Outsider's Perspective

Hello wonderful theater lovers! We are busy working on our production of “Macbeth” and it is shaping up to be, if I do say so myself, quite extraordinary.

I struggled, at first, to see the big picture of this play. I know these characters. I know what they want and why they fail or succeed throughout the course of the play. We had done extensive table work and text analysis, but I still didn’t quite understand what exactly the world of our version of “Macbeth” was going to be, until we really started really exploring the witches.

Without giving too much away, we decided in initial meetings about this production that we wanted the witches to be the storytellers. This is from their perspective; their version of the story of “Macbeth.” Then the questions really begin: who are these witches? What does it mean to be a witch? Why are they telling this story?

Lindsay, our wonderful director, told us to start thinking of these witches as outsiders. For whatever reason, choice or force, they live outside of normal society. Maybe they are deformed or maybe something happened to them that has forced them out of society. The more we explore the life of these witches the more I understand why they are telling the story and what their “Scotland” looks like. It is deformed. It is a co-dependent community of outsiders that need to tell this story.

I am very excited to explore this further. I am very excited to bring this all together!

Holly for The Tempest Ladies!

A Long Time A-Comin'

The title of this blog refers to the fact that this is the FIRST post here for yours truly, Julia Giolzetti. I have been with the Tempest Ladies for almost 2 years (!!!!) so this post is well overdue.

Aaanyway, we are now well under way with Macbeth rehearsals, and even have preliminary blocking down for a few scenes. This is insanely exciting, especially for me, since I was brought in after all this work had been done for the Tempest. The collaborative efforts I am experiencing are invigorating and my spirit is lifted after every meeting with these gals.

I must also mention that we have a director this time around! Lindsay Tanner, who is a dear friend of Stacey and I from Tisch, is joining our madcap ensemble as an outside eye, Shakespeare text detective, and all-around ringleader. Our first day with her consisted of hours of witchy role-playing in dim candlelight. Last Sunday, we reviewed how to walk like a man, talk like a man, walk like a man my s-o-o-o-n. Sorry, I'm listening to Frankie Valli as I write this. Anyways, we puffed out our chests, broadened our shoulders, balled our fists, and flattened our steps. We noticed how, even though we don't consider ourselves to be girlie girls, our hips have a natural sway to them. But when inhabiting a male character, it's all about taking up as much space as your body permits. That means your steps are wider and, by default, your hips stay facing straight ahead.

I've been trying out my dude moves in public, particularly on the subway. If you're a female who has taken public transit, you're probably familiar with the phenomen that is men using their legs/thighs to take as much space as possible. With my new dude moves, I'm able to claim my own space in the way men do. It's a far more comfortable ride after you push a man's legs out of your space with your own legs.

But back to Macbeth. It's very important for us to be as accurate as possible with our male characters--once the audience stops noticing we're actually women, they can focus more on the story. Some would ask, why then wouldn't we just cast men? Well, for one, our company is the Tempest Ladies, but the main reason is if this play was done with all the right genders, only 3 or 4 women would have a speaking role in a cast of 20. Same goes for the Tempest, where the female roles come to a whopping ONE. Same goes for Hamlet (2), Romeo and Juliet (4, 1 of whom is Lady Montague which....come on), Julius Caesar (2), and even Antony & Cleopatra (2!) And let's not even start on the History plays (looking at you Henry IV, BOTH PARTS). Being a Shakespearean actress is not an easy venture outside of this company. In fact, most of the shows I've done outside the Tempest Ladies have ended up being male roles anyway (Boy in Henry V, Pisanio in Cymbeliene, Snug in Midsummer). Plus, the theater community is already over saturated with talented attractive 20 something women, so even getting seen for a female Shakespeare role is like finding an empty cab during a downpour--unlikely.

On top of all that, given the opportunity, what woman wouldn't want to take a crack at Mackers? Lady M is of course one of the best roles the Bard ever wrote for women, but her husband is equally complex, compelling, and completely bonkers by the end. Don't assume that because we are performing an all-female Macbeth that this will be all about girl power and Lady M...quite the opposite. While we are putting a lot of emphasis in these early rehearsals on the witches' storytelling/framing aspects, our discussions always come back to the man himself. You will see each of us take him on, both in scenes and in soliloquy. We aim to offer a truly unique production of this show, where you physically see Macbeth's mind contort, transform, and internally struggle with his murders. By the frantic final showdown, you will see 5 Macbeths full of impotent rage, ready to take on a castle of rebels.

I'm afraid I've already revealed too much. Thank you for reading this far, and stay tuned for more Mackers updates!

Love,
TTL

Illegal Behavior

I had the amazing fortune of going to Washington DC over the weekend to visit my brother. I had never been before and though I knew about the obvious attractions; the White House, the Kennedy Center, the Presidential Memorials… etc., what I was not expecting to find was my way into the exclusive Shakespeare library of Henry Clay Folger.

I have to tell you, the staff at Folger’s Shakespeare Library is very accommodating to young ladies travelling on their own. I noticed that few tourists venture further east of the Mall than the Capitol Building and so I sensed a deep and amused appreciation that I, a tourist and not a scholar, a young woman travelling alone, would be one of the few attracted to this library. I also think it was this appreciation that saved my ass later.

When you enter the building, the first and only room you see is a long hall with different relics. It seemed more like a museum than a library… which is fine. Immediately to your left as you enter is a glass case which holds one of the First Folios. The folio was standing up with the dedication page open, and you could flip through the rest of the pages on a digitalized screen beneath. I swiped through the pages of Romeo and Juliet and teared up at the experience. I felt a bit silly but reading the First Folio in person was amazing to me.

But just wait.

My eyes filmed up and my skin prickled at an ELECTRONIC copy of the First Folio… so you can imagine the sensation that coursed through me when I found, behind thick, heavy, dark green velvet curtains, a door that was left unlocked, and entered into none other than the actual Folger’s Shakespeare Library.

It was massive: two floors, stain-glassed windows, mahogany tables, old authoritative looking people behind big desks… and it was frigidly cold. It was what you would expect of any “off-limits to the general public” library. I pretended like I was meant to be there and I walked straight to the first shelf. I skimmed through dictionaries, many faded red/green/blue covered colossal books that all look identical to the next and eventually found The First Folio in person. It weighed at least 10 pounds. I crossed the room and took my seat and flipped through each and every page. The first play was ‘The Tempest’ which I felt was deliciously appropriate. Each time anyone passed by me I buried my nose deeper into the bind of the book. I realized quickly that in order to be there you had to be an authorized “Reader”. That means a professional researcher who has been granted special permission to access the library for research. I could say I was there for research and I wouldn't be lying, but I was no “Reader.”

As you can imagine I, of course, got caught on the way out because the door by which I had entered was locked by the time I was finally ready to leave. I had to go out the main entrance where I was asked to show proof of my “Readers Pass”. I played dumb, the guard played dumbfounded. She sent me back into the library where I looked for another escape route. I was considering a window when the main librarian found me. She luckily was extremely sweet and amused by the situation. She told me she had a feeling I was not meant to be in there but it was her fault for not catching me sooner. She escorted me out and that was that.

I think the only thing missing from this story is a more severe punishment at the end but as I said earlier, there is something kind of great about a young person sneaking into a library to read a book. No? I would admire that and I think that the staff at Folger’s felt the same way.

Overall it was an exceptional trip, and this anecdote was just the cherry on top of the sundae.

**Fun fact: The First Folio was assembled by Shakespeare’s friends/members of his theater company, The King’s Men, a few years after his death. It was a gesture to commemorate their dear friend and a means for his work to live on for years after his life. They compiled all of the pages of his work that they had between them and sculpted together the first full works. They received a publishing deal and printed only around 750 copies of the First Folio. Of those 750, only between 240-250 copies survive today and Folger’s owns one third of them. Due to the printing mechanism of that time, no two copies are exactly the same. Cool, huh?

Cuts, cuts, cuts!

"Is this a dagger which I see before me..."

"They met me in the day of success..."

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow..."

How can you possibly cut the beautiful words of William Shakespeare? Let me explain that sometimes this truly is a painful process. There is so much important information in the text because at the time that was all Shakespeare had! Fortunately, now we have the tools to effectively tell the story of Macbeth without all of the text.

We spent one whole rehearsal meticulously reading through the script and cutting. We always keep scansion in mind, but we especially pay attention to important story details. We certainly cannot cut out Duncan’s death right? (Whoops sorry for the spoiler)! We even cut something that got put back in. Our fearless and talented director, Lindsay Tanner (who will be introduced in the next post), was able to shed light on a scene that we were too quick to judge as unnecessary!

We hope for the show to run 90 minutes without an intermission!

Our Next Venture: Mackers!

Hello Readers! Long time no blog! I'm sure you all are aware of how busy we have been traveling, teaching, performing and creating these past months!

You’ve all especially been hearing our updates about our upcoming production of Macbeth. But what does a Tempest Lady production entail? The next series of blog posts will, hopefully, shed some light and get you as excited as we are about this production!

Pick the show: Originally we all had discussed continuing on with Twelfth Night, but after some reconsideration we decided that Macbeth was the best choice for a next piece.

But why Macbeth?

First, from a marketing stand-point, since we have been expanding our educational department we decided it would be a good idea to choose a play that is taught in schools. That leads us with four options: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer’s Nights Dream, Hamlet, and Macbeth. All of these plays are wonderful but there is something about Macbeth that drew us to it.


The driving force in this play is ‘the witches’. They start the show. They are always present. We have toiled with theatrical magic before with The Tempest but dark magic is something entirely different.


That brings me to the next point, Macbeth is completely different from The Tempest. Aside from the fact that it is a tragedy, it is also a much more psychological. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both descend into madness because of this need for absolute power.

So much of the play revolves around the idea of manhood. Many of the characters, including Lady M, find their manhood or question it throughout the play. Lady M goes as far as to change herself into a man or an androgynous being so that she has no remorse for the death of Duncan. How can we, an all female company, shed more light on this issue?

These were a few of the major factors that helped us pick the beautiful and dark play to be our next installment!

Stay tuned for the next important step: Cuts!!!

Love,
TTL