May 2000 Brooklyn Academy of Music 2000 Spring Season BAMcinematek Brooklyn Philharmonic 651 ARTS Saint Clair Cemin, L'lntuition de L'lnstant, 1995 BAM 2000 Spring Season is sponsored by PHiliP MORR I S ~lAGfBlll COMPANIES INC. ~A 1\/1 Brooklyn Academy of Music Bruce C. Ratner Chairman of the Board Karen Brooks Hopkins Joseph V. Melillo President Executive Prod ucer presents The Royal Shakespeare Company The Family Reunion Running time: by T.S. Eliot approximately 2 hours 45 minutes, BAM Harvey Lichtenstei n Theater including one May 10-13, 2000, at 7:30pm intermission Director Adrian Noble Designer Rob Howell Lighting Design Mark Henderson Sound Matt McKenzie for Autograph Tour Re-creation Richard Power Assistant Director Helen Raynor Company Voice Work Andrew Wade , Cicely Berry, and Lyn Oarnley Production Manager Patrick Frazer Costume Supervisor Lynette Mauro Company Stage Manager Eric Lumsden Deputy Stage Manager Pip Horobin Assistant Stage Manager Thea Jones American Stage Manager R. Michael Blanco The play Wishwood, a country house in the North of England, home of the Monchensey family, on a day in late March 1939. Part One: After tea. Part Two : After dinner. Presented by arrangement with The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, RIC Stratford-upon-Avon, England . ROYAL SHAKESPEARE Leadership support is provided by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation . BAM COMPANY Theater is sponsored by Time Warner Inc. and Fleet Bank. Additional support provided by The Shubert Foundation, Inc. Official Airline: British Airways. RSC major support provided by Pfizer Inc. Opening night sup­ port provided by The British Council. This production was first produced with the assistance of a subsidy from the Arts Council of England. 17 Cast Amy Margaret Tyzack Agatha lynn Farleigh Ivy Cherry Morris Violet Bridget Turner Charles Christopher Good The actors in Family Gerald Nicholas Jones Reunion are appearing Mary Zoe Waites with the permission of Denman Alison Reid Actors' Equity Harry Greg Hicks Association. Th e Downing Derek Hutchinson American stage Dr. Warburton Richard Cordery manager is a member Sergeant Winchell Rod Arthur of Actors' Equity Eumenides James Auden , Mary Duddy, Susan Dury, Association. Graeme Eton , Jennifer McEvoy Understudies Gerald/Downing Rod Arthur Harry James Auden Agatha/Denman Mary Duddy Amy Susan Dury Charles/Dr. Warburton/Sergeant Winchell Graeme Eton IvyNiolet Jennifer McEvoy Mary Alison Reid First performance of this production: Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, June 9 , 1999. Setting The family has gathered to celebrate the birthday of Amy, Dowager Lady Monchensey. Already assembled in the drawing room with Amy are her younger sisters, Agatha , Ivy, and Violet; her deceased hus­ band's two brothers, Co lonel the Hon. Gerald Piper and the Hon. Charles Piper; and Mary, daughter of her cousin. Stil l to arrive are Amy's three sons, Arthur, John , and the eldest, Harry, now head of the family and heir to Wishwood. This is the first time in eight years that the family has been together. The conversation is of the past and of the recent death, in mysterious circum­ stances, of Harry's wife. Harry arrives and is clearly troubled by something. Concerned , they invite Dr. Warburton, an old friend of the family, to join the party. A note on the In Aeschylus' trilogy The Oresteia, Orestes kills his mother Clytemnestra Eumenides to avenge the murder of his father. For this he is cursed and pursued by the Erinyes or Furies, three goddesses of vengeance who hunt down unpunished criminals. In the third play of the trilogy, the arguments on each side of Orestes' case are assessed by a council of the gods and with the intervention of Athene, goddess of wisdom , the curse is lifted. The Furies are persuaded to adopt a more merciful function , and become the Eumenides- the "Kindly Ones." 18 Production Acknowledgements Scenery, painting, properties, costumes, wigs, and makeup by RST Workshops, Stratford-upon­ Avon. Show floor painted by Souvenir Scenic Studios. Women's costumes by Coleman James, Cherie Gilbert, Naomi Isaacs, Caroline Lanyon, and Jane Law. Additional men's costumes by William Baboo and Alan Selzer. Original program material compiled by Kathy Elgin. Production photographer Manuel Harlan. For the tour: Scenic construction by Souvenir. Freight by Anglo Pacific International Ltd. LPttpr £ro01 ,AdriAn I\lohlp Welcome to tonight's performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Two years ago the RSC played its first-ever repertoire season outside the U.K. here at BAM , giving American audiences the opportunity to see several productions from our current repertory, direct from Stratford and London and with their original casts. We are delighted to be back here at what we hope will become another of our regular venues around the world . Once again, all the productions you are seeing in this season are presented exactly as they played in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon. The three productions we have brought to BAM this year represent a cross-section of one of our most successful Stratford seasons ever. Michael Boyd 's witty, rude, and passionate A Midsummer Night's Dream has been compared to Peter Brook's legendary 1970 production, while Schiller's rarely performed Don Carlos emerges, in Gale Edwards' fast-paced production, as a gripping political thriller. And it's particularly apt that our third play is by IS. Eliot, an Anglo-American whose work blended the cultures of his adopted Britain and native New England just as it fused poetry and drama. The Family Reunion is an uncannily modern work, as startling now as it was for its first appearance in 1939, and a directorial challenge which I very much enjoyed. This year's ensemble encompasses a great breadth of acting experience-newcomers like Rupert Penry-Jones and Zoe Waites alongside long-term members like John Woodvine, Josette Simon, and Ray Fearon, who have played several seasons with the company. This blending of youth and experience is what has always given the RSC its particular character and is the heart of a true ensemble, that creative and supportive environment out of which comes our best work. I hope you enjoy tonight's performance, and that we'll have the pleasure of your company again, whether it's in the U.S. or in our own theaters in Stratford or London. Adrian Noble Artistic Director 19 Production Acknowledgements Scenery, painting, properties, costumes, wigs, and makeup by RST Workshops, Stratford-upon­ Avon. Show floor painted by Souvenir Scenic Studios. Women's costumes by Coleman James, Cherie Gilbert, Naomi Isaacs , Caroline Lanyon , and Jane Law. Additional men's costumes by William Baboo and Alan Selzer. Original program material compiled by Kathy Elgin . Production photographer Manuel Harlan. For the tour: Scenic construction by Souvenir. Freight by Anglo Pacific International Ltd . IflttAr from AdriAn I\lohlA Welcome to tonight's performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Two years ago the RSC played its first-ever repertoire season outside the U.K. here at BAM, giving American audiences the opportunity to see several productions from our current repertory, direct from Stratford and London and with their original casts. We are delighted to be back here at what we hope will become another of our regular venues around the world. Once again, all the productions you are seeing in this season are presented exactly as they played in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon. The three productions we have brought to BAM this year represent a cross-section of one of our most successful Stratford seasons ever. Michael Boyd's witty, rude, and passionate A Midsummer Night's Dream has been compared to Peter Brook's legendary 1970 production, while Schiller's rarely performed Don Carlos emerges, in Gale Edwards' fast-paced production, as a gripping political thriller. And it's particularly apt that our third play is by 1S. Eliot, an Anglo-American whose work blended the cultures of his adopted Britain and native New England just as it fused poetry and drama. The Family Reunion is an uncannily modern work, as startling now as it was for its first appearance in 1939, and a directorial challenge which I very much enjoyed. This year's ensemble encompasses a great breadth of acting experience-newcomers like Rupert Penry-Jones and Zoe Waites alongside long-term members like John Woodvine, Josette Simon, and Ray Fearon , who have played several seasons with the company. This blending of youth and experience is what has always given the RSC its particular character and is the heart of a true ensemble, that creative and supportive environment out of which comes our best work. I hope you enjoy tonight's performance, and that we'll have the pleasure of your company again, whether it's in the U.S. or in our own theaters in Stratford or London. Adrian Noble Artistic Director 19 l-J ictory of ibn p~c The Royal Shakespea re Company, then and now... The first permanent theater dedicated to the performance of Shakespeare's plays in Stratford, a Victorian gothic building seating 800 people, opened in 1879 with a week-long summer festival which soon grew into regular spring and summer seasons. In 1925 almost 50 years of excellence were recognized by the granting of a Royal Charter. A year later the old theater was almost completely destroyed by fire but, after a worldwide fund-raising campaign, the present building, designed by Elisabeth Scott, was opened by the then Prince of Wales in 1932. During the next 30 years, under a succession of visionary and creative artistic directors, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre company went from strength to strength, attracting such stars as Donald Wolfit, John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Anthony Quayle, Vivien Leigh , and Laurence Olivier.