The Virginia Shakespeare Festival takes center
stage this month, opening a series of
three plays ranging from tragedy to wild,
physical comedy. It’s the 30th anniversary
of the annual festival and the plays were
chosen to celebrate the occasion.
Traditionally the festival has presented one production
in the smaller studio theater of Phi Beta
Kappa. This year all three productions will be presented
on PBK’s main stage. That will allow for more
people to take in the fun.
Shakespeare’s popular, “The Taming of the Shrew,”
will open the festival June 25 and run through July 6.
That will be followed by the epic tragedy, “Othello,”
July 11-20 and “The Complete History of America
Abridged,” July 24- Aug. 3.
Festival artistic director, Christopher Owens looks
forward to the season and will direct “The Complete
History” in addition to overseeing the productions.
“I’m going to have fun, personally directing a wild
contemporary comedy instead of my usual
Shakespeare,” Owens said recently.
Owens added that this year, the actors will wear
hidden microphones to boost sound and clarity.
“I do think the sound improvement will be quite
dramatic, particularly for those less familiar with
Shakespeare,” he said.
The lineup should result in solid ticket sales. “The
Taming of the Shrew” is probably one of the most
known of Shakespeare’s comedies. It pits the fiery
Kate against Petruchio in a physical and intellectual
battle of the sexes.
It will be directed by James Bond, an accomplished
Shakespearean director. He is setting the play in the
18th century, in a world of high manners and social
decorum. Owens said the play lends itself well to that
interpretation.
Playing Petruchio will be Equity actor Jens
Rasmussen, who has more than 20 Shakespearean
roles to his credit. It will be the first time he takes on
Petruchio. Matching wits with him as the fiery Kate
will be Catherine Gowl.
“Othello,” which tells the story about duplicity and
jealousy will be directed by W&M faculty director
Laurie Wolf. The production features Equity actor
Michael Johnson as Othello and Jason Weiss who will
take on the quintessential villain, Iago. Barrie Kreinik,
who appeared in last season’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost”
will play the fated Desdemona.
Wolf’s production will be set in post-apartheid
South Africa, but Owens promised that the language
and storyline will remain intact.
For those unfamiliar with the production, Iago is
one of Shakespeare’s most cunning and dastardly
characters. Owens said Weiss had the characteristics
necessary to play the role effectively.
“In all the men we read (for the role), he was really
the one with the most subtext going on,” Owens
said.“You watch him on stage and you can just see the
wheels turning inside his head.”
The final production of the season is the wacky
“The Complete History of America Abridged.” That
follows on the heels of the immensely successful “The
Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged” a couple
seasons ago.
Owens has two of the cast members of “Complete
Works” returning for the production, which should
boost the comedy to hilarity. Karl Kippola and Matt
McGloin will lead the romp through America’s history
with improvisation and audience participation.
“Even in the scripted parts, it seems like those guys
are making a lot of it up on the spot,” Owens said. “It
pokes fun a lot of fun at elements of political correctness
in what actually became known as our American
history.”
Owens added that the production will have particular
relevance because of the upcoming presidential
election.
“I do think that it will have much of the same
impact ‘Complete Works’ did, where audiences came
back to see it again, for obvious humor and to see
where the guys will go with it on that particular
night.”
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