From the Ventura County Star:
Shakespeare in summer
Festival in Thousand Oaks to include presentations of two of the Bard's works
By Meredith Rodriguez
June 30, 2005
"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" ring the metaphorical last words of King Richard, Shakespeare's murderously self-possessed villain, in "King Richard III."
"He's the most despicable Shakespeare character ever written," said Dale Adrian, line producer of the annual Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival.
Richard differs from the usual Shakespearian villain, according to Lane Davies, the actor who plays him. His singularity contrasts Iago and Macbeth, who in Shakespearian fashion provocatively struggle between shades of black and white.
"Richard is absolutely unconflicted in terms of his badness," Davies said.
But what is Shakespeare without inner turmoil?
Worry not, for, in "Richard III," turmoil may lie in the heart of the audience member.
"It's interesting the way Shakespeare does it," Davies said of the brilliantly crafted script. "He has his audience cheering for the villain."
Spellbound, the audience will revel in Richard's villainy at one moment, only to turn against him finally in the end.
Ah, well, such is the expected power of Shakespeare; masses have been subject to it for centuries.
This year and in this century, Shakespeare will again entrance audiences when the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company presents "King Richard III," along with the Bard's equally masterful "Merry Wives of Windsor," at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, for the ninth annual Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival, beginning Friday. For the next month, the community is invited to watch Shakespeare's storytelling genius come to life weekends at Kingsmen Park on campus.
"It is like a community campfire, where people gather around in the evening and sit to watch storytellers tell a story," Davies said of the atmosphere. "And the fact that we use many of the same actors from season to season gives the audience a company that they can identify with as their own."
Television actors, such as Anne Lockhart of "Battlestar Galactica," Julia Duffy of "Designing Women" and Davies, who has appeared in various sitcoms, will perform alongside volunteers, apprentices and CLU interns who help maintain a professional arena.
"We have built a high-quality professional theater," Adrian said, "and at unheard-of prices."
Entrance is free for those under 18; general admission is $10 for adults. Reservable box seats near the front of the stage are $65 for premium sites or $50 for side-box seats, which fit four to six adults.
"Merry Wives" performances will alternate weekends with "Richard III."
" 'Merry Wives' is very funny," said Kristine Ritterbush, director of five kids' summer acting camps -- yet another summer service the company provides. "It has a modern feel, a sitcom feeling the audience will relate to a lot."
"Merry Wives" is in stark contrast to the dark-humored, monster-movielike "Richard," according to "Merry Wives" director Allan Hunt.
The comedy "Merry Wives" is the company's fifth show directed by Hunt.
"They want me to keep doing it until I get it right," he joked.
Return of Falstaff
The comedy's main character, the mischievous Falstaff, though not as villainous as Richard, remains arguably as vibrant.
"Falstaff is one of the most beloved Shakespeare characters of all time," Hunt said. "He was in 'Henry IV' and 'Henry V.' "
At the request of Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare featured the famous Falstaff again in "Merry Wives."
"This marks the only instance Shakespeare was commissioned to write a play," Hunt said.
In Shakespearean fashion, however, the debonaire Falstaff encores with a twist. This time, he is old and plump.
"He thinks he's God's gift to women," Hunt said. However, "he doesn't look like he used to; he has this big paunch."
Another twist lies in the play's setting -- for who can imagine what Shakespeare would look like in 1960s-era London?
"There's gonna be flower people and girls in go-go boots, kind of like Austin Powers," Hunt said of the Kingsmen performance. "And we're going to use background music that is going to be 100 percent Beatles."
Falstaff himself will humorously appear in "too-tight bell bottoms," he said.
Again, when the two wives who Falstaff clumsily tries to woo throughout the play compare their identical love letters from him, "they will be under hair dryers in a beauty salon," Hunt said, "instead of the typical bench scene."
The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company believes replacing Elizabethan dress with familiar costumes clarifies Shakespeare's complex and often overwhelming language, according to Hunt.
"It is our hope that if the play were in Italian, it would still be understandable," Hunt said. "We want to make it audience-friendly."
Family affair
Clarity is pertinent because families make up most of the audience, according to Hunt.
They often appear at 5:30 p.m., placing their dinners, blankets and requested "low" lawn chairs on the sloped hillside for the night's preshow.
The preshow begins with skits performed by the company's high-school-age "junior apprentices," and it ends at 7:20 p.m. after a "green show" of actors' sketch comedy and singing.
Finally at 8, the play begins.
"Basically, if you come early enough, you get three shows," Hunt said.
Adding to the timelessness, audience members will see performances outdoors.
"To watch a Shakespeare under the stars is exactly as Shakespeare intended it," Hunt said.