The familiar smell of bug spray greeted director Alexandra London-Thompson from across the Tisbury Amphitheatre. Ten years later and everything still looked the same too. The dirt stage. The mosquitoes. The tangled trails. Everything.
A nostalgic Mrs. London-Thompson returned to the Tisbury Amphitheatre this summer as the director of Much Ado About Nothing, which had its premiere last Thursday evening. Ten years earlier she starred alongside her husband in the same play, the last time the MV Playhouse produced the show.
This is Ms. London-Thompson’s directorial debut for the MV Playhouse and she couldn’t be happier about the choice of the production.
“There are so many phenomenal opportunities for actors, even the smaller roles in this show are really rich and exciting roles for actors” she said. “As somebody who started as an actor, that’s really important to me when I choose plays I want to direct.”
Ms. London-Thompson grew up in Montreal and after graduating from McGill University, she earned postgraduate degrees in Shakespearean studies at both King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She currently serves as the director of drama at the Miss Porter’s School in Connecticut, an all-girl’s boarding school where she lives throughout the year.
Ms. London-Thompson vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard as a child and began work at the Tisbury Amphitheatre as an understudy in the production of Othello over 20 years ago. She describes Much Ado About Nothing as one of her top-three favorite works written by Shakespeare.
“The thing I love about it, is that it is both a comedy and a drama,” she said.
The play comically focuses on the back-and-forth banter between characters Beatrice and Benedick. They refuse to admit their love for one another while their friends manipulate the two star-crossed lovers. Rumors spread between them, nearly leading to disaster.
“I find this play so fascinating because that’s exactly what happens,” Ms. London-Thompson said. “This notion that if I feel like manipulating language, catastrophic things can happen.”
Typically the play’s plot occurs in a time of war. But for this production, it occurs just after one of the supporting characters wins a Senate bid.
“I specifically made it a bit more political but not partisan in any way,” she said. The current political situation in America inspired the director to change the script, especially as November’s presidential election creeps closer.
The cast consists of Vineyarders and other actors from all over the country. Lowes Moore 3rd, who plays Borachio, performs as an actor in Los Angeles. Ellie Brelis, who plays Hero, plans to graduate from Emerson College in 2017 with a bachelor of fine arts in acting.
Two Island residents star as the production’s main characters. Chelsea McCarthy, a Vineyard native, plays Beatrice. She grew up in West Tisbury and returns to the amphitheatre after appearing in last summer’s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Brooke Ditchfield plays Benedick. Mrs. Ditchfield moved to the Vineyard after earning her MFA in acting from Boston University. She currently runs the theatre department at the regional high school. Her role as a male character demonstrates a common cross-gender practice by Shakespeare.
The play begins at 5 p.m., Wednesdays through Saturdays until August 13 at the Tisbury Amphitheatre by the Tashmoo Overlook. Tickets cost $20 for adults over 30. Those under 30 pay $10.
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