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"Measure for Measure" is, for me, one of Shakespeare's most modern plays because it deals with society
not unlike ours, in which there's a lot of freedom and yet, there's a lot of misuse of
that freedom, and how do you actually control a society that's kind of spinning out of control
in many different ways because there's been so much kind of personal liberty and perhaps
taken too far, and how do you deal with that, and this very interesting comedy drama addresses
that with some incredible characters from all walks of life and I think it's a play
that speaks to us now as strongly as any play of Shakespeare's.
There are not a whole lot of musicals based on classic plays, and "Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum" is totally based on a great comedy by Plautus, who, actually,
Shakespeare used that writer as a basis of his "Comedy of Errors." It is one of the funniest
musicals ever written. It has an incredible, fast, and zany plot, but it also marks the
great entrance of Stephen Sondheim--up until that point, had been a lyricist--as a composer
of the musical theater, and so we know that not only is this a play based on a classic,
but also the debut of a person who has become a classic in his own right and perfect for
the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
If you're never seen "The Importance of Being Earnest," you have one of the richest comic
experiences awaiting you. It is certainly one of the most brilliant comedies in the
English language, and there is no better director than Keith Baxter, who has done two of the
Wilde plays so far, "The Ideal Husband" and "Lady Windermere's Fan," which were both clever
and beautiful and rich with a sense of experience of the characters to direct it.
"Henry IV, Part 1," along with its partner, "Part 2," is Shakespeare's incredible, incredible
portrayal of an entire world, an entire society, but it focuses on both the growth of Prince
Hal, from a guy who is sowing his wild oats to somebody who begins to accept--which might
have been odious to him--the responsibility towards leadership, and the fact that a young
man has basically two fathers: A cold and distant and somewhat guilt-ridden Henry IV,
his father, and a kind of a down and out man, larger than life, full of excess on everyone,
every level, Falstaff, and these are his two fathers, and eventually, eventually, he's
forced to choose, and along the way, it's a terrific ride.
Part 2, which is done--"Henry IV, Part 2"--which is done much less frequently, is ... in Part
1, is about the growth of these young people. Part 2 is really about the coming of age and
decline into the older generation, and how that mirrors a kind of melancholy, a kind
of richness of experience, a kind of the end of it. It's almost Jacobian to me, and I've
never gotten a chance to do the whole thing, and now I will.
In any discussion of the great comedies in the English language, "Private Lives" is up
there at the top. Often, it's seen as a frivolous play, but it is, in addition to being the
wittiest play that Noël Coward wrote, it is also strangely deep about relationships,
about men and women, and I don't think there's any better director than Maria Aitken, who
is known as one of the great actors in Noël Coward to direct it and she has a wonderful
cast, and I think ... I'm really looking forward to it.