Internationally acclaimed director Irina Brook, now Shakespeare & Company’s Resident Director, is at the helm of a world-premiere adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s short story The Canterville Ghost. The story of a curmudgeonly old English ghost and the American family that just will not be haunted is being adapted on-the-fly, collaboratively between the artists during rehearsals. Irina took a break from rehearsing and writing to discuss this process, the beauty of Oscar Wilde’s story, and jumping into the deep end.
The play features Michael Hammond (Iago in this summer’s Othello) as Sir Simon the Spellbinder, Michael Toomey (Bassinet in The Ladies Man) as the head of the American family played by Dana Harrison, Alyssa Huhglett and Alexandra Lincoln. The show runs September 19 through November 9th in the new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. Buy tickets now.
Shakespeare & Company’s new Director-in-Residence Irina Brook recently appeared on Stephanie Abrams’ radio show “Traveling Feet” (with Press and Marketing Associate Jeremy Goodwin). She talked about her love for the scenery of the Berkshires and the cultural opportunities afforded here, the joys of Oscar Wilde and the imaginative work behind the upcoming production of The Canterville Ghost.
Download the show here or at Stephanie Abrams’ website (look for hour one of the August 23rd show — the interview with Irina Brook begins about 34 minutes into the show).
The Canterville Ghost begins previews September 19. Buy tickets now.
Alexander Sovronsky makes his Shakespeare & Company debut as Dumaine Soldat and a musician (and assistant music director) in All’s Well That Ends Well this summer. He’ll be heading out on the road this fall as Rosencrantz/Fortinbras in Shakespeare & Company’s National Tour of Hamlet.
1. What was your first experience with Shakespeare & Company?
In 2003, I was a sophomore double major at SUNY Geneseo studying theatre and violin performance. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life yet but I knew that before I decided, I wanted to get more training in classical theatre. I wanted to study Shakespeare and there wasn’t much of a classical program at Geneseo. I was hungry for it so I decided to spend my summer at the Summer Training Institute at Shakespeare & Company. The production of King Lear that I saw here in 2003, directed by Tina Packer, changed my life. I had no idea that I could feel that connected to a classical play. I laughed, I cried, I was entertained and I was transfixed. I snuck out of my room in Larry Hall nightly to catch the final hour or so of almost every performance of King Lear that summer. The following season, I returned to Lenox as a participant in the Month-Long Intensive. I made sure to keep in touch with Tina, Dennis [Krausnick, Director of Training] and Dave [Demke, Associate Director of Training]. Continue reading ’7 Questions with Alexander Sovronsky’
Kristin Villanueva steps onto the Shakespeare & Company stage for the first time this summer as Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well (Buy tickets now). Kristin was born and raised in the Philippines and has worked in New York and as far away as the Czech Republic. She is a graduate of SUNY Purchase.
1. How did you come to be with Shakespeare & Company? What did you come in from?
I first heard about the company from my voice teacher of three years, Craig Bacon. Then, last March, I went to their open call [audition] in New York. Continue reading ’7 Questions With Kristin Villanueva’
In his eighth season at Shakespeare & Company, Timothy Douglas, a prolific director, steps back onto the stage (after directing Blue/Orange last summer) to play the King of France in All’s Well That Ends Well (Buy tickets now). Tim will also teach voice in the Shakespeare & Young Company summer session.
1. How did you come to be with Shakespeare & Company?
I first heard about the Company through my voice teachers, Zoe Alexander and Virginia Ness, when I was training as an actor at Yale Drama School. My first audition out of grad school was for Tina Packer’s 1986 production of Antony and Cleopatra. I was cast as the Soothsayer and the Clown (who brings the snake).
Continue reading ’7 Questions with Timothy Douglas’
We’re delighted Irina Brook is joining Shakespeare & Company this season, and bringing her original adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost to the new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.
The daughter of maverick director Peter Brook, whose A Midsummer Night’s Dream set the theatre world on fire in the 1970s, Irina set her own course and showed her own mettle early on—making her own distinctive imprint on the theatre. She has lived and worked in Paris for the last several years, built a successful company and recently won strong critical praise for her own seminal version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The world premiere of The Canterville Ghost, directed by Irina Brook from the short story by Oscar Wilde, plays at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre this fall, September 19–November 9, 2008. Buy tickets now.
1. What brought you to Shakespeare & Company?
It all started with a breakfast meeting with Tina Packer, just at a time when I was thinking that I would like a big change in my life and that I wanted to move from France to the States. I felt an immediate recognition of something shared. Back in France, I read up about Shakespeare & Company on the internet and was almost moved to tears when I read the mission statement which seemed so close to everything I have ever believed in—all the idealistic reasons for which I had always done theater in France appeared to be reflected in the ideas behind Shakespeare & Company. It sounds very esoteric, but yes, I was drawn to it all quite mysteriously and irresistibly.
Continue reading ‘Ten Questions with Irina Brook’
Milton Bass of the Berkshire Eagle last week sat down for a chat with the six actresses from All’s Well That Ends Well, where they discussed the play, its “problems” and its feminine magic.
There is a contrast between the palace of the countess and that of the king, feminine versus masculine approaches to life and its problems. The women are introspective, flexible, exuding sexuality. The king’s court is strictly masculine, exploding with vitality. “We explore our minds,” said one of the women, “while Paris has more external action.”
Read the story at The Berkshire Eagle online.
All’s Well That Ends Well is currently in previews. Buy tickets now.
