Make haste! Shakespeare saves a life at the Folger

Jacob Ming-Trent talks to God in Folger Theatre's How Shakespeare Saved My Life/Photo by Erika Nizborski

Jacob Ming-Trent wants to save another life, like Shakespeare saved his, to inspire at least one person, one artist to create, to make, to help, to forgive.


At the Folger Theatre, it's the world premiere of How Shakespeare Saved My Life which Mr. Ming-Trent wrote and performs in the most energetic, gripping solo show I have seen.


In a fast 90 minutes, the actor/playwright describes his youthful struggles for survival, his encounters with the law, with teachers, men on the street, men in the pulpit.

Jacob Ming-Trent in Folger Theatre's How Shakespeare Saved My Life/Photo by Erika Nizborski.

He portrays several different characters, his parents, a preacher man, the guys under the bridge, and many more, all realistically presented with distinctive mannerisms, vocal pauses and inflections. 

Director Tony Taccone has Mr. Ming-Trent moving from stage right to stage left and back again, speaking non-stop, leaving the audience breathless and hungry for calm which they hope he (and they) will find.

When he was a teen, his mother threw him out of the house, refusing to let him back in despite his many pleas over the years, she, a cruel and heartless person who told her only child at his father’s funeral, that she felt absolutely nothing, nothing for her son when he was born. 

One can't help but wonder how she feels now or where she is, if she'd let him back in the house since he's found success, but her story is not his or this story which includes forgiveness.

His dad told his son that the best thing for a man to be was a good listener, and his child followed his advice, quoting Shakespeare in his show: ”To thine own self be true.”

Shakespeare rescues Mr. Ming-Trent from a life of crime, from homelessness, despair, thoughts of suicide.

Combining his script with hip hop, and the fantastic music by Jake Rodriguez, Takeshi Kata's rapidly changing scenics and Alexander V. Nichols' projections, and it’s another greatness thrust upon Mr. Ming-Trent’s canon, with a supporting cast, the audience becoming the congregation in Mr. Ming-Trent's church, hungry for inspiration and the hope he bestows.

This Life ends abruptly before we hear about Mr. Ming-Trent’s star rising, his many shows listed in the program attesting to his success.

"Play on," Jacob Ming-Trent, play on.

Other Life creative team members are Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, choreographer; Danielle Preston, costumes; Alan C. Edwards, lighting; Taylor Kiechlin, production stage manager; Miranda Korieth, assistant stage manager.


The Folger and Red Bull theatres commissioned the play with co-production by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

In an interview with American Theatre this year, Mr. Ming-Trent said: “Shakespeare is a rule-breaker, and I’m a rule-breaker. I love tearing down the classical theatre’s ivory tower and using the scaffolding and bricks to rebuild a place where we all are welcome.”


Who: Jacob Ming-Trent

What: How Shakespeare Saved My Life

When: Evenings through July 5 at 7:30 p.m. (8:00 p.m., Friday) plus matinees Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 2 p.m. No performance on July 4.

Where: Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE Washington, DC 20003

How much: Tickets start at $20 with discounts for military members, veterans and their families; those 35 and under; public servants; seniors; students; first time Folger attendees; pay-what-you can; groups of ten or more; and rush tickets at half price, if available, one hour before performances. Check the website.

Closest Metro stations: Union Station and Capitol South

Recommended for ages 13 and up. Mature language and adult situations and conversations.

For more information: folgerboxoffice@folger.edu or 202-544-7077

patricialesli@gmail.com

Make haste! Bold 'Othello' departs June 28

 

From left, Ben Turner is Iago and Wendell Pierce is Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company/Photo by Theresa Castracane


The acting is as superb as all that’s been told.

After the performance, a father and daughter told me that they couldn’t wait to bring other family members to the show.

Wendell Pierce is the Broadway star who is Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Othello, a bold showman whose role in the first act is moderate compared to the demands of the second.

And whatever act it is, the dastardly Iago (Ben Turner) commands the stage, a forceful and stronger villain than other Iagos I have witnessed.

Casting director Danica Rodriguez took no shortcuts choosing the actors for one of the bard's best.

Iago is angry that he’s been overlooked for a promotion by General Othello who chooses Cassio (Lucas Iverson) for the position, and what’s this? Has the general has been trifling with Iago’s wife, Emilia (Melanie Field)?

All the more reasons to act on Iago’s suspicions!

Says Iago to Othello: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."

Iago unceasingly feeds hints of imaginary betrayal to Othello by his wife, Desdemona (Olivia Cygan), a frail and delicate flower who never professes anything but faithfulness to her husband.

She has eloped with Othello, much to the shock of her father, Brabantio (Joey Collins) who disowns his daughter and hints of future infidelity to his new black son-in-law.

Alas! When it came to the marriage bed, I did indeed think Othello had smothered Desdemona in the lifelike murder scene when Desdemona fights for life under the sheets, kicking her legs and wailing, Othello’s heart having turned to stone.

Melanie Field is Emilia the handmaid for Desdemona (Olivia Cygan) in Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company/Photo by Theresa Castracane

The victim’s handmaid, Emilia, in a spellbinding delivery, comes to the aid of her mistress too late! Emilia berating her deplorable spouse, she soon to be slain when the truth is revealed before the star kills himself.

So little time, so many murders.


Scenic designer Susan Hilferty places the few props in strategic locations, more, unnecessary since the play’s jealousy and revenge are all consuming, leaving audience members who eavesdrop on Iago’s plans, breathless and tense, most already aware of the outcome.


Daniel Velez, Todd Schofield, Derek Garza, Giovanna Drummond are other cast members with the Ensemble: Jon Beal, C.J.Craig, Sofia Hernandez-Morales, Claire Hilton, Anna Marzullo, Vish Shukla, Cole Sitilides, James Whalen, Em Whitworth.

STC's artistic director, Simon Godwin, directs the play in a tight presentation.  It's Othello, after all.


The artistic team includes Shiloh Coke, composer; Hilferty and Sarita P. Fellows, costume designers; Amith A. Chandrashaker, lighting; Christopher Shutt, sound; Jonathan Goddard, choreographer; Everett Judd, assistant director; Laura Smith, production stage manager; Robb Hunter, fight choreographer.

Royal Shakespeare's outstanding 'Hamnet' at Shakespeare Theatre Company

 

Rory Alexander and Kemi-Bo Jacobs as William and Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet at Shakespeare Theatre Company/Photo by Kyle Flubacker

Attention, theatre-lovers: For the best acting you'll see anywhere, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Neal Street Productions' Hamnet onstage now at Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company is a must.

The show sold every seat and broke box office records in Stratford-upon-Avon before it crossed the pond to run in Chicago, Washington, and San Francisco, the only U.S. venues.  

Most of the original cast came with it. 

The play is based on Maggie O'Farrell's bestselling historical fiction, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti.

Hamnet was the only son of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Anne Hathaway (1556-1623) who was born with his sister, Judith, a twin, in 1586. 

Shortly after their birth, William Shakespeare (Rory Alexander) left his wife (Kemi-Bo Jacobs) and family to pursue writing and acting in London.

When Judith (Saffron Dey) suddenly became ill with plague symptoms when the twins were 10 or 11, a  message was rushed to their father who hurried home.

But by the time he got there, Judith had recovered and Hamnet (Ajani Cabey) lay ill or had already died, likely before his father arrived. 

To escape the suffering and grief, Shakespeare returned to London and continued his career. 

After his death, the parents took solace knowing their son would live on in his father's works.  

At the time of Hamnet's death, Shakespeare was writing comedies which he continued for several years until he began turning out his greatest tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Julius Caesar and others. In them scholars find links to Hamnet.

 

William and Anne whose name is changed to Agnes in the novel and in the play, married in 1582 when Anne was pregnant with Susannah (Ava Hinds-Jones), their oldest child.

 

Most sources say they didn't have a good marriage, and naturally, the fault is Anne's since evil rests with women, believed by some then and now. (See Eve in the Garden of Eden.) 

Anne was eight years older than William, and it is suggested that she and her family trapped Shakespeare who was abused by his own father (forcefully played by Nigel Barrett). 

For those who have never had a baby, Ms. Jacobs delivers three times in excruciating agony. The play centers on her emotional and mental turmoil which Ms. Jacobs performs with conviction and credibility.

  

Tom Piper's set design of scaffolding on three levels recalls the outlines of 16th century English Tudor housing, looking like the house where Shakespeare was born, with a loft which becomes a bedroom. 

Like mice scurrying from place to place, it's mostly women who come and go, quickly changing the scenes by moving a rectangular table back and forth on the first level.  

Every so often birds sing (sound by Simon Baker), reflective of Anne's love of them, their freedom and their homing return like William makes it from time to time.

Heard in the final act: "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die."

Others in the cast are Penny Layden as William's sympathetic mother, Mary, while Troy Alexander is Agnes's understanding brother, Bartholomew who rescues his sister more than once. Also, Elizabeth Connick, Heather Forster, Karl Haynes, Nicki Hobday, Matilda McCarthy, and Bert Seymour (the last two, the dance and fight captains, respectively). 

Oğuz Kaplangi’s  captivating music, mostly heard during scene changes, foreshadows the tension and conflict.

Prema Mehta's variable lighting techniques contribute to the sad environment and mood. 

The artistic team includes the director, Erica Whyman, the RSC acting artistic director; fight director, Kate Waters; movement director, Ayşe Tashkiran; and stage managers, Marius Arnold-Clarke, Chloë Forestier-Walker, and Laura Smith.

About 2.5 hrs. with a 15-minute intermission.

Special performances are:

Audio Description - Saturday, April 4, 2p..m

Open Captioning - Wednesday, April 8, 12p.m. | Thursday, April 9, 7:30 p.m.

Shakespeare Theatre Company, Harman Hall, 610 F St., NW, Washington, DC 20004. Now through April 12. Tickets start at $39 with discounts for those 35 and under.  Enter code 26U35 in the promo code box; subject to availability.

Phone: 202-547-1122.

patricialesli@gmail.com

The masterpiece 'Julius X' at Folger Theatre

Yunyi Dai was the designer for the playbill cover for Julius X now on stage at  Folger Theatre

This is Harlem! This is Rome!

It is not necessary to be a Shakespeare scholar or a follower of Malcolm X to enjoy terrific theatre now on stage at the Folger Theatre. 

Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is one of the best shows I’ve seen in Washington D.C. this year, thought-provoking and certain to appeal to all those who love the writings of the master wordsmith.  

The timing with today's political chaos is remarkable.

Brandon Carter, left, is Julius X and Greg Alverez Reid is Brutus in Folger Theatre's Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare on stage through Oct. 26, 2025/By Erika Nizborski 

It's an excellent staging in a lively, edge-of-your seat presentation, engaging even to a laywoman, a non-Shakespearean scholar like me, initially intimidated by the seeming complexities of the subject matter.

Using text from the speeches of Malcolm X and William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Al Letson, poet and hip hop artist has amplified the tales of the two men with his own brand to produce a marvelous, intertwined script.

Letson draws comparisons between the ending of their lives and their assassinations by associates and others worried by threats the men posed to their group's leadership. 

Brandon Carter plays the lead role and must have spent hours studying film of Malcolm X to deliver his stunning performance. 

Indeed, after the murder of Julius, Carter enters a scene in an abbreviated role, this time, a humorous portrayal of an old man bent on trying to solve conflict, waving his cane to audience delight. 

The cast of Folger Theatre's Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare on stage through Oct. 26, 2025/By Erika Nizborski 

The actors were powerful, but none overbearing, including the hated Brutus (Greg Alverez Reid) and his sidekick, Cassius (Jay Frisby) who succeeded in their quests to produce animosity and energize the crowd, the audience which joined the cast at the invitation of director Nicole Brewer who asked at the start of the show for our participation when needed.

We were only too happy to oblige, clap, and shout for Julius and boo and hiss the conniving Brutus.

More than the original playwright, Letson incorporates extra speaking parts for Calpurnia, Malcolm X's wife (Nikkole Salter) and Portia, Brutus's wife (Renee Elizabeth Wilson) who handled their roles with conviction and passion.

Abandoning his earlier weakness when he was overshadowed by Julius, Jonathan Del Palmer became a strong Marc Anthony who speaks vigorously when he commands the stage alone to say:

The evil that men do lives after them;
 
The good is oft interred with their bones;
Hath told you Julius was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Julius answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, —
For Brutus is an honorable man;
So are they all, all honorable men, —
Come I to speak in Julius's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honorable man.

Letson worked on his script for years, beginning when, as a youth, he was denied a role as Marc Anthony because of his skin color. He developed a love of Shakespeare and earlier, in the 7th grade, after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, those words remained, too.

Creative team members added immensely to the enjoyment of the show, like choreographer Shawn Short who wove fine dance design into the story.

Costumer Danielle Preston dresses the actors in mostly contemporary styling with Julius wearing the straight, dull apparel associated with memories of Malcolm X.

Porsche McGovern's lighting and Andrés Poch's projections  were outstanding, the projections often suggesting  mental turmoil and ... stormy weather.

In a pre-play interview posted at the Folger, director Brewer points to the play’s “medicinal value” which invites us to pause and reflect on where our communities, our cities, our country are headed, how our connections have been weakened and our divides strengthened, and she asks:
“Where have we been reticent in taking action, only to find ourselves facing more extreme outcomes later? Where have we lost trust and faith in each other?”

Other cast members are: Lilli Hokama, Gaelyn D. Smith, Shawn Sebastian Naar, and Dwayne Alistair Thomas.

Also on the creative team: Thom J. Woodward, sound; Isabel Simoes deCarvalho, props; and John “Ray” Proctor, dramaturg and voice and text coach.

What: Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare by Al Letson

When: Now through October 26, 2025 with a masked performance, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m.; relaxed performances, Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 22, 2 p.m.; post-show discussion with the cast, Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m.; audio-described, Oct. 18, 2 p.m.; and open-captioned, Oct. 26, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Where: Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, S. E. Washington, D.C. 20003. Enter at Third and East Capitol streets.

Tickets: Buy online, phone (202-544-7077), or at the box office. Tickets start at $20 with discounts for groups, persons under age 35, students, seniors, educators, members and family of the military. Those under age 4 are not permitted. 

Federal Employees: Buy and reserve up to two tickets for only $20 each through Oct. 5 using the code FEDERAL. Please bring proof of current or recent employment to Will Call.

Metro stops: Capitol South or Union Station

For more information: 202-544-4600 or info@folger.edu

patricialesli@gmail.com

Shakespeare's 'Merry Wives' will show you a good time

From left, Shakespeare Theatre Company's Merry Wives are Mrs. Ford (Felicia Curry, left,) and Mrs. Page (Oneika Phillips) separated by the conniving Falstaff (Jacob Ming-Trent)/by Teresa Castracane

It's a comedy tonight!

And the wildest, funniest contemporary Shakespeare version I have seen, and the crowd roared with me. 

Shakespeare Theatre Company presents the adaptation, Merry Wives by Jocelyn Bioh which she wrote for NYC's 2021 Shakespeare in the Park, all about West African immigrants and cultures in present-day Harlem.

And a boisterous, rowdy lot they are, indeed! 

 

Mr. and Mrs. Ford (Nick Rashad Burroughs and Felicia Curry) own a laundromat while their friends, the Pages (JaBen Early and Oneika Phillips) have a hair salon.

Amidst an elegant setting of a three-story building at a subway stop, the haughty and laughable Falstaff (Jacob Ming-Trent) is hungry for all kinds of treasures and sets his sights on two wealthy women whose possessions he is in need. 

Like many lovers who screw up when more than one is involved, Falstaff is a prime contender. 

"Setting the attractions of my good parts aside, I have no other charms," he says, most assuredly with high confidence he'll succeed in his quests.

Alas, if you can imagine a mixup in Shakespeare: Falstaff sends both of his targets the same love letter!

But, being the savvy sisters they are, Ms. Page and Ms. Ford soon grasp what Falstaff is all about and they plan revenge. Saith Madam Page:  "Wives may be merry, and yet honest too."

Time and again, the wives play tricks on the slobbery, wobbly Falstaff from the laundry room to the hair salon to the woods amidst spectacular sets by Lawrence E. Moten III.

The ladies lean, they twist their bodies and a few words.

Their husbands soon join the party, Mr. Page who says: "I do despise a liar as I do despise one that is false, or as I despise one that is not true" while the jealous Mr. Ford (Mrs. Ford will learn 'em!) claims it is "better three hours too soon than a minute too late." 

Meanwhile, several suitors chase the Pages' daughter, Anne (Peyton Rowe), none more entertaining than the good Dr. Caius (Jordan Barbour) whose exaggerated antics made me laugh often. 

Others in pursuit of the young lass are Fenton and Slender (Latoya Edwards in both roles).

Anne has her favorite, and so did I who could have watched Shaka Zu, an ensemble member, dance the night away. 

Taylor Reynolds directs. Other cast members are Bru Aju, Kelli Blackwell, Rebecca Celeste, Sekou Laidlaw, Craig Wallace, and Tyrone Stanley. 

The artistic team included Ivania Stack, costumes; Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, lighting; Mikaal Sulaiman, sound; Nikiya Mathis, wigs and hair; Ashleigh King, choreographer; Nadia Guevara, associate director; Laura Smith, production stage manager; 
Jazzy Davis and Stephen Bubniak, assistant stage managers.

Scholars say Shakespeare wrote the Merry Wives of Windsor to answer Queen Elizabeth's request for more of Falstaff, this time in love.  Ms. Bioh's rendition keeps almost all of the original script first published 400 years ago. (Classics last!)

STC will have a special evening on Friday, Sept. 26 at 7:30 pm for guests to "mix, mingle, and be merry" at Harman Hall for Akwaaba Night with the show, cast and cultures.

What: Merry Wives

When:  Through Oct. 5, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. with weekend matinees at 2 p.m.

Where: Harman Hall, Shakespeare Theatre Company, 610 F Street NW. Washington, DC 20004

Tickets: Start at $35

Audience: For adults and mature children 

For more information: Call the Box Office at 202-547-1122, seven days a week, 12 – 6pm. The Box Office windows remain open until curtain time.

Duration:  Almost two hours without intermission 

Metro Stations: Gallery Place, Archives, Metro Center

patricialesli@gmail.com 

'King John' is another Shakespeare to see before you die

Charles A. Buchel (1872-1950), Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852–1917), as King John in 'King John' by William Shakespeare, Victoria and Albert Museum/Wikipedia

Australia's national Shakespeare theatre company, Bell Shakespeare calls William Shakespeare's King John, one of his five most underrated plays "to see before you die," and lucky for those of us in the DMV, there's still time to see it before the play closes July 26 at Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company.

“No, I defy all counsel, all redress,
But that which ends all counsel, true redress.
Death, death, O amiable, lovely death!
Thou odoriferous stench, sound rottenness,
Arise forth from the couch of lasting night,
Thou hate and terror to prosperity,
And I will kiss thy detestable bones,
And put my eyeballs in thy vaulty brows,
And ring these fingers with thy household worms,
And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust,
And be a carrion monster like thyself

So speaketh Constance (Molly Malone), the mother of Arthur (Sadie O'Conor), lamenting his death and her own reasons for dying when she succumbs to "madness."

King John hosts matters from its 13th century timeline to today by way of power and the begetting of more. 

Arthur was the nephew of King John (Eric Lane) who went to battle with the French King Phillip II (Amber Mayberry) who thought the English throne belonged to Arthur. King John, a suspected interloper to the crown, thinks France belongs to him. 

Enter the Pope's Cardinal (Maryanne Henderson), the church angry with John over his refusal to acknowledge the Archbishop of Canterbury and excommunicates the king, siding with Arthur's claim to the throne. 

John's mother, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Tracy Coffey) is a powerful women who dies and so does Arthur, leaping (or thrown a la Russia?) from a castle's walls after his capture by John. 

At the urging of the Cardinal, the French Dauphin Louis (Reese Cowley), who has married John's niece, Blanche (Layali Aljirafi) attacks England. John becomes ill from poisoning (by a monk) and hides in an abbey where his son, Prince Henry (Alex Ross) arrives to witness his father's death and be crowned king amidst peace.  

Got all that?  Good.  

There's lots more to the story, of course, and director Aaron Posner brings out the best in his King John  students from the Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy, a stunning class of soon-to-be graduates of the Master of Fine Arts program STCA conducts in conjunction with George Washington University. 

The performances belie the short time, one year, the students have spent at STCA.

Throughout the production, interjections of lively choreography (by Nikki Mirza) with lip syncing and mime to contemporary music (by Matt Nielson and others) mixes today with yesterday and desired appeal to a younger audience. 

Be great in act, as you have been in thought, King John encourages his nobles to act and not let dreams wander  without action. 

King John's tomb in Worcester Cathedral, England/Greenshed at English Wikipedia

The play is presented in repertory with The Taming of the Shrew,  the final acts for the students in the program. 

Other in the cast are Elizabeth Loyacano as Hubert; Michael Burgos, Lord Bigot; Cammiel Hussey, Angiers citizen and Pembroke; Edie Backman, Earl of Salisbury and executioner; and Sydney Sinclair, Chatillion and Count Melun; and Ali Karambash, Duke of Austria.

Minjoo Kim's lighting is especially effective. The set is the useful remains from STC's Frankenstein. 

Others on the creative team include Renea S. Brown, assistant director; Becca Janney, costumes; Lisa Ann Beley, props; Robb Hunter, fight director; and Bess Kaye, intimacy director. 

What:  King John

When:  Through July 26, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. with weekend matinees at 2 p.m. 

Where: Klein Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, 450 Seventh St., NW, Washington, DC 20004

Tickets: $20 

Audience: For adults and mature children 

For more information: Call the Box Office at 202-547-1122, seven days a week, 12 – 6pm. The Box Office windows remain open until curtain time.

Duration:  About 2.5 hours with intermission 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Super-humans dazzle at Shakespeare

7 Fingers in Duel Reality/Photo by Zemi Photography

Unless you’ve lived with monkeys, you have never seen dance, acrobatics, leaps and bounds like this.

The gasps filled the hall at Shakespeare Theatre Company where members of the 7 Fingers troupe flew through the air hanging onto chains, ropes, poles and each other.

Breathtaking! 

Thrilling! 

Unbelievable! 

I have never seen anything like it: performers flying, quoting Shakespeare on the swing and soaring up, up and up to take flight, and they did! 

Cast in Duel Reality's "Romeo and Juliet"/Photo by Zemi Photography 

Flipping over and under, somersaulting, hanging upside down while they joined each other in air, zipping up and down as if they were monkeys swinging high on banana trees. 

The performers were ice skaters without ice, ballet dancers in the air, dancing pas de deux, ending with "Romeo and Juliet" (Gerardo Gutiérrez and Michelle Hernandez) as peace enveloped them and they moved back and forth on a swing, high in the air, their silhouettes contrasted against a sunset backdrop, a romantic ending after they had enraptured the audience who breathed a sigh of relief that no one had fallen, lost a limb, or stumbled (well, a teeterboarder a time or two for extra thrills).  

7 Fingers in Duel Reality/Photo by Emmanuel Burriel

The scariest of the performances had to be the "teeterboard" (or seesaw to those who teetered on them as children), the board bouncing back and forth as a man on each end leaped in the air somersaulting, maybe, 50 feet high before landing on the board again, his weight propelling the other man up into the great blackness of the stage.

Being off a millisecond can spell immediate injury; the hours spent rehearsing can only be guessed. (Teeterboarders in the troupe are Nino Bartolini, Einar Kling Odencrants, and Carlos Francos Péré.)

Notwithstanding (!) the greatest hula hooper you will ever see, Ashleigh Roper who, at one point twirled (I think it was) six hoops (I lost count) around her waist, her arms, her legs and standing on one foot, twirling, twirling the hoops nonstop.

To the outstanding show, Colin Gagné's original music added depth and emotional enjoyment, sometimes with a single piano key joined by a bass or violin, guitar, sometimes a harmonica to create tension and expectation. 

I don’t usually care too much for audience participation (I'm coming to be entertained, after all, not to be the entertainer) but the number which introduced Duel Reality was all right: Upon entering Harman Hall, we were given red or blue wristbands to support the red or blue team on stage and shout encouragement as a judge determined the winner of each match. 

We threw our wristbands towards the stage to show our favs, and in the end, we all came together in a show of unity (reminiscent of but, sadly, not realistic of the current political state of affairs in the U.S.A).  

What better place to mix Shakespeare than at the Shakespeare Theatre Company? 

Duel Reality is part of the DC International Theatre Festival and a small portion of the repertoire of 7 Fingers, a Canadian company founded in 2002 by seven circus artists. 

But these perform without nets!

They come from all over the globe, many who began their training while still in single-digits.

Other members of the ensemble are Daniela Corradi, Adam Fullick, Vitor Martinez Silva, Miliève Modin-Brisebois, Anton Persson, Méghane Poulet, Santiago Rivera, and Colin Vuillème.

Members of the artistic team: Shana Carroll, director, writer, choreographer;  Alexander Nichols, lighting; Camille Thibault-Bédard, costumes;  Maude St-Pierre, production; Simon Carrière and Audrey Belzile, technicals; Anna Kichtchenko, assistant to the artistic director; and Francisco Cruz, acrobatic coach.

WHAT:  Duel Reality by 7 Fingers

WHEN:  Through July 20, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 2 p.m. matinees, Saturday and Sunday; and 1 p.m. matinee, Wednesday, July 16, 2025.  

Special performances: Open captions, 2 p.m., July 12, and 7:30 p.m., July 17. Audio-description, 2 p.m., July 19. Audio-enhanced system available at all performances.

WHERE: Harman Hall, Shakespeare Theatre Company, 610 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004

HOW MUCH: Tickets start at $39 (with fee included). 

AUDIENCE: For ages 6 on up although I dare say, younger children will be mesmerized, too.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call the Box Office at 202-547-1122, seven days a week, 12 – 6pm. The Box Office windows remain open until curtain time.

DURATION:  About 80 minutes without intermission (but the time seemed half that).

patricialesli@gmail.com

A play for all seasons: Folger's 'Winter's Tale'

Hermione (Antoinette Crowe-Legacy) and Polixenes (Drew Kopas) talk stayovers in Folger Theatre's The Winter Tale; Brittany Diliberto, photo

Shakespeare is alive and well at the newly renovated Folger Theatre, inaugurated by one of the master's so-called "problem plays," simply defined as a mixture of drama and comedy, a "tragicomedy," the latter scattered throughout The Winter's Tale.

Sex, murder, and (surprise!) a love triangle  take center stage as the jealous King Leontes (Hadi Tabbal) falsely accuses his wife, the pregnant Hermione (Antoinette Crowe-Legacy) of infidelity with his best friend, Polixenes (Drew Kopas), king of Bohemia.

King Leontes sends his wife to prison for her supposed infidelity where she dies after giving birth to Perdita. 

Grief stricken over the death of his mother causes Leontes and Hermione's beloved son, Mamillius (Richard Bradford and/or Clarence Michael Payne) to fall ill and die, one of the play's tragedies.

But back to the baby whom King Leontes proceeds to exile in what turns out to be, yep, Bohemia, where she is raised by shepherds for sixteen years and falls in love with the son of Leontes's friend, who is - surprise!- Polixenes.  

When Perdita (Kayleandra White) returns home, a statue of Hermione miraculously "comes to life," and everyone is reconciled for another of the master's happy endings. (Shakespeare has a way of tying all the loose ends together for what is a story with a happy ending in the middle? Not a good one!)

When Hermione's friend, Paulina (Kate Eastwood Norris) tries to persuade the king of his irrationality, one wishes that Pauline's words prevailed in today's political discourse: 

The silence often of pure innocence

Persuades when speaking fails.

his stay in Sicilia.
King Leontes (Hadi Tabbel) talks evil with Camillo (Cody Nickell) in Folger Theatre's The Winter Tale; Brittany Diliberto, photohis st

The powerful performance of Hadi Tabbal as King Leontes is dramatic with delivery and actions which easily command every scene he's in, as it should be. 

At the end when all the living players are united, and Hermione comes alive from her statuesque position to enchant her husband all over again, there is much rejoicing and good cheer. 

Shakespeare even tries to assuage Paulina's sorrow over the death of her husband, Antigonus (Stephen Patrick Martin), who has been killed by a bear while sleeping on the Bohemian beach to protect the infant, by marrying Camillo (Cody Nickell). (You have to be there.)

(One of the marvels of the show was Crowe-Legacy's ability to stand silently without movement for several minutes like the statue she was, and my proximity to the stage allowed me to view her closely.) 

The Winter's Tale is one for all seasons for it kept me going all night without my breaking into slumber which usually is my condition around the second act.

Raul Abrego, Jr.'s minimalist scenic design detracts none from the action and dialogue, often seized by the whimsy of Autolycus (Reza Salazar) who periodically shows off his shiny new bicycle with a radio to streak across the stage and into the background (with sound).

Costume designer Sarah Cubbage mixes up the old with the new which fits Autolycus's antics just fine.

All's well that ends well which it does here for we like happy endings, especially at this time of year! Thank you, Folger and Shakespeare.

Other cast members are Nicholas Gerwitz, Jonathan Del Palmer, and Sabrina Lynne Sawyer.

 

The creative team included Tamilla Woodard, director;  Chelsea Dean, properties; Max Doolittle, lighting; Matthew M. Nielson, sound and composer.

Also, Kaja Dunn, intimacy; Joya Powell, choreographer; LaShawn Melton, hair and wigs; Michele Osherow, dramaturg; Lisa Nathans, vocal coach; Leigh Robinette and Taylor Kiechlin, production stage managers; Kacie Pimentel, assistant stage manager; Shana Laski, assistant director; and Tara-Whitney Rison, assistant to the director.

Folger's Winter's Tale is one of 12 different Shakespeare productions in the District's  Shakespeare Everywhere Festival, some performed through the end of the year.

(It always benefits me to read a summary of the play before I see it, rather like reading up on a country's history and culture before I visit it.)  

What: The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

When: Now through Dec.17, 2023

Where: Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003

Tickets: Buy online, by phone (202-544-7077), or at the box office.

Metro station: Capitol South or Union Station

For more information: 202-544-4600 or info@folger.edu

Duration:  2.5 hours with one 15-minute intermission

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