Review: (Stratford / Theatre) A Midsummer Night's Dream

(photo by Michael Cooper)

The Success of Love – Jack Shall Have Jill, Jill shall Have Jill, Jack Shall Have Jack
Stratford’s opening week ends on a supremely high note
by Dave Ross and Stuart Munro
@dmjross
@StuartMunroTO

Stratford brought their opening week to an absolutely amazing close with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare’s work has been interpreted and adapted and staged in all sorts of creative and different ways, with many of these efforts placing this story in contemporary times and locales. This year, Stratford has hit the nail on the head – hard and true – with their bold adaptation of this approachable story.

DAVE ROSS: There are simply not words to express how much I enjoyed this production. I loved it – loved loved loved it. From the moment I stepped into the Festival Theatre and had my first glimpse of the design, I knew I was in for something special. Director Chis Abraham has taken the narrative and added a frame to it – as the audience, we’re attending the wedding of two young men in a summer garden as dusk falls. As part of the celebrations, the guests put on an impromptu performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which proceeds just about as well as one would think under those circumstances – the entire production has a lovingly homegrown feel to it with a sort of polished amateur quality. I loved that Abraham respects the text, but treats it in a contemporary, irreverent manner. I loved the design by Julie Fox, which is fully immersive in creating the festive backyard garden. The soundscape  by designer Thomas Ryder Payne is perfect. All these aspects create an astounding homespun feeling to the production. Actors rarely leave the stage, instead sitting about the steps of the thrust enjoy beverages and the play unfolding before them. There is a fluidity between the guests and their roles as fairies that is just magical. 

Review: (Stratford / Theatre) Alice Through the Looking Glass

(photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Everything Is Backwards! (Just As It Should Be!)
Lewis Carroll’s Looking Glass World comes to life in Stratford
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

Bubbles! Bicycles! Jellybeans from the sky! MORE bubbles! Stratford’s new production of Alice Through the Looking Glass has all of this, and then some. This version of Lewis Carroll’s famous book, adapted by Canadian playwright James Reaney, was commissioned by the festival in 1994 and revived two years later. Like its predecessor, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass can suffer from an episodic structure which makes it difficult to adapt to the stage. But Reaney has handled this fact very well with his version, and as directed by Jillian Keiley (Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre), Through the Looking Glass is a wild and zany romp which easily kept the entire audience, young and old, happily entertained.

Review: (Stratford / Theatre) Mother Courage

(photo by David Hou)

The Art of Alienation
By pushing us away, Mother Courage draws us in
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

This review contains spoilers.

Written in 1939 (but not published until 1950 after several revisions), Bertolt Brecht’s seminal play, Mother Courage and Her Children, is considered by many to be the greatest anti-war play of all time, and possibly the greatest play of the 20th century. At its core, like so many of Brecht’s other works, is the idea of Verfremdungseffect, or “alientation.” Realism is eschewed, and the audience is constantly reminded that what they are seeing is, in fact, a play. The goal is to distance the audience from the characters in an effort to create a more rational, rather than emotional, response to the proceedings. Whether the Stratford Festival’s new production succeeds in this will be up to the individual watching. For my part, I was overwhelmed and appropriately unsettled. Mother Courage is, I imagine, a play I’ll be thinking about for some time.

Review: (Stratford / Theatre) Man of La Mancha

(photo by Michael Cooper)

Caught In The Lies We Tell
Stratford’s Man of  La Mancha suffers from something of an identity crisis
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

There was a definite shift about two-thirds of the way through act one of Stratford’s new production of Man of la Mancha, which opened last night at the Avon Theatre. Up to that point, I’d had a very hard time understanding exactly what sort of show I was watching. The script and score seemed to suggest a more introspective drama, but the direction and performances were pushing heavily on the light and comic. The two weren’t meshing very well, and I couldn’t help but feel something more poignant was being sacrificed the harder the company pushed for the jokes. But almost as soon as Matt Armet lovingly crooned out the first verse of “Little Bird, Little Bird,” the tone began to change, and by the time Don Quixote had been dubbed the “Knight of the Woeful Countenance,” the change was (happily) permanent.

Review: (Stratford / Theatre) King John

(photo by Don Dixon)

At Hand is War-Like John
The rarely performed King John is poised to become the triumphant dark horse of the season
by Stuart Munro and Dave Ross
@StuartMunroTO
@dmjross

Though King John enjoyed wild popularity in the 19th century, it has been rarely performed in the 20th and 21st – the Stratford Festival, for its part, has produced the play four times in the 60 years of the festival. The announcement of this new production, number five, was met with confusion by some – why on earth would the festival want to stage this dusty old piece many of us had never heard of? Our questions were answered with one of the most graceful productions ever to land itself on the Tom Patterson stage.

Review: (Stratford) Crazy For You

(photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Who Could Ask For Anything More?! 
Stratford has a surefire crowd-pleaser on their hands
by Stuart Munro and Dave Ross
@StuartMunroTO
@dmjross

The week of Stratford openings continued last night with The Gershwins and Ken Ludwig’s Crazy For You. Often styled “the new Gershwin musical comedy,” Crazy For You is loosely based on the 1930 Gershwin show Girl Crazy. But rather than merely updating the original, Ludwig has crafted a new and clever story with multiple subplots and some of the funniest one-liners to be uttered on stage. This new Stratford Festival production hits all the right notes, giving the audience a thrilling evening, and more than enough reason to stand and cheer.

Review: (Stratford / Theatre) King Lear

(photo: David Hou)

Old Before it is Wise
Stratford’s Lear is somehow less than the sum of its parts
by Dave Ross and Stuart Munro
@dmjross
@StuartMunroTO

The Stratford Festival’s 62nd season opened last night with a new production of King Lear. Starring Colm Feore, and directed by festival Artistic Director, Antoni Cimolino. This Lear boasts some stellar performances and wonderful design elements. Yet despite this, something fell flat.

Dave Ross: There are many pieces to King Lear – betrayal, rivalry, madness – but none of them seem to ever really come together. It lacks a cohesiveness of narrative, feeling instead like a number of different stories moving in parallel and with only glancing blows as they rub up against once another. I can’t fault the performers though – this was a solid cast across the board.

Stuart Munro: I have to agree. This is one of the strongest ensemble casts I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. Everyone had a moment to shine – no one made me wish they’d been cast differently. The descent of Feore’s Lear into madness was clearly crafted and heartbreaking, and Scott Wentworth’s Gloucester was equally as captivating and moving. My difficulty came from my lack of familiarity with the play itself. There are so many threads in Lear that, if you’re not prepared for them, will slip away before you’ve had a chance to grasp them. This becomes a problem in the production’s second half when the plots and intrigues are changing almost as fast as they’re being revealed. I simply couldn’t keep up with the brisk pacing.

In a Word... Actor Nonnie Griffin on Marilyn After

Hey, Nonnie, Nonnie!

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

A veteran of Canadian theatre and Andrew Allan’s fabled CBC Stage radio series, Nonnie Griffin is indelibly remembered for her appearances in such Toronto productions as Hello, Dolly! Waiting for the Parade, Tremblay’s The Impromptu of Outremont, Ring Round the Moon, and The Sea – for which she was named Best Actress of 1977.  She is also the author of Sister Annunciata’s Secret, based on an actual incident, in which she plays six characters. Her play brought audiences at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival to their feet and high praise from critics. She is also the author of SHOWBIZ and other addictions, published by Mosaic Press and endorsed by writer Timothy Findley, who called her “magical”.

CHARPO: You have had, especially considering it’s Canada!, a fabled career. What were some of the highs (and, if you like, the lows)?

GRIFFIN: The highs have been many. When I began, there was only one repertory company in the country, the Canadian Repertory Company (CRT)  in Ottawa and I was asked to be the resident ingenue at 19 years of age. William Hutt was the leading man, William Shatner (of Startrek) their juvenile, plus Eric House, Barbara Chilcott as well as other notable Canadian performers. CRT had hired the new famous and excellent actor Christopher Plummer the year before.

We had one week to rehearse any production but the standard of acting was always excellent even with the classics such as Chekhov's The Three Sisters. Another 'high' was being discovered by the great Andrew Allan in Lister Sinclair's new play, The Blood is Strong, who cast me opposite John Drainie. I went on to do countless productions in Mr. Allan's 'Stage Series' and other radio work. This was what they now call The Golden Age of Radio and it was.  Later, I was in the first musical production of Anne of Green Gables and from there, went to England for three years, the highlight being asked to be part of the Bristol Old Vic theatre company and travelling with the company to Lebanon with two Shakespeare productions in 1960. (cont'd)

Sunday Feature: Interview - Seana McKenna

You and Your Audience
Seana McKenna takes you on her journey
by David Sklar
(All photos courtesy of Stratford Festival, all production photos by David Hou except when noted)

Seana McKenna was raised in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke and in nearby Port Credit. She spent one year at the University of Toronto before attending the National Theatre School in Montreal until 1979. She made her professional acting debut the same year at the Blyth Festival, appearing in This Foreign Land, Child by James Nichol and The Death of the Donnellys. Her long and distinguished association with the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario began in 1982, when she joined Shakespeare 3 Company, as the Festival's Young Company was then called, appearing as Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream and as Diana in All's Well That Ends Well. Ms McKenna won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her performance in the title role of Shaw's Saint Joan (Theatre Plus, 1991) and a second in 1998 for outstanding direction of Fugard's Valley Song. Her third Dora Award, in 2007, was for her performance as Lady Torrance in Orpheus Descending. She received a Jessie Award for Wit and a Genie Award for The Hanging Garden. In 2010 Seana McKenna was awarded an honorary Master of Fine Arts degree from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She served for six years on the Council of Canadian Equity, the actors' union, and for three years on its executive. Ms McKenna has received a Tyrone  Guthrie Award for mentorship. With impressive technique and a silky, flexible voice, Seana McKenna demonstrates passion, intensity and intelligence in every role. She is considered by many to be Canada's finest dramatic actress of her generation.

CHARPO: Where did it all begin for you in terms of acting?

McKENNA: I think Brian Bedford and I shared the same first role, which was the Virgin Mary. I was five. I had a next-door neighbour who was an actress.  Apparently, when I was about eight, I went with a bunch of neighbourhood kids and asked her if she would direct us in plays. I started at a very young age: in school plays. I had a fabulous theatre arts teacher in high school and I then went to Ontario Youth Theatre, the National Arts Centre and toured around with the Mad Woman of Chaillot. Then I went to Trinity College, they only had one drama course, and finally at the National Theatre School (NTS)  I told myself, “I’ll keep doing this as long as I get work”. I have been fortunate.  

CHARPO: And you worked with Joel Miller at NTS?

McKENNA: Yes. In my last two years. But I was brought in by Douglas Rain: he auditioned me. And those were heady days. The Parti Québécois has just been elected, and Montreal was a hopping city. There was one night, where I was asleep and it must have been around 3am and all of a sudden I heard car horns blaring in the street and the French side at school got the day off but we didn’t! Already there was a little bit of the two solitudes in the school. 

It was very exciting.  St-Denis was not the St-Denis that it is now. It was a great city to live and I think the sadness is that many English actors who went to the school couldn’t find enough work to stay.  You’d love to live there.  There just isn’t the same amount of work. 

Sunday Feature: Interview with Antoni Cimolino, Artistic Director, Stratford Festival

Stratford: The Next Generation 
...ultimately, that’s why people come. It’s the work, the place. It’s the talent on the stage.
by David Sklar (photos courtesy of The Stratford Festival)

Senior contributor David Sklar spoke with Antoni Cimolino, Artistic Director of Stratford Festival, about the challenging experience of taking over the reins this past year. 

CHARPO:  How did it all begin for you here at Stratford?

CIMOLINO:   I came here a number of times in high school but there was one time that changed everything. I was in a Catholic boys school at the time and the play is about four young men who decide not to drink, spend all their time studying and refuse to see any women and I knew that that wasn’t going to work out: things were going to happen. And sure enough four beautiful women show up but what was remarkable was that I saw my friends on stage. I saw the goofy guy; the one everyone makes fun of, the smart ass and the intelligent one: I saw my friends. I thought, “This is my gang. This play was written 300 years ago so how’s that possible?” 

It was a very strange moment. And the other thing was that I was in a room with 2000 people, almost all older than I was but we were all laughing together. We were all moved together. It was an epiphany. I recognized a connection to humanity. I saw how great humanity was, both back in time and in that moment. I felt a union. So I went home, told my dad that I wasn’t going to go to Law School and that I wanted to be an actor. So you could imagine the response from my first generation immigrant parents but they eventually supported me. It was that moment where I just realized I wanted to do something else that contributed to what we are all about.   

Review: (Stratford) The Merchant of Venice

Scott Wentworth (photo by David Hou)

Then must the Jew be merciful?
Stratford’s Merchant of Venice tries too hard to deal with an unforgiving play
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

I’m finishing my series of opening nights at Stratford with the Festival’s new production of The Merchant of Venice. The second offering this season from Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino, Merchant is another of those well known plays with which I wasn’t too familiar. And while there are several strong moments, this production ultimately falls a little flat.

A large part of the problem is the play itself. Classically thought of as a comedy, Merchant’s anti-Semitism has become more complicated over the centuries, turning it into one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays.” To overcome this, directors often bend over backwards in an attempt to transform Shylock from the comic villain he was written as to a sympathetic, misunderstood antagonist. This results, however, in a woefully unbalanced plot and two separate storylines that are absolutely out of synch with one another – the comic love stories of Bassanio and Portia, Lorenzo and Jessica, and Gratiano and Nerissa; and the more intense story of Shylock demanding his pound of flesh from the eponymous merchant, Antonio.

Review: (Stratford) Othello

Graham Abbey (l), Dion Johnstone (photo by Michael Cooper)

Heavy Act With Heavy Heart
Stratford’s Othello brims with intensity and passion
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

There’s a certain amount of excitement involved in seeing a well-known play for the first time. I’ve been vaguely familiar with the plot of Othello for years now, but had never had the opportunity to actually see it until last night’s opening at Stratford’s Avon Theatre. I couldn’t have picked a better production. This Othello is intense and heart breaking, and is sure to become a hit of the season.

Othello is the story of a Moorish Venetian army general and his beautiful new wife, Desdemona. Othello’s ensign, Iago, enraged at being passed over for a promotion, plots to bring down his commander by planting the seed of an idea of an infidelity involving Desdemona and Cassio, Othello’s lieutenant, in Othello’s head. The result is disastrous for all involved.

Review: (Stratford) The Thrill

Lucy Peacock (photo by Don Dixon)

We Are Not Dead Yet
The Thrill stumbles along its way to poignancy
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

Who has the right to live, and who has the right to die? More importantly – who has the right to choose? These are the challenging and difficult questions raised by Judith Thompson’s new play, The Thrill, making its world première at the Stratford Festival this year.

Inspired by the life and work of disability rights activist, Harriet Johnson, The Thrill follows the last few months in the life of Elora (Lucy Peacock), herself a disability rights lawyer and activist; and of Julian (Nigel Bennett), a right-to-die educator and best-selling author. The two meet, and the result is different than anything one might expect.

Review: (Stratford) Blithe Spirit

Michelle Giroux (photo by David Hou)

High Spirits!

Stratford’s opening week ends with a triumph

by Stuart Munro

@StuartMunroTO

My week at Stratford has come to an end, and what an ending! The festival’s new production of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, directed by Brian Bedford, has all the fast-paced biting wit one would expect, and is presented with all the skill one hopes to see on stage at every outing.

In short, Blithe Spirit tells the story of Charles Condomine; his wife, Ruth; the psychic medium, Madame Arcati; and a seance gone horribly, horribly wrong. Over the three hours of the play, Charles must learn to deal with the unexpected result of that meeting and the following consequences.

Leading the company is festival perennial Ben Carlson. His dry wit, acerbic manner, and physical comedy make it clear that he is just as at home with Coward as he is with Schiller’s Mary Stuart – one would hardly recognize him between the two roles, so complete is the transformation. The same is true of Seana McKenna as the slightly-daft medium, Madame Arcati. The utter absurdity of her character is made completely believable by Ms. McKenna’s undeniable skill, and how anyone on stage with her manages to keep a straight face is utterly beyond me. As Ruth, Sara Topham took a little while to grow on me, but her hysterics in the second act completely won me over. Michelle Giroux’s Elvira was the picture of grace and sensibility (even in an impossible situation), and Susie Burnett’s Edith had the audience in stitches from the moment the curtain went up.

Review: (Stratford) The Three Musketeers

Steven Sutcliffe (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Buckle Your Swashes!
Director Miles Potter helms an impressively large production

by Stuart Munro

@StuartMunroTO

The seventeenth century is alive and well at the Festival Theatre thanks to a new production of The Three Musketeers, adapted by Peter Raby from Alexandre Dumas’s novel of the same name. The story follows the exploits of d’Artagnan as he makes his way from Gascony to Paris in hopes of joining the King’s Guards, the Musketeers. Along the way he befriends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, falls in love with the beautiful Constance Bonacieux, makes enemies of religious and social leaders, and gets caught up in a religio-political drama that has the potential to tear France apart, and England along with it. If it sounds like a lot of story, let me assure you it is. And while the pace can sometimes be difficult to keep up with, the end result is one of good cheer and great action.

Review: (Stratford) Tommy

Robert Markus and company (photo by Michael Cooper)

Tastes of Reality
The spectacle of Tommy is mind-blowing, but at what cost?
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

As the curtain came down on Tommy last night, the audience around me was jumping to their feet, screaming and cheering – a testament to the fact that they had had an amazing evening. As for me? Well. I was more confused than anything. Sure, I’d understood the (thin) plot. Yes, I’d enjoyed the music, the dancing, and several of the performances. But whatever it was that’d caused everyone around me to leap to their feet had been lost on me. If Tommy had a broader lesson to impart, I’d missed it completely.

Written by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff, the show (often styled The Who’s Tommy), relates the story of Tommy who, after witnessing a murder via a mirror, is told by his parents, “You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, you won't say nothing to no one ever in your life.” And so Tommy becomes “deaf, dumb and blind,” seemingly unaffected by anything and everything – until he’s placed in front of a pinball machine by his cousin. Suddenly, Tommy is a wunderkind and a local hero. Over the next ten years, Tommy amasses a huge following, before his hearing, speech, and vision return to him.

Review: (Stratford) Mary Stuart

Lucy Peacock (l), Seanna McKenna and company (photo: David Hou)

A Tale of Two Queens
Stratford royalty reign over this astounding new production
by Stuart Munro
@StuartMunroTO

It’s not very often you get the chance to see two legendary actors in their prime portray characters that seem to have been crafted for them and them alone, but this is exactly what we are given in Stratford’s new production of Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller (in a new version by Peter Oswald). Directed by festival artistic director, Antoni Cimolino, this Mary Stuart is a powerhouse of a production filled with dynamic direction and stellar performances.

Set in the days before the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1587, Mary Stuart is a religio-political drama that centres around a fictional meeting between Mary and her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. The success of the play hangs on that scene, and the tension that precedes and follows it. And while every moment has been beautifully crafted by Cimolino, the ultimate success of that crucial meeting is thanks to the extraordinary talents of Lucy Peacock as Mary and Seana McKenna as Elizabeth. As Mary, Ms. Peacock is strong-willed, but never arrogant; convinced of her rightful claim to the throne, but also fully accepting of why she has ended up in prison. The serene calm during her final scene, moments before her execution, was sublime and heartbreaking – may we all be so untroubled as we meet death. Likewise, McKenna’s Elizabeth is the perfect portrait of a woman who, while in power, believes she has none, yet is surrounded by those who obey her every word – she makes such a paradox comprehensible. Her severe shock in the play’s final scene sent chills down my spine, and I expect through the hearts of everyone in the audience. These two women meet for only a few brief moments at the top of the play’s second half, but those brief moments alone are worth the price of admission – the power of that meeting resonates throughout the remainder of the play right until the lights come down for the final time. Indeed, my only complaint is that this scene is too short! I’d’ve been only too glad to watch these two women interact all evening.

Review: (Stratford) Measure for Measure

Carmen Grant and Tom Rooney (photo by Michael Cooper)

Moulded Out of Faults
Stratford mounts a good production of a mediocre play

by Stuart Munro and Dave Ross

@StuartMunroTO
@dmjross

Measure for Measure has long been recognized as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays.” While usually classified as a comedy, the themes of betrayal, political intrigue, and sexual coercion are anything but a laughing matter. The result is that the play ends up with a bit of a split personality – half intense political and romantic drama, and half farce, involving some clownish characters and an aging prostitute. Any director tackling this play certainly has a tough task ahead of them. 

Stuart Munro: Stratford veteran (and former Measure for Measure star), Martha Henry, lends her more than capable skill to this challenging material, and under her watchful eye the production probably succeeds better than it might’ve otherwise. Henry has chosen to set the play in 1949 post-war Vienna, a political atmosphere that, as Henry says in her director’s notes, is a perfect “setting for a story that depends on intrigue, chance, opportunity and picking up whatever you can in the street in order to make a living.” Henry’s direction uses the unconventional space of the Tom Patterson Theatre brilliantly, and I was constantly reminded of why this is one of my favourite venues in the world. The aesthetic created by Henry and designer John Pennoyer does a good job of conveying a film noire-inspired world of faded glory that is, slowly, on the way to recovery. Moreover, Todd Charlton’s sound design goes a long way to marrying the two disparate parts of this play – the comedy and the drama.

Review: (Stratford) Fiddler on the Roof

Jewelle Blackman (top) with Kate Henning (bottom centre) and company (photo by Cylla von Tiedemann)

Tradition Abounds!
This Fiddler may play it safe, but the effect is powerful
by Stuart Munro and Dave Ross
@StuartMunroTO
@dmjross

Stratford’s first musical offering of the season is Bock and Harnick’s perennial classic, Fiddler on the Roof. This long-time favourite has been praised for its ability to speak to peoples from all backgrounds and histories; its appeal is that one doesn’t have to be Jewish to understand the plight of Tevye and his family – through him, we all become Jewish for the night and learn what it feels like to be marginalized and persecuted for no reason.

Stuart Munro: I want to start this off by saying I love this show. Fiddler is easily in my top five, all-time favourite musicals. And things last night started off well enough. The Festival Theatre stage has been transformed into two distinct locales – the greys of Anatevka in the world below, and the bright colours of the Chagall-inspired Heaven above (the title of the musical comes from a Marc Chagall painting called “The Green Violinist”). The opening number, “Tradition,” was exciting and set the tone for what should’ve been an equally exciting show. But somewhere along the way, things started to fall a little flat. And though I expect people will disagree with me strongly on this, the weak link in this production is Scott Wentworth as Tevye. Too often he played the comedy of the text, not the drama (the script is funny already, it doesn’t need help!), and he seemed to be in a tremendous rush. I just wanted him to slow down and take his time with the words. A lot of what Wentworth does works very well, but his principle motivations seemed misguided.

Review: (Stratford) Romeo and Juliet

Daniel Brière, Sarah Topham (photo credit: Don Dixon)

I Ne’er Saw True Beauty Till This Night
Stratford’s new Romeo and Juliet is a refreshing approach to a well-worn classic
by Dave Ross (@dmjross) and Stuart Munro (@StuartMunroTO)

Stratford’s 61st season got off to a stellar start last night with the festival’s new production of Romeo and Juliet. Helmed by Globe director, Tim Carroll, this version of Shakespeare’s classic attempts to use “original practices,” bringing the performing and viewing experience as closely as possible back to the 1590s when the play was first performed.

Stuart Munro: This approach was apparent as soon as you entered the Festival Theatre – the stage was completely bare, and for the first time in six years, the theatre’s original design by Tanya Moiseiwitsch stood centre stage.

Dave Ross: I agree – my first show ever at the Stratford Festival was with this stage, but the handful of shows I’ve seen since have not used it and instead having large, elaborate designs. This isn’t to say that these larger designs don’t have their place, but it is refreshing to see this stage restored. It brought incredible focus to the performers and the text. During the first act of the play I made a mental note that none of the performers were blowing me away, but I soon came to realize that I was seeing an incredibly talented, cohesive cast, where every performance, from the supernumeraries to the leads, was, in a word, excellent. Without technical whizbangery to conceal any weak performances, they had to be.