It wasn’t a typical Sunday night in the Jimenez Room. The actors of the Maryland Shakespeare Players weren’t in their usual costumes, their props were minimal and there wasn’t an Elizabethan ruff in sight.
The club presented their Shakespearean revue in Stamp Student Union, featuring a variety of scenes from multiple productions, from the serious Julius Caesar to the farcical The Merry Wives of Windsor. Each scene offered quick glimpses into more elaborate plays, resulting in a kind of Shakespearean smorgasbord with something for everyone.
Sophomore marketing and supply chain management major Katie Gough delivered a stunning performance of Lady Macbeth — capturing the character’s desperation, frustration and ambition.
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“The themes [of Shakespeare] are immemorial. I think anything that has to do with betrayal, love, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows … It feels almost ‘high school,’” club member James Paquette, a junior Philosophy, politics, and economics major, said.
The revue showcased a cool, laid-back version of The Bard’s works. Each bite-sized scene was easily digestible and the audience let out a sigh of relief when the show started.
But the brevity of the skits presented challenges for the actors. Paquette said that the revue demanded a quick turn-around for the performance.
“We started rehearsal maybe two and a half, three weeks ago … and memorizing the text is always the hardest part,” Paquette said.
In addition to the vignettes, the performance included Shakespeare Jeopardy, which quizzed audience members on Shakespeare trivia, and a Mad Libs skit where audience members shouted out words to be substituted into a dramatic scene.
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Silmarien Grinath, a student director for the Maryland Shakespeare Players, tackled the language barrier of Shakespearean English head-on.
“The language barrier can be tricky,” Grinath said. “We try not to move too fast. We use body language to show what’s happening in the characters’ minds.”
The club is a tight-knit group complete with pre-show rituals and inside jokes. Even though plays like Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Much Ado About Nothing were written centuries ago, the club members lovingly revive them with each show that they produce.
The company is known for putting unique spins on classic plays. Last semester, they performed Julius Caesar but added a pirate aspect to the production, setting it in the Caribbean instead of the original ancient Rome. Their upcoming production, The Tempest, is set on a rocky Irish coast instead of the traditional tropical island.
Grinath, who will direct The Tempest, said she’s been putting in grueling hours of rehearsal, but the community keeps them going.
“It’s really kind of like a second home at this point,” Grinath said.
