'Without Vision These Shows Perished'

By Kellie McDonald
For the Real Critics Blog

Let me paint a picture for you that was this year’s Redlands Shakespeare Festival. Picture a large stage that is used for three shows -- Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Above the stage it says “Without Vision a People Perish” unfortunately for this festival it should say “Without vision these shows perished.” At least that would have been a fair warning to the audiences for what they were about to witness.
Now how do I introduce my thoughts on Hamlet? Maybe I should jump right in and get to the major issue that was the cause for all the other problems. Hamlet is an intense tragedy that takes the director, who takes the actors, and, in turn, they take the audience on an emotional journey. The artistic director of the festival, Steven Sabel, foolishly took on more than he could handle. Sabel not only directed the show (And A Midsummer’s Night Dream... we'll get to that later), he also did the fight choreography, and cast himself as Hamlet. There are very few cases where a performance is decent, let alone enjoyable, when the director is the main character in the show. There are even fewer cases where a forty-year-old man playing Hamlet could be conceived as a good idea. Unfortunately this production of Hamlet does not fall into either one of those cases. I think it would be a great injustice to even start to comment on the actors for they weren’t even given a chance to have direction for their own personal performances. So the fact that they couldn’t find their lights, they had unmotivated blocking, they broke their own reality rules which they had created, was to no fault of their own because they were without direction. Some of the supporting characters acted as if they were in a happy musical verses a classic tragedy, and they all around seemed to have very little understanding of the text, but again, this should not be held against them.
Luckily the entire cast didn't seem as lost as their lead man. It was very clear that Tom Newman, who played Polonius, knew his role and the story. His energy came alive on stage and he brought appropriate humor that the audience understood.
Sabel delivered his lines over dramatically and milked every speech for every second he could. Shatner could have said those speeches faster and clearer than Sabel did. The only tragedy about this production was simply that it was done. The audience was giggling throughout the entire show. Sadly the most dramatic part of the production was when Horatio put his hood on right before the black out at the end of the show.
In the center of the stage they placed a huge throne. There are two parts of the show where anyone who knows the story of Hamlet expected the throne to be used; during the dumb show, because that is where a King would sit to watch the play, and at the end for the final dramatic fight. For the dumb show the King sat on the floor with everyone else. That was so frustrating to watch because a King would not sit on the floor let alone with all the people of his court. My frustration was then turned into great confusion as Hamlet tried to, what seemed to be, rape Ophelia in front of everyone while no one did a thing. Instead of the conversation being an aside between the two characters everyone sat there and watched with slight concern on their faces. At the end of the play when the dramatic fight happens I thought to myself, “Now they must have something planned for the throne, seeing how it is center stage and this is the end.” Sadly the King sat in it for a total of 30 seconds then stood up again. Why would they have something center stage that was never used? Maybe it had some deep meaning? Or maybe it was simply there just to take up space.
While watching all three shows on the stage with the added thrust I came to the conclusion that the stage was large enough for what they were trying to accomplish and the thrust was not necessary. Not only did they have enough space already but they were unable to have front lights for the thrust so all of the actors faces were covered in shadows. Seems pretty silly to me if you’re trying to bring the action closer to the audience, yet, by doing so, you only make it harder to see their faces.
The second show I saw in the festival was Romeo and Juliet, directed by Ron Milts. Going into this show I felt confident that it could not be nearly be as awful as Hamlet because it had a different director. It was not as bad as Hamlet, but it was not good by any means. The acting over all was a step up from the previous show. Again some of the actors acted as if they were in an upbeat musical. There were several females who, yes, created character voices but with no help to keep their voices from making the audience’s ears bleed. Romeo and Juliet are one of the most famous tragic lovers in literature. Unfortunately the audience could not help but chuckle through their misery.
If I was to ask anyone (whether they knew the show or not) what is the first thing you think of when you hear the title of the play, Romeo and Juliet? They would answer “Oh Romeo, Romeo. Where for art thou Romeo?” The balcony scene is probably the most thought of scene in the play. On the stage were a total of four different platforms and where does Milts decide to have the balcony scene? On the end of the thrust, that is where. If you have several options that all could work very easily for the balcony scene, why on earth would you choose somewhere else?
Through the entire show they used the thrust as the balcony, which at least they were consistent about using the space as only one location. Oh wait, excuse me, it was the balcony through the whole show until the very end where without any notice the space became Juliet’s tomb. At first it seemed that her father just laid her “dead” body outside her room on her balcony. As an audience member for a few seconds, before I caught on that they were in her tomb, I found it believable that her father would just throw her dead body out her window, because earlier in the show he hit her and the actor created the feeling that he was an unbearable father. By having Juliet’s tomb on the thrust it meant the actress had to lay there close to the audience through the other scenes while she waited for the final scene to come. This took me out of the play completely and I just felt bad for the actress who had to lay there. This performance over all was pretty forgettable.
And last, but not least, A Midsummer’s Night Dream. This show had the audience laughing through the entire show. Luckily for the actors this show is supposed to be a comedy. For anyone who actually knows the show we were disappointed, but most of the unknowing audience seemed to be entertained (and that’s what really matters, right?). Again directed by Sabel this show fell short in many areas. The blocking consisted mostly of the actors either doing very poorly choreographed slapstick comedy or standing in a straight line talking to one another. The lovers were not in love with each other; they only were concerned with sex and the last time I checked love consisted of more than just lusting after another person. The actor who played Puck was more of a goof-ball instead of being mischievous so it was difficult to understand his motivation.
The slapstick comedy was not necessary through the whole show. The story alone is funny enough. To cover up the lack of knowledge of the script Sabel had the actors jumping over backwards to get laughs instead of just telling the story. It was obvious that no one payed attention to the text when Titania asked the fairies to sing her to sleep and instead of singing they just danced. If he was going to have them dance Sabel could have changed the text or cut the line entirely (it’s Shakespeare, and royalty free, so no one would blame, or notice, if you make such changes).
I can honestly say that the actors did do a great job of keeping up the energy and pace in this show. Also it was great seeing a couple scene changes, they showed the different worlds by using pillars for the court scenes and for the fantasy forest scenes they used the giant tree that was placed center stage. While in the forest, when some magic would happen, there was a laser sound effect that did not seem to ever be timed correctly with the actor’s moments. The sound effect was distracting and not necessary because the actors movements should have been enough to tell the audience magic was happening. On the counter side of that, while there was no dialogue on stage and magic was happening the background music was perfect and done very well.
If you don't mind two and a half hours of actors who sound like yapping dogs and giggling 12-year-olds, and sloppy slapstick comedy then this show was for you.
The Redlands Shakespeare Festival fell short all around in almost every aspect of theatre. As an honest reviewer I will acknowledge that the audience did seem to enjoy the shows and the majority of them stuck around through the entirety of the performances. When it comes down to it, yes, all the shows could have been MUCH better, but their audiences were entertained and that may be all that matters.

The Redlands Shakespeare Festival is an annual festival that produces three shows in May each year. Visit www.redlandsshakespearefestival.com for details.