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Home , Gertrude Lawrence, Glenda Jackson, John Falstaff, Lindsay Duncan, Maid Marian, Private Lives

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Newsletter • Summer 2019

commitment to do another play, so Coward threatened that he was going to cast another actress, but unknown to Coward, Lawrence had cleared her THE DIRECTOR’S TAKE schedule and was already learning her lines while staying at a villa in South- By Dennis Razze, play . Coward and Law- Eastern France. Coward joined her rence were great friends, some even Associate Artistic Director there in July, and they began working believed lovers, but that is unlikely. on the play together. first became aware of the Coward did adore Lawrence even playwright, composer, and though they often wrangled. Cow- By August they were back in Lon- I raconteur Noël Coward when I was ard wrote Private Lives while he was don rehearsing the play with the two in college. The fledgling Allentown on tour in Asia. He contracted a bad actors who would play Sibyl College theatre company produced case of the flu in Shanghai and was and Victor Prynne. Coward cast his musical comedy . This ill for two weeks. During that time, Adrianne Allen and 1936 musical in one act was part of a he drafted the shape of a play that as the honeymooning spouses because collection of plays known as Tonight at he felt that they needed to be attrac- 8:30. The original production starred would become Private Lives, and he wrote the actual script in four days. He tive people who would be credible Noël Coward and famed British marriage partners to Elyot and Aman- actress as George immediately sent copies of the play to da. While rehearsing the play, the and Pepper who were a husband Gertrude Lawrence and his manager and wife touring duo that performed to ask their reactions to the play. He Lord Chamberlain—who must ap- in the provincial English . I also asked Lawrence to reserve the fall prove all plays for production—took thought it was great fun, and I became of that year to star opposite him in a exception to the second act love scene even more intrigued by Coward when production of the play which he would because the couple was divorced and we produced Oh, Coward!, a musical also direct in . now married to others. Coward went of Coward’s acerbically witty himself to plead the case of the play songs like “Don’t Put Your Daughter Coward received as many as thirty by performing the entirety of it before on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington!” as telegrams back from Lawrence who the censor, and saying that the scene well as some of his love first said that the play had “nothing would not be objectionable due to his songs like “I’ll See You Again.” wrong with it that can’t be fixed.” artful direction. The Lord Chamber- Audiences loved seeing Coward Coward shot back that the only thing lain relented and rehearsals continued. that was going to be fixed was her and Lawrence perform together, a continues on page 3... pairing that began with Coward’s 1930 performance. Lawrence had a previous The Playwright: Noël Coward Noël Peirce Coward was born in 1899 and made his professional stage debut as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish at the age of 12, leading to many child actor appearances over the next few years. His breakthrough in playwriting was the controversial The Vortex (1924) which featured themes of drugs and adultery and made his name as both actor and playwright in the West End and on Broadway. During the frenzied 1920s and the more sedate 1930s, Coward wrote a string of successful plays, musicals and intimate including Fallen Angels (1925), (1925), Easy Virtue (1926), This Year of Grace (1928), and Bitter Sweet (1929). His professional partnership with childhood friend Gertrude Lawrence started with Private Lives (1930) and continued with Tonight at 8:30 (1936). During World War II, he remained a successful playwright, screenwriter and director, as well as en- tertaining the troops and even acting as an unofficial spy for the Foreign Office. His plays during these years continues on page 3... Notes from the Producing Artistic Director Thank you to our sponsors. It’s been a to share our 2019 season with you thus far—both Crazy for You and The Mystery of Season Sponsor Irma Vep have delighted audiences Valerie Moritz Smith and hopefully provided festive and refreshing summer entertainment. The Associate Season Sponsors second half of our season offers three Linda Lapos Kathleen Kund Nolan & The Szarko Family masterworks— & Paul Wirth Timothy E. Nolan Shakespeare’s take on one of the most Patrick Mulcahy famous love stories Sponsors of all time—Antony and , alternating with one of the finest modern comedies spiced with the acerbic wit of Noël Coward—Private Amaranth Lives—“an intimate comedy” which peeks Foundation behind the curtain to reveal shaken, not stirred, romantic escapades. Steve & Jane Lee & Dolly Amy Miller Look forward to a continued stream of Auvil Butz Cohen, Ph.D. gifted artists. Stage, television, and film actors Neal Bledsoe and Nondumiso Tebe will portray the legendary Roman warrior and the Egyptian Douglas queen in a striking new production directed Dykhouse by acclaimed director Eleanor Holdridge. The wonderful Eleanor Handley, Olivia in last season’s and West Coast stage Susan Henry and screen actor Matthew Floyd Miller, will Martin & Brenda & John play the divorced couple who, now on their James T. Martin Jr. McGlade honeymoons with new spouses, fall in love all over again in Private Lives. Dennis Razze, director of last season’s critically acclaimed production of Ragtime directs this hilarious romp. Dr. James & David B. Rothrock & Penny Pantano Patrina L. Rothrock Our “Extreme Shakespeare,” in which the actors direct themselves in much the same way Shakespeare’s actors would have rehearsed at the Globe, is Henry IV, Part 1. John Ahlin will Drs. Paul & Darbin & Deborah Keith & return to perform the irrepressibly comedic June Schlueter Skeans Stefanie Wexler and insightful Sir John and will be played by Mairin Lee who starred as Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love last season.

For your children, look forward to The Festival Host Sponsor Adventures of and Maid Marian as well as the terrificShakespeare for Kids where your kids can be introduced to the Bard of Avon in a fun and entertaining experience created just for them.

Arrive early to performances and enjoy the Pennsylvania Shakespeare PSF receives state arts funding beauty of our outdoor space, On the Green, Festival’s productions of Antony & support through a grant from with enhanced dining and seating options that Cleopatra and Henry IV, Part 1 are the Pennsylvania Council on the are not to be missed. part of Shakespeare in American Arts, a state agency funded by the Communities, a program of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Thanks for being part of our 2019 season National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for and I hope to see you in the lobby! in partnership with Arts Midwest. the Arts, a federal agency.

PSF is the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

2 • The Quill, Summer 2019 610.282.WILL Private Lives continued their sudden decision to immediately flee to , leaving their current spouses behind without even an explanation. The play was originally met with a mixed critical re- It is supremely ridiculous, but it makes for delicious com- sponse, but because of its entertainment value has proven edy—especially because the rogue couple consists of such extraordinarily popular with audiences ever since. Noël urbane and entertaining people as Elyot and Amanda. Coward later wrote: PSF has cast captivating, witty actors as the two couples. “Thecritics described Private Lives variously as ‘tenu- Eleanor Handley, who you may remember played Maggie ous, thin, brittle, gossamer, iridescent, and delightfully in our production of and Kate in our most recent The Taming of the Shrew, as well daring’. All of which connoted in the public MAIN STAGE mind cocktails, repartee and irreverent as Olivia in last season’s Twelfth Night, will play JULY 18 to AUGUST 4 allusions to copulation, there- Amanda. by causing a gratifying num- Matthew Floyd Miller, an actor ber of respectable people to with many successful television queue up at the box office.” and regional theatre credits and is new to PSF, will play Elyot. Luigi Audiences responded enthusi- Sottile, who played the title role astically to the play, and it has in last year’s terrificShakespeare been revived many times to great in Love, returns to play Victor success. A film of the play was Prynne. Sybil Chase will be por- made in 1931 starring Robert trayed by Talley Gale, a skilled Montgomery and Norma Shear- comedienne who is also making er. Coward himself found the her PSF debut. film only passable. On the stage, Both the set and the costume famous actors who have played designs for Private Lives must Elyot and Amanda include Brian Gertrude Lawrence and Noël Coward in Private Lives, 1930 be as elegant and sophisticated Bedford and , Alec McCowen and Penelope as the characters. Our designers, Roman Tatarowicz and Keith, and , and most re- Sarah Cubbage, have come up with a wonderful art deco cently the late and . I recall environment and some beautiful gowns and formal attire seeing the 1983 Broadway production that starred Richard that should certainly create the desired effervescence of the Burton and , and certainly their real life play. The first act occurs in a posh hotel in Deauville on marriage made the play all the more intriguing as many the Normandy coast and the second moves to Amanda’s took it as a glimpse inside their private lives. tasteful Parisian apartment complete with a view of the The play’s premise that concerns a divorced couple who Eiffel Tower. have both remarried and are now honeymooning at the I hope you will join us at PSF for this witty and enter- same time, staying at the same hotel in adjoining rooms, taining play about marital relationships among the upper and then after seeing each other again realize that they are classes and the eternal battle of the sexes. still in love, is absurd to say the least. Even less plausible is included which ran for 1,997 performances, outlasting the war. However, the post-war years were more difficult. Austerity was the prevalent mood in Britain and the industry had little time for Coward's brittle wit. In response, Coward re-invented himself as a and TV star, particularly in America, and in 1955 he played a sell-out season in Las Vegas. In the mid-1950s he settled in Jamaica and Switzerland, and enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1960s becoming the first living playwright to be performed by the National Theatre, when he directed Hay Fever there. Late in his career he was lauded for his role in the filmsOur Man In Havana (1959) and his role as the iconic Mr. Bridger alongside Michael Caine in The Italian Job (1968). Writer, actor, director, film producer, painter, songwriter, cabaret artist as well as an author of a novel, verse, essays and autobi- ographies, he was called by close friends ‘The Master’. His final West End appearance was Song at Twilight in 1966, which he wrote and starred in. He was knighted in 1970 and died peacefully in 1973 in his beloved Jamaica. Courtesy of the Noёl Coward Archive Trust

3 • The Quill, Summer 2019 610.282.WILL By Heather Helinsky, Dramaturg

n 1863, with the American journey into becoming the next King we jump forward in time, where King Civil War still raging, President of . It’s a test of friendship and Henry IV now has a grown son, who Abraham Lincoln went to see character, and Shakespeare, a writer prefers spending his time at the tavern Ia production of Henry IV, Part 1. we admire for his use of language with the drunken Sir John Falstaff, Lincoln, who studied and enjoyed and wordplay, knows there are deeply over pleasing his father and learning Shakespeare’s plays, was dismayed that profound moments, when the course to be England’s next king. The play one of his favorite scenes had been of history and friendship can be covers the span of a civil war and ends cut by American actor James Hackett. and changed, and there’s no with a climactic battle at Shrewsbury. Lincoln then invited Hackett to the going backwards. At the end of King Richard II, White for dinner, questioning We can also wonder at how an Henry Bolingbroke had strategically why this scene between Falstaff and American President, who had seen so maneuvered to dispose of his cousin, Prince Hal, where they perform a many lives lost at Gettysburg in that the King. He turned the tide of public play-within-a-play taking turns at summer of 1863, connected personally opinion against Richard II, creating playing the King of England, was cut with Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1. a populist movement. However, it from his production when Lincoln felt We can assume Lincoln understood shattered an age-old belief in the it was a key emotional moment. too well the burdens of leading a divine right of kings, that the King In this scene, Prince Hal, the future nation when his own “right” to be the of England was God’s chosen vessel hero-king of England, play-acts with leader chosen by the people was being to lead England. As we find the state Falstaff, his father-figure and mentor, challenged, while the common man of England now, we see the results at the tavern. As they take turns was dying brutally on the battlefields of a country at war with itself, over wearing the crown, Prince Hal realizes in the name of democracy. the issue of succession. Now that what he must do in the future as the Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 Henry IV is King of England, will his King of England—banish his dear is admired as a masterpiece for the wayward son become the next ruler? friend, the drunken knight. The scene subtlety with which it handles the Meanwhile, the Percy family, boils down to four words: “I do; I will.” ethical and emotional issues involved who had helped King Henry gain It’s a masterful moment of with the political narrative of King the throne from Richard II, is now playwriting, and modern productions Henry IV, his son Hal, his rival Henry regretting their role in putting Henry of Henry IV, Part 1 have used those Percy “Hotspur”, and the comical on the throne and is uniting with the pointed words as a huge emotional knight Sir John Falstaff. It picks up Scottish in the North and the Welsh turning point for Prince Hal on his where King Richard II leaves off, but in the West, to put another family

(Wo)men of Will While the spirit of “Extreme Shakespeare” echoes what we believe to be the original rehearsal practices of Shakespeare’s company, this year’s cast will flip another Elizabethan tradition on its head with women playing a number of roles that were written as men. Much like Academy Award-winning actress recently took on the titular role for the Broadway revival of , Mairin Lee will return to PSF in the role of Prince Hal and Kathryn Tkel will make her PSF debut in the role of Hotspur. Hal and Hotspur both represent a new generation of prospective rulers, and each navigate their future and potential leadership in King Henry IV’s, England. “While women (in this case excellent actresses) playing the roles of rising leaders was a driver in this casting choice, this is not a new idea. How did men playing women illuminate the text in the original productions of these plays?” asks Producing Artistic Director Patrick Mulcahy. “How will women playing roles written as men do the same in this production? Come join us to find out.”

4 • The Quill, Summer 2019 610.282.WILL member, , on the entered in the Stationer’s Register in Art thou mad? Is not the truth throne instead. Meanwhile, ambitious February of 1598, it was immediately the truth? (Henry IV, Pt 1, Act 2, Hotspur is maneuvering and acting published in two quarto editions and Scene 4) like the son King Henry IV wishes he continued to be published and sold as had. popular reading. While Falstaff is one of the play’s most enduring, memorable beloved his play, although it follows A play, though, is more than just characters, even he has an inward King Richard II chronically how popular it was in its day. This moment of reflection, although it’s not in time, has a vastly different England looks very different than delivered in the florid poetry of King Tfeel to it in style, tone, and structure. the elevated, poetic world of King Richard II. Falstaff asks the audience In King Richard II, we have a series Richard II. The leader is a reflection very frankly to reflect on why soldiers of poetic soliloquies, revealing the of the people. In Henry IV, Part 1 we serve their country in the name of inward world of Richard’s mind. see Shakespeare exploring how all honor. Shakespeare’s clowns often ask The speeches are high poetry, asking classes, not just the elite nobleman, the most profound questions in the rhetorical questions about England are impacted by the questions of human experience: and what it means to be English. It’s King Henry IV’s reign. This is a world also a play where even , where even thieves cannot be true to a lower-class character, speaks like a each other, and even of trickery “What is honour? A word. What gentleman of the court, in verse, and have a darker resonance. We see is in that word ‘honour’? What not like a common laborer. characters searching for friends who is that ‘honour’? Air. A trim reckoning. Who hath it? He that Not so with Henry IV, Part 1—here are true and constant to each other one moment, then double-crossing died o’Wednesday. Doth he feel we are hearing the language spoken it? No. Doth he hear it? No. ‘Tis in an English tavern! It is raucous their closest friends. Falstaff brags about his conquests, but he spouts lies insensible then? Yea, to the dead. language—so much the language of But will it not live with the living? the common man that when it was which he thinks will serve him in the moment. Even though Falstaff and No. Why?...” (Henry IV, Pt 1, Act 5, published in the , it had Scene 1) to be censored according to the Act Prince Hal tease each other fondly, to Restrain the Abuses of Players. as Hal sees Falstaff like the father he Original names of characters also wishes he had, he still calls him out on While Prince Hal is growing up had to be changed, as the families his deceits: in the tavern, not seeming to care in Shakespeare’s time who were Prince Hal: “These lies are like about his reputation as a Prince, descendents of some of the historical their father that begets them, , known as Hotspur, is characters, including Sir John Falstaff gross as a mountain, open, ambitiously pursuing the political (modeled on St. ) palpable… power in England for his honour. It’s protested because Oldcastle was no coincidence that Prince Hal and regarded as a Protestant hero who Hotspur have an equal number of died a martyr. Yet, when it was first Falstaff: What, art thou mad? continues on page 6... Extreme Shakespeare: The Actors Take Charge Mairin Lee Kathryn Tkel Prince Hal Henry Percy, Hotspur PSF: Shakespeare in Love, King PSF debut. Regional: Ford’s Richard II, , Theatre, Folger Theatre, Woolly Pride and Prejudice, and ; Mammoth, Round House, Olney Broadway: ; Theatre, Rep Stage, San Jose Rep, Off-Broadway: Cherry Lane, Ars California Conservatory Theatre, Nova, Wheelhouse Theater, and Perseverance Theatre, Arizona The Actors Company Theatre; Theatre Company, and San Regional: McCarter, Two River, and Francisco Playhouse American Conservatory Theater

5 • The Quill, Summer 2019 610.282.WILL lines in the play, as the two before we are asked to serve our Heather Helinsky, characters take completely different country? Who do we turn to for dramaturg: MFA from A.R.T./ paths before they meet on the mentorship? How do the actions of Moscow Art battlefield of Shrewsbury. our leaders set the tone for moral Theatre Institute Considered one of Shakespeare’s and ethical behavior? Who are the for Advanced Theatre Training, best works that masterfully winners and losers? Shakespeare knows the drama inherent in all Harvard; 2001 interweaves comedy and tragedy, alumna, DeSales it introduces us to the dilemma of these questions and more. Out University Theatre. for characters from all classes, of these existential questions, we especially the lower working class, get a larger-than-life character of who are impacted by this leadership Falstaff…and we see the education crisis. Henry Bolingbroke, who of a young Prince Hal, who will soon SCHUBERT THEATRE once swayed the voice of the people rise to be the hero-king in . JULY 24 to AUGUST 4 to take the crown away from an Through Henry IV, Part 1, eloquent “rightful” King, is now Shakespeare is giving us a lesson facing challenges on all fronts, from in leadership, and the American the Scots in the North, the Welsh in President Lincoln certainly the West, his former allies in court recognized the play’s relevance as he who originally placed him on the grappled with the challenges of the throne, and even from his only son. Civil War in his time. As a student And when a country is at war of Shakespeare, we can only imagine with itself, how does it impact how that Lincoln recognized the power all of us behave? Do we drink our of choosing the right words—as problems away at the tavern? How common and lowly as words can do we treat our friends? How do be—writing a brief speech of his we spend our precious hours alive own.

John Keabler Jane Ridley King Henry IV , PSF: The Three Musketeers and As Westmoreland You Like It (2017); PSF: Henry V (2015); Regional: Shakespeare Theatre Regional: Shakespeare DC, Shakespeare Theatre of New Theatre DC, Old Globe, Jersey, Old Globe, Walnut Street, Orlando Cincinnati Playhouse, Shakespeare, Utah Perserverance Theatre Shakespeare, Round House

John Ahlin Brandon J. Pierce Falstaff Blunt, Sheriff PSF: Henry IV, Part 1 (2005), PSF: Shakespeare in Love, Richard Twelfth Night (2008), King John, II, Troilus and Cressida, and The Merry Wives of Windsor (2010), Taming of the Shrew (2016); and Fiddler on the Roof; Off-Broadway:Exit Strategy Broadway: Waiting for Godot, (Primary Stages); Journey’s End, The Lieutenant of Regional: Portland Stage, Inishmore, Voices in the Dark, One People’s Light, Arden, Delaware Mo’ Time, Whoopee!, ; Theater Co., and Shakespeare Off-Broadway:Orson’s Shadow, A Theatre of New Jersey Man for All Seasons, ChipandGus

6 • The Quill, Summer 2019 610.282.WILL RHINE GETAWAY: PSF STAFF PATRICK MULCAHY Producing Artistic Director

DENNIS RAZZE Associate Artistic Director

CASEY WILLIAM GALLAGHER Managing Director Education Director ANELISE DIAZ Advancement & Communications Manager ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN MEGAN DIEHL Director of Development MELISSA EGAN KERR an eight-day getaway for two! Development Assistant HAYLEY KILLIAN TICKETS $100 • ONLY 400 WILL BE SOLD Box Office Manager NICOLE LYNN MOYER Director of Marketing & Public Relations TINA LOUISE SLAK Business Manager KAREN SPANO Enjoy an eight-day river Visit Switzerland, France, Germany Marketing Associate JULIE SULLIVAN cruise with stateroom and the Netherlands with stops in Basel, Associate Box Office Manager ZACH WEIDNER accommodations Cologne, Strasbourg, and Amsterdam The Quill is published up to three times a year by Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the professional theatre in residence at DeSales University. Artists subject to change. Experience the spectacular scenery Explore turreted fortresses, of the Middle Rhine, one of grand cathedrals, historic cities, EDITOR Tina Louise Slak EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Krissey Browder, Julie Sullivan Europe’s best-loved rivers and medieval towns CONTRIBUTORS Dennis Razze Heather Helinsky Total Prize Value: $6,500 FR. GERARD J. SCHUBERT, OSFS (1929-2015) For tickets or more information, contact Founder [email protected] or visit pashakespeare.org/ra e THE PSF Shoppe ALL NEW, EVERY SEASON WHAT IS YOUR MUST HAVE THIS SUMMER? OPEN IN THE LOBBY AT EVERY PERFORMANCE

7 • The Quill, Summer 2019 610.282.WILL ’s

Neal Bledsoe The quest for transcendence yields both tragedy and Nondumiso Tembe as Marc Antony triumph in one of history’s greatest love stories. as Cleopatra Broadway: Impressionism Regional: McCarter, Yale Rep; TV: Shameless, The Man in the TV: True Blood, Castle, Six,. High Castle, Timeless, Guiding Film: Avengers: Age of Ultron Light, All My Children

By BRANDON E. MCLAUREN

By ERIN SHEFFIELD MAIN STAGE JULY 24 to AUGUST 3 SCHUBERT THEATRE PSF’s high energy one hour production designed NOW THRU AUGUST 3 for children ages 4 to 10 to actively experience Shakespeare’s vibrant language and characters. With exciting new content every year, S4K activates imaginations and generates laughs for the whole family. This year, S4K teams up with Team Shakespeare in Macbeth. Meet the cast after every performance for autographs and pictures!