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Show IAK Offers More Shakespeare I ... v- I f .7 - mmx imp' f - - iiiiiiiii iY ' 1 ) , . A and seeing it grow nas been a pleasure for me as the director." Besides playing "Hotspur" in "Henry" Anthony Leger is facing the dual challenge of directing "Shrew." He played the part of "Petru-chio" "Petru-chio" in IAE's earlier version ver-sion of the play. This time he's directing Van Beere in the part. "My biggest challenge is to make the play different from Ron's production produc-tion yet fit it into the guidelines he has established estab-lished for the festival," says Leger. "I want a more comic production but one that speaks to the heart." "I guess," Burnett continues con-tinues where Leger leaves off. "if anything, we want the audiences to come and enjoy 'the mountain and the people who are on the stage. We'd like them to leaye with a sense of having seen good theatre that happens to be four hundred years old." Burnett says IAE's biggest challenge is to break down the audience resistance to Shakespeare and get them to enjoy and love his plays. "They have done that very well in Cedar City during the last twenty years. I hope we can do as well. IAE has Please turn to page 5B by Anne Burnett The challenge facing the Intermountain Actors En-- En-- semble this summer as they mount Park City's first Shakespeare festival at the Park West Ski Resort is to . correct some myths that have grown up around the production produc-tion of Shakespearean plays. Myth number one according accord-ing to festival director Ron Burnett has to do with the use of "British accents" by ' the actors. Noted American Shakespearean director John Houseman,- whose notes on the stagingx of classics Burnett is using, says "Bunk! Elizabethan English is closer to American speech. Elizabethans would not understand British and most American actors sound phony using British accents." ac-cents." Myth number two "you have to have full sets." Burnett notes the theatres of the Elizabethan era used "suggested" scenery. "Almost all festivals in America including the Cedar City festival use suggested scenery on a platform stage. The Park West resort is almost Elizabethan in its structure. The resort area location chosen for the plays represents what it must have been like when actors presented pre-sented plays in the days of William Shakespeare. " The setting is perfect. I knew the moment I saw the area that IAE had found the. perfect setting for its festival and resort officials .have bent oer backwards to help us." Myth number three, "you ha e to have trained classical actors to do Shakespeare." Again, both Houseman and Burnett disagree with the' rr;i!. makers. "Our cast, f whom have never .i i! the classics, have ? "m all over to play in .Nt:val. They represent a variety of talents and interests but they have one thing in common. They love theatre and they all agree Shakespeare wrote great 'living' plays." Myth number four has to do with timeliness, "the idea that you must present the plays within a context of history." "These plays have lasted over four hundred years and speak just as well to a modern audience as they did to an Elizabethan one," says Burnett. "When Sir John Falstaff speaks to the subject of honor in 'Henry IV, Part I' you are reminded of England's recent war against Argentina over the Falkland Islands. The conflicts between Prince Hal and his father and Kate and Petru-chio Petru-chio in 'The Taming of. the Shrew' are as familiar to us , as those within our own families. . Shakespeare's people are flesh and blood not something from a museum. They are the substance of good theatre and must be presented on the stage as such not as stuffed shirts from ages past." In that same vein, Burnett continues, "when we last did Shrew several people complained com-plained because it didn't fit the stereotypes they had expected of a classicafplay. Our new production of the m play directed by Anthony -Leger is a wider departure from what is considered 'classical theatre' and all the stuffiness that mvth implies." im-plies." "Henry IV. Part I is the first of Shakespeare's plays that portrays the Bard's most " roguish character "Sir John Falstaff." Burnett says the festival is fortunate in having one of Park City's more talented actors in the part, Quint Bishop. "Quint has done a lot of classical theatre," notes Burnett "and he has a sense of where he wants to go with the part. Working with him on the role photo by Anne L. Burnett Prince Hal left Steve Nfchol and Hotspur Anthony Leeerl Hght to death In "Henry IV. Part I" opening July 9 ,t Pari! More Shakespeare Continued from Page 4B always been drawn to challenges chal-lenges and this summer represents our biggest yet. ' "The Taming of the Shrew" will open the festival on July 8 at 8:30 p.m. on the grass at Park West followed by "Henry IV, Part I" on July 9. The two productions will then alternate in repertory on the following Thursday and Friday evenings even-ings through August 6. Tickets are $4.00 and $3.50 and will be on sale starting July 5 by calling 649-6208. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. to accommodate playgoers who are invited to picnic on the grass before the show. Blankets for the ground and warm jackets are suggested to cope with cooler evening breezes. |