Sunday, July 14, 2024

Great River Shakespeare Festival 2024 Season

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to return to the Great River Shakespeare Festival with bloggers from Cherry and Spoon and The Stages of MN. This year, the summer festival is presenting two shows in repertory from June 27 to July 28: Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing

Izzy Heckman as the Watch, Marina Narvaez as Verges, and 
Tarah Flanagan as Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing. In
the background are Emily Fury Daly, Melissa Maxwell, 
Diana Coates, and Michael Fitzpatrick. Photo by Dan Norman. 

We first saw Much Ado About Nothing, which director Gaby Rodriguez has placed in a contemporary setting, with the backdrop of a block party to welcome back the returning soldiers. The best use of the setting was having Dogberry (Tarah Flanagan), Verges, and the Watch as the Neighborhood Watch, giving those characters a reason to be nosing around the proceedings and observing what the main characters are incapable of seeing. Flanagan's Dogberry leads the young actors playing Verges (Marina Narvaez alternating with Ruth Civettini) and the Watch (Izzy Heckman alternating with Morwyn Johnson) through the proceedings but makes the most of her defining speeches. 

Daniel Ajak and Emily Fury Daly make a cute pair as the young lovers Claudio and Hero, and I really appreciated the edits and directorial choices made to give Hero a little more agency at the end. Our main pair, the battling Beatrice and Benedick, are played by Melissa Maxwell and William Sturdivant, who are both veterans of the festival, and also appeared in this summer's Henriad plays at the Guthrie. Sturdivant is all swagger as Benedick and Maxwell is full of attitude as Beatrice. Both of them play up the physical comedy, using most parts of the rather spare set as their playground. 

With a main cast of only nine actors this season, roles are doubled up. Michael Fitzpatrick ably plays both Hero's father Leonato and Conrad, while Christopher Gerson takes on the wicked Don John and his compatriot Balthasar. I was particularly drawn to Diana Coates, who is new to the festival this year, but I hope to see again. Coates plays Hero's companion Margaret, as well as Leonato's brother, the aged Antonio, and Borachio, which if you know the play is kind of amusing, since other characters seeing Margaret and Borachio getting romantic causes the "Ado" of the title. Obviously, it's only mentioned in this production, and not shown! But Coates did a marvelous job of delineating her three characters with her body language. Even without costumes, you would immediately know which character she was portraying at any moment. 
Melissa Maxwell as Beatrice, Will Sturdivant as Benedick, 
Emily Fury Daly as Hero, and Diana Coates as Margaret 
in Much Ado About Nothing. Photo by Dan Norman.

I need to single out one actor in particular. Benjamin Boucvalt, who plays the role of Don Pedro, was unable to perform at the show we saw, and Alessandro Yokoyama stepped into the role seamlessly, with a commanding voice and presence that belied his youth. If we hadn't known he was an understudy, we wouldn't have guessed it.

The block party theme didn't entirely work for me, as I felt it was kind of ignored after the first scene or two, and this wasn't my favorite production of the play ever, but it had some interesting performances that made it worth seeing.

Tarah Flanagan as Hamlet. 
Photo by Benjamin Boucvalt.
The next afternoon we returned to the festival for Hamlet. Longtime company member Tarah Flanagan has long wanted to play Hamlet, and the stars have aligned this season for it to happen. Women have often played the role before, but this was my first experience with a female Hamlet. Generally, by the time an actor has the experience to inhabit the role, they are rather old to convincingly play a young man still in college. Flanagan's small stature helps her to embody the young prince, but it's her acting experience that really sells the story.

Flanagan's Hamlet, from the very start of the play, is a very young man coping with grief over his father's death and his mother, Gertrude's, rapid remarriage to Claudius, brother to the late King Hamlet and uncle to the young man. Hamlet feels this relationship is a betrayal of his father, so he is very susceptible when asked by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder. 

Gertrude and Claudius are played by Maxwell and Sturdivant, in a relationship far different from the one they play in Much Ado. Sturdivant's Claudius is commanding and no-nonsense, clearly capable of fratricide. Maxwell's Gertrude defers to her new husband, and seems almost beaten down by him. In contrast to others who have played the role as a woman who craves power above all, Maxwell sometimes appears to want to speak to and comfort her son. It's an interesting portrayal that I wish I'd seen more of, but I'm not sure if the full uncut script would give Gertrude any opportunity to connect with Hamlet. 

Most of the company play multiple roles again, all ably. Emily Fury Daly makes a haunting impression as Ophelia, confused by Hamlet's mercurial affections and later driven mad. Her breakdown is complete and affecting. But above all, this is Flanagan's play. She portrays all of Hamlet's moods without making him morose and showing real humor when confessing that she "knows a hawk from a handsaw." 

This production of Hamlet is a must-see. The spare scenery, but gorgeous design, and the skilled, subtle work of director Doug Scholz-Carlson all serve Flanagan's singular performance. 

In addition to the two plays presented in rep, Great River Shakespeare Festival always adds a little extra in their festivals. You can see post-show talkbacks on Thursday and join the cast and other theatergoers for ice cream after the show on Friday and Saturday nights. We love the Sunday morning company conversations, held at Blooming Grounds coffee shop, where the cast and creatives dig deep into issues around the plays and their process. And don't forget to arrive early to see their acting apprentices perform short scenes and give some insight into the plays. 

Winona is a charming town, a lovely two-hour drive from the Twin Cities, and the plays are some of the best theater you'll see all year. If only the cute bookstores downtown were open on Sundays! Still, a lovely summer theater road trip and one we highly recommend!