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Some time ago, a certain (no longer active) Milwaukee theater critic showed a certain amount of snobbery when he suggested that only those who are classically trained Shakespearian actors should perform the works of Shakespeare. Ignoring how poorly this sits with me on so many levels, I can kind of see where he’s coming from. The playwright’s stuff is written in a way that makes it kind of difficult. If new audiences aren’t seeing really good performances of the man’s work, they might be likely to think that it’s not anything that they like. Anything performed poorly can be dreadful. The problem is that even top-notch professional actors don’t always put in decent performances and not being classically trained doesn’t necessarily mean that an actor can’t do something amazing with the material.
All this aside, it does take a very specific kind of person to delicately put in the hours days and weeks and years to carefully pick apart a script by Shakespeare and carefully craft a portrayal of some of the most complex and interesting characters ever to be brought to the stage. That being said, it also takes a very specific kind of person to casually look over a script that’s been around for 400 years, get kind of drunk and then stage it with almost no preparation. Both types of people should be respected for entirely different reasons.
Local theater outfit Boozy Bard Productions has recently announced a full year’s worth of one-weekend only “Shakespeare Raw” productions spaced-out once per month. The tagline for January’s program?: “20 Actors. 20 Parts. Zero Rehearsing. A $#!+ Ton of Booze.” Here’s the line-up for what will likely be a fun and wild year of drunken Shakespeare at the Historic Pabst Brewery:
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Jan: Much Ado About Nothing
Feb: Taming Of The Shrew
Mar: Julius Caesar
Apr: Antony And Cleopatra
May: Richard III
Jun: Titus Andronicus
Jul: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Aug: As You Like It
Sept: Merchant Of Venice
Oct: MacBeth
January’s staging of Much Ado About Nothing runs Jan. 5, 6 and 7. All shows start at 7:30 p.m. It will be staged at The Best Place in the Historic Pabst Brewery on 901 W. Juneau Ave. Admission is $10 or $5 in “Wedding Wear.”
