroughly enjoyed working with this group of actors, she said.
The actors loved working on Bard with D’Annibale. Aileen Burke, a sophomore who plays Kate in the Kiss Me Kate scene, likes how this show and her role allow her to “interact with the audience,” particularly through a song called “I Hate Men.”
Burke describes being part of the show as not only fun, but “super educational” in the way she got to interact with these stories from within rather than from the outside as a reader or viewer. Specifically, she was able to gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s work:
“There is so much attention to detail, and when you put the time in, he’s really easy to get due to the level of imagery and detail in his writing.”
Having been practicing consistently since October, the cast is proud of how their effort
paid off.. D’Annibale likewise is proud of them and the work that she herself had to put into this unique show.
“While I do work with Shakespeare quite often with students, I’ve never really been able to take time to pick apart the stories the way Bard has forced me to,” she said, “We only get snapshots of the whole story, it really is so important to make sure that I was really understanding what was being said and why it was being said. The scenes needed to stand strong independent of their full source, and reading into each scene like this has been a lot of fun.”
Later this month, the Theatre will be putting on The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of A Christmas Carol (Nov. 16 at 8:00 p.m. and Nov. 19 & 20 at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.).
Though casting for Farndale is already finished, D’Annibale emphasizes that there are always opportunities to get involved in the Saint Rose Theatre. There will be performance opportunities in the spring, and the department is always looking for help with behind-the-scenes work. Connect with the Saint Rose Theatre on social media for news and updates.
