Maybe it’s because I prefer my sugar sweet, my coffee hot and my ice cream cold, that I also prefer my Shakespeare stationary…that is, insofar as being an audience member is concerned. Whether it’s a filmed, live or printed version of a work from that Literary Maven from Stratford-upon-Avon, the contemplative mode of physical inertia is crucial for a better appreciation of the Bard’s poetry. In the role of spectator, seated upon one’s absorptive figure of intellectual discontent, the fourth wall of theatre is bolstered by imagination and should be traversed only occasionally. In short, a theatergoer should sit down and pay attention.
The New York Classical Theatre opens its 10th Season with a “Shakespeare on the Run” version of KING LEAR. In a day and age of harried people who read and run (if they read at all) and comprehend existence through such devices as sound bites, cell phones and Twitter, this production is for the on the go person who continues to go even while sitting down. Indeed, at this production, frenzied individuals with failing attention spans and looming anxiety attacks will not be restrained by the quotidian of conventional theatre.
The restraints are lifted even before one gets in line because there are no lines: Central Park itself serves as the “theatre.” “The play begins at West 103rd Street on the lawn and uses footbridges, trees, rocks, benches and even The Audience as scenery.” People can come as they are (even as they aren’t) via bikes, rollerblades or scooters (even dogs are allowed). Of course, it’s wheelchair and stroller (for fledgling Shakespearean aficionados) accessible.
The “On the Run” factor comes into play in the course of the play. “As you watch the show, the next scene that is about to happen, starts about 50 feet away and then you are off! The whole audience follows the actors to where the scene is taking place approximately, every 15 – 20 minutes.”
I hate to sound like a killjoy and rain on everyone’s Shakespearean parade, but I’m basically a traditionalist. While a little Shakespeare is better than no Shakespeare at all, it’s a little disconcerting to observe KING LEAR’s startling words of horrific ingratitude and misplaced love opposed to that of love and loyalty, drowned out in the dissonance of barking dogs, bawling children, speeding rollerbladers and bustling crowds. That kind of theatre turns KING LEAR and Shakespeare into just another day in New York City…perhaps that’s my reasoning for attending this performance tonight, New York Fool that I am.
The “Shakespeare on the Run” website could be found here.
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