Swell Shakespeare In Our Parks

Dear Editor:

When I asked the director of “Twelfth Night,” Scott Schwartz, to send any material he had about the production in Sag Harbor’s Mashashimuet Park last weekend, he demurred: “It was only rehearsed for four days and, since it is a free event and there are only two performances, it is not meant to be reviewed.”

What a pickle!

I pointed out that if the critic came Saturday night—as I did—they would have five run-throughs. But he stuck to his guns. Pity.

Clearly, he doesn’t want me to say what an utterly superb job the cast—nearly all with an Actors Equity asterisk after their name in the program—did with a reading of one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies.

I mean, really, if only Mr. Schwartz would allow it, I would love to tell you how polished the acting, direction, stage management was, even as the cast held the scripts and mostly read from them. You could easily imagine that all they needed were costuming—it’s minimal here—and a set consisting of more than a bench and a screen, and they would be good to go.

The audience of approximately 250, plus one snoozing Portuguese water dog happy not be stuck in the car, was mostly mesmerized, because it was that good. I say “mostly” because teenyboppers are mostly never mesmerized about anything unless it’s about them, and they can be fidgety—though these were, at least, quiet.

One of the nice things about living out here is that the “local” theater is stellar, due to our proximity to the Big Apple. I was looking forward to seeing Piper Perabo as cross-dresser Viola/Cesario. On television, she’s effervescent and appealing as Annie Walker in USA’s “Covert Affairs,” a role that combines near-Wonder-Woman prowess with the sinister machinations of CIA. Here she was droll, light and touching.

“Twelfth Night, or What You Will” was cut to suit the venue, but if you paid attention, you didn’t lose track of the riotous confusion that is the plot. And the acting was, by sooth, doth merit the approbation, auspicious.

If I were free to do so, I’d mention standouts Josh Gladstone as the drunken uncle Sir Toby Belch; Nick Cearley as Feste, the audacious jester; Julia Motyka as the baffled Olivia; Kate Mueth as her mischievous servant; and Sean Dugan as the foppish Malvolio—because every actor loves to see his or her name in print when they deserve it, do they not?

If I am expressing shock and awe at the level of Shakespeare in the Mashashimuet, I shouldn’t be, because this production was a joint effort by Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor—of which Mr. Schwartz is the artistic director—and David Brandenburg’s Hamptons Shakespeare Festival, which held forth in Montauk for many years. And those productions were a treat to both the well-schooled scholar and a poor wretch like me.

Be forewarned: Mr. Schwartz has more Shakespeare in the wind, as he will stage and direct a full-blown production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” next summer at Bay Street.

It was a packed weekend of Shakespeare in the Hamptons, for Friday night we were immersed in “The Merchant of Venice” in Agawam Park in Southampton. Same idea: Bring you own chairs, bring a picnic if desired, kids welcome.

Here there were many more young-’uns—even a nursing baby—as a 30-minute program before the play had those from age 3 and up romping through a series of exercises that introduced them to the language they were about to hear. They had fun crying out, “In sooth, I know not why I am so sad!” though it’s doubtful they retained much about the intricacies of iambic pentameter.

Just before the main event began, cutting through the not-quiet audience, a girl about age 5 loudly yelled over to her friends playing far afield, “It’s starting, you guys!” How often one feels like shouting that out at other productions when people won’t get to their seats and settle down! As Will might say, “May the heavens bless the unfiltered utterances of kidlings.”

Although “Merchant” is certainly darker than “Twelfth Night”—and has been spurned because of its portrayal of the Jew, Shylock—the troupe of the Hip to Hip Theater Company put on a lively, mostly thoughtful, sometimes comic staging of this classic. As with “Twelfth Night,” the production was edited for time and ran a brisk 90 minutes, give or take a few. Kids age 8 and up seemed to get it, others simply reveled in a night at the park with friends.

A small yet effective set worked for every scene, the costumes were much more elaborate, the actors knew their lines. The seasoned and professional troupe performs free in places where most people wouldn’t get to see live theater, let alone Shakespeare. Hooray for that!

Jason Marr, the artistic director of Hip to Hip, portrayed the merchant Antonio, who manages to scrape by with his life because of a loophole in the contract by which he owed Shylock 3,000 ducats. In in the program notes, Mr. Marr points out that both “The Merchant of Venice” and truly silly “The Merry Wives of Windsor”—performed on Saturday night in the park—though quite different in tone, examine a broken legal system where not all individuals are treated equally. It’s a lesson for our times as essential as it was in the 17th century, when ole’ Will was at work.

Looking forward to whatever Shakespeare in whatever park returns next year,

—Not The Critic