{"id":6874,"date":"2017-11-06T06:24:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T11:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6874"},"modified":"2017-11-13T07:31:35","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T12:31:35","slug":"shakespeare-in-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6874","title":{"rendered":"Shakespeare in Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Perhaps you remember remember the charming 1998 movie, Shakespeare in Love<\/em>, starring Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow. Lee Hall\u2014best known for Billy Elliott<\/em>\u2014has transformed Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard\u2019s screenplay into a theatrical version, on stage at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey through November 12. STNJ\u2019s artistic director Bonnie J. Monte directed this lively production, which she describes as \u201ca perfectly ebullient homage to Shakespeare, to life, to love, to the art of theatre, to the centuries of players who inhabit our stages, and to the process of creating art . . . a delight from beginning to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will Shakespeare (played by Jon Barker) is having trouble finding the right words for a sonnet, and is helped by his friend, fellow playwright, and competitor Kit Marlowe (Anthony Marble). Will encounters the enchanting young Viola de Lesseps (Whitney Maris Brown<\/a>) and Marlowe again feeds him the words he needs to entrance her.<\/p>\n

Viola, on the cusp of marriage, is smitten with the stage and, disguised as a man, tries out for Shakespeare\u2019s new barely-begun play, and is tapped for the part of Romeo. With Viola as his muse, the Bard\u2019s writing takes off. It being forbidden for women to appear on stage at the time, the lovers are in risky territory, not least because Viola\u2019s fianc\u00e9 (Marcus Dean Fuller) believes Something is Up.<\/p>\n

The perils of casting, the comedic antics of rehearsals, the wiles of Viola\u2019s nurse (Erika Rolfsrud<\/a>), and the parallels between the evolving play and obstacles to the lovers keep the action moving in about a dozen directions at once. A fine\u2014and large\u2014supporting cast, especially noting Ames Adamson, Edmond Genest, Garrett Lawson, and David Andrew Macdonald, plays about forty roles! Spot, (Boston Terrier Dublin Delancy McFinnigan) makes his bone-afide theatrical debut, well trained by Seamus Mulcahy<\/a> (playing John Webster). (Mulcahy has produced a DVD of dogs performing Shakespeare. A niche product in so many ways.)<\/p>\n

Jon Barker and Whitney Maris Brown generate considerable heat in their lovely scenes together. Barker is a frequent STNJ cast member and has a gift for achieving perfect body language and gestures in any role, including this one.<\/p>\n

Mention should be made of the energetic and entertaining way the cast pitches in with the set dressing for the numerous scene changes. Brian Clinnin\u2019s deceptively simple-looking scenic design lends itself to transformations from lowly tavern to royal theater box to boat on the Thames.<\/p>\n

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey productions are hosted at Drew University in Madison, N.J. (easily reachable from NYC by train). For tickets, call the box office at 973-408-5600 or visit http:\/\/www.shakespearenj.org<\/a>. Note that STNJ offers special ticket pricing of $30 for theatergoers under age 30!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps you remember remember the charming 1998 movie, Shakespeare in Love, starring Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow. Lee Hall\u2014best known for Billy Elliott\u2014has transformed Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard\u2019s screenplay into a theatrical version, on stage at the Shakespeare Theatre … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Shakespeare in Love - still time to see this lively, romantic production about the magic that is theater!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[272,394,104,147],"tags":[197,553,414],"class_list":["post-6874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-romance","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-shakespeare","tag-shakespeare-theatre-of-new-jersey","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-1MS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6876,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions\/6876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}