Three Shakespeare plays in an hour. Thirteen actors. No rehearsals until the day of the show. Who’s up for performing?
That is essentially the pitch Nicole Galland gave a few weeks ago for the latest Shakespeare for the Masses production to be performed at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse on April 2 and 3.
“Actually, it will be more like an hour and 15 minutes,” Ms. Galland said, “when you include the swordfights and pantomime.”
Ms. Galland was speaking in hushed tones, sitting indoors on the Cross Island Ferry from Long Island, while gale force winds howled outside. Whispers of swordplay while on a stormy sea seemed perfect for a theatre company whose mission is to bring Shakespeare to the people in a rough and tumble way. The theatre troupe strips down the plays, adapting them to make the stories faster, more accessible, full of humor and free of charge, while at the same time staying true to Mr. Shakespeare’s vision.
The shows this weekend are a bear, there is no other way to describe trying to shoehorn three plays into a little more than an hour — Richard II and Henry IV, parts one and two.
“We tell Richard II in about 19 minutes,” Ms. Galland said. “Usually it’s about 2.5 hours.”
Ms. Galland works with Chelsea McCarthy to adapt the scripts and direct the show, often starring in it too. Ms. Galland and Ms. McCarthy chose these three plays do to at one time because they form a continuous narrative; Henry IV (played by Molly Purves) appears in all three plays. The other principal players are Chris Brophy as Richard II, Chris Roberts as Prince Hal and Brian Ditchfield as Falstaff.
This is the eighth season for Shakespeare for the Masses, and the players have it down to a science, sort of, leaving room in the test tube for creative explosions. After all, it is a show done with just one rehearsal, the day of the show.
“We send out the script to the actors about a week before,” Ms. Galland said. “Then we have one rehearsal for about four hours the day of the show.”
After rehearsal the actors take a bit of a breather — eat a plate of pasta, do yoga, hit the sensory deprivation chamber, binge watch Game of Thrones, run wind sprints, read more Shakespeare — everyone has a different style. Then it’s showtime.
This weekend’s shows are Saturday, April 2, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 3, at noon at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, 24 Church street, Vineyard Haven. All shows are free, but donations are accepted.
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