Joshua Morgan, Piano – Emily Trask, Cello – Louis Butelli, ukulele and voice – Chris Genebach, Clarinet – Michael Brusasco, ears

Hello! Emily Trask here! I had the pleasure of blogging with you last year while I was playing Valeria in The Gaming Table and I’m delighted to be back at the Folger playing another lady whose name begins with a V… Viola, and also delighted to have been asked to blog a bit while I’m here in Washington and on this isle of Illyria.

Feste (Louis Butelli) sings “O Mistress Mine” to Sir Andrew (James Konicek, left) and Sir Toby (Craig Wallace). Photo by Scott Suchman.

Twelfth Night, or What You Will has always been one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s plays. Perhaps it’s the effortless humor of the text – witty and bawdy alike. Or perhaps it’s the beauty of the character’s plights and journeys. But more and more I seem to think that what makes Twelfth Night so enduringly wonderful lies in the realm of the intangible — that ineffable essence which is so innately human that Shakespeare manages to capture and store in the folds of this particular story. It is the play’s simultaneous effervescent yet profound bitter-sweetness, and the fact that beneath the moments of bawdy revelry, one senses there is something as swollen and dark blue as the sea that threatened to swallow the twins whose tale we follow.

Olivia (Rachel Pickup, left) believes Viola (Emily Trask) to be the young man Cesario. Photo by Scott Suchman.

In many ways, Twelfth Night is a play about loneliness and longing; about being found when one fears they are irrevocably lost…about the discovery of love and laughter in the least likely places – Oh, and about having one hell of a good time while we’re at it!

But even in light of any long list of descriptions, one is still hard-pressed to encompass the essence of this beautifully enigmatic play. However, a Spanish word comes to mind that might touch on the depths of this comedy: duende.

Very loosely, duende means to have soul, rare depth and range of expression, and the ache of authenticity. Of course, the word encompasses so much more than that, but you get the idea.

I first learned about duende in reference to Garcia Lorca and his plays. All right, all right. So the Shakespearean revels in Twelfth Night aren’t that closely akin to the fiendish flamenco of Lorca’s explorations. However, the second time I met the concept of duende comes significantly closer to the mark. It was in reading a lecture by Nick Cave, the famous Australian musician and front man for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, about what it takes to write a true love song.

[Enter our “food of love.”]

Cave says in his lecture:

“All love songs must contain duende. For the love song is never truly happy. It must first embrace the potential for pain. Those songs that speak of love without having within in their lines an ache or a sigh are not love songs at all…”

From Satie’s Gymnopédies,
to Debussy’s Clair de Lune,
to My Wild Irish Rose,
to Scott Joplin,
to Shakespeare’s very own Hey Ho, the Wind and the Rain! –
the Folger’s Twelfth Night is overflowing with the musical food Cave speaks of — and this is no mistake, but rather of an (oh-so-intentional) design. Specifically, the design of director Robert Richmond, of Sound Designer and primary composer, Matthew Nielson, and of the practical magic of maestro/musical director Joshua Morgan. The numerous cast members who play and sing in the show thoroughly embrace and enact this amazing design.

Cesario/Viola (Emily Trask) plays cello for Duke Orsino (Michael Brusasco). Photo: Scott Suchman.

So for our mutual edification, I decided to go right to the source and ask the awesome and seriously gifted Nileson a few questions about our musical world.

First, I was curious about where he gathered his inspiration for this play’s musical “sustanence.” Nielson said that he started with Shakespeare’s already bewitchingly scripted lyrics: “The lyrics for each song are written into the text, which by default becomes the biggest inspiration.” He said he was also inspired by the time period Richmond chose to set the production in, as well as by the composers that both he and Richmond were drawn to. These, and many other elements, combined to be the inspiration for the “first course” of Nielson’s composition and sound design.

Once inspired, the development process took the better part of a year: “Robert and I first met in September. I wrote first drafts of several songs during the fall, and in January we started having discussions about specific draft notes and shaping. Over the next couple months we bounced drafts of all the songs back and forth. Once rehearsal started, Joshua Morgan stepped in as music director and between his direction and the actors playing the songs, they evolved again according to the needs of the show.”

Viola (Emily Trask, left) finds herself in a rather awkward position with Olivia (Rachel Pickup). Photo: Scott Suchman.

But the musical world didn’t fully come together until the “table we set” (Yes. I am persisting with this metaphor), that is, until technical rehearsals. Nielson continued, “One of the greatest experiences for me on this production, aside from this being one of my favorite endings of a show, was the first time I heard the cast perform these songs in the design run. They breathed life into the songs in ways I didn’t anticipate and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out.”

When asked if it was a challenge to write for this cast of eclectic musicians (ukulele, cello, clarinet, piano, accordion and voice — instruments that are not often grouped together), Nielson said “Not even a little. It appealed to my creative side AND my geeky puzzle-solving side. I was given lyrics, a time-setting, and a set of instruments I knew I’d be working with, and got to write music accordingly. It’s really so much fun to compose music for an eclectic set of instruments that you wouldn’t normally expect to hear together. “

Feste (Louis Butelli) greets Viola (Emily Trask) on the shores of Illyria. Photo: Scott Suchman.

Similarly, the characters themselves in Twelfth Night are an eclectic bunch of voices that find themselves thrust together in unexpected ways that create entertaining dissonance and harmony. In fact, most of the “sound design” that would normally be created by specific sound effects, etc. was done away with for live, in-person options. Joshua Morgan’s live accompaniment underscores a significant amount of the play and serves to heighten moments in scenes, and, of course, Louis Butteli’s “mellifluous voice” creates the change of place instead of shifting scenery.

“For my part, I realized that between Josh’s playing, the songs we added, the songs I wrote and a few sparse design elements here and there, we had everything we needed,” Nielson said. “I worked with Josh and created varying layers of effects on the piano to achieve the different feels/ambiences/soundscapes in different scenes that I would normally create with recorded sound.” For example, instead of inserting underwater sounds at the beginning of the play when the twins may be drowning, there is heavy reverb on the piano which, when music is played, creates a distant and dreamy underwater feel.

It is through the music that we experience the shifting world of the play. Not a bad concept for a play whose first scripted line is about just that: Music and the spirited feast that is about to be offered for our savoring with delight and deunde.

With that – I’ll just offer some dessert in the form of the lyrics to a love song that would make Mr. Cave (and certainly Shakespeareans) sigh:

FOOL
Would you have a love song or a song of good life?

SIR TOBY BELCH
A love song, a love song.

SIR ANDREW
Ay, ay. I care not for good life

FOOL
(sings)
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear! Your true love’s coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting.
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man’s son doth know.

What is love? ‘Tis not hereafter.
Present mirth hath present laughter.
What’s to come is still unsure.
In delay there lies no plenty.
Then come and kiss me, sweet and twenty
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.

Twelfth Night – Playing at the Folger Theatre until June 9th

Louis Butelli (as Feste) and Tonya Beckman (as Maria) in Twelfth Night. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Hello again from your friend Louis Butelli, currently playing Feste in Folger Theatre’s fantastic production of Twelfth Night. Our show must close on June 9^th, so make sure you get your tickets now – click here. The press has been great (click here and here), and the audiences have been phenomenal (click here), so come and see what all the fuss is about.

We’re having such fun running this show. This ensemble of actors is very, very tight, and it’s been a real thrill to see the play deepen and evolve. We learn something new every single night – the relationships grow more complex, the use of language becomes more facile and dexterous, the music continues to haunt and enchant. We’d love for you to come and experience Shakespeare’s great work with us. Get your tickets here.

Meanwhile, I wanted to talk to you briefly about theatreWashington’s initiative, “Taking Care of our Own.”

Every year, the folks at theatreWashington bring the prestigious Helen Hayes Awards to the Washington DC area. With a mission, in part, to invigorate existing theatre audiences and develop audiences of the future, theatreWashington is a vibrant and vital part of the arts scene in the District and beyond.

Have a look at this from their website:

Washington’s theatre community is among the largest and most successful in the nation. More than 80 professional theatres and companies enliven the capital area, anchoring neighborhoods, fueling the regions’ economy, and producing work of the finest quality.

By building audiences, by introducing tens of thousands of area students to theatre, by promoting Washington across the nation as a vibrant cultural capital, and with the national and international significance of The Helen Hayes Awards, our organization has helped drive the continually tremendous growth of Washington theatre.

Louis Butelli (Feste the fool) and Emily Trask (Viola) in Twelfth Night at the Folger. Photo: Scott Suchman.

Folger Theatre and Twelfth Night recently partnered with theatreWashington to work on their special initiative, “Taking Care of our Own.” This program was born to meet a critical need in the community, assisting currently active Washington area theatre professionals and artists in personal emergency situations.

Every night after our curtain call, members of the ensemble participated in a “Bucket Brigade,” collecting donations from our excellent audiences as they left the theater. Thanks to you, Twelfth Night raised $6,087.98 for “Taking Care of our Own.” We are incredibly grateful, and incredibly proud. 

If you came to see our show on a night where we were not collecting, or if you would like to learn more and contribute something yourself, please, please, please click here to visit theatreWashington’s donation page.

OK! Thanks so much for reading, thanks so much for helping us to “Take Care of our Own,” and please… Click here now to grab your tickets for Twelfth Night!

Until next time!

Louis Butelli as Feste in Twelfth Night. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Hello once again from your pal Louis Butelli, currently playing Feste in Folger Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night. We’re having an absolute blast playing this show, and hope you’ll come along and join us for an evening of love, laughter, and music, with an undertone of sadness and melancholy.

Tickets are selling briskly, so please, get yours now by clicking right here. The more the merrier. Don’t wait! Click here now!

Having played previews and public performances for a week each, and now that the press has started to come out (read some critical raves here, here, and here), we now embark on our second full week of public performances. Our audiences have been amazingly enthusiastic, sharing with us a fascinating variety of responses.

Feste (Louis Butelli) sings “O Mistress Mine” to Sir Andrew (James Konicek, left) and Sir Toby (Craig Wallace). Photo by Scott Suchman.

This is the extraordinary thing about live theater. Every single performance is different. Some nights the crowd seems primed to roar with laughter. Some nights they seem to prefer to embrace the complexity of the play’s love triangle. Some nights they seem to be in a musical mood. While the work of art remains fundamentally the same from night to night, it is nonetheless altered by the tone of the audience. Or, put another way, this play we’ve been living with for over a month has the ability to “morph,” as it were, to reflect the energy of the audience. Somehow, it seems to hold a mirror up to nature, to reflect something of the beholder back at her or him.

It is this very phenomenon that has me thinking, not for the first time, “why Shakespeare,” and “why now?” What is it about our production of Twelfth Night specifically, and Shakespeare generally that resonates with the times in which we currently live?

Sir Andrew Aguecheek (James Konicek) duels the disguised Viola (Emily Trask), as Feste (Louis Butelli) and Sir Toby Bech (Craig Wallace) look on. Photo by Scott Suchman.

I won’t presume to make any broad sweeping statements in that regard, but I will say that whatever it is we’re doing seems to have three distinct applications, for three distinct groups of people.

The general paying audience. You are the backbone of what we are doing. You have come to us for any number of reasons – you’re a Folger subscriber, you’re a fan of Shakespeare and/or Twelfth Night, you’re a theater enthusiast, you’ve been dragged along by a spouse or partner, you’re curious, you simply want a killer night out. Regardless, we, as did Shakespeare’s own troupe of players, “strive to please you every day.” We want to connect, to share, to feel something together under the same roof. We are the conduit for the work of a 450 year old playwright, and we connect our present to our past by understanding that we have always been a storytelling species.

Viola’s (Emily Trask) identity is discovered by Duke Orsino (Michael Brusasco), much to the delight of Sebastian (William Vaughan) and Olivia (Rachel Pickup) watching from behind. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Students and Young Audiences. We recently played our first two student matinees for a large demographic swath of new, young theater enthusiasts from the DC Metro area, and they went absolutely bonkers for the show. Hearing them respond with moans for the plight of the confused lovers, giggles for the antics of the clowns, and rhythmic claps and repeated lyrics for the music all seem to be a decent part of the point of putting on the play in the first place. It is our honor, and our duty, to use our art form to wrap warm arms around the audiences of the future. Plus, it’s fun to hear them roar when there is any touching or kissing.

Reviewers and Critics. Ironically, perhaps, this is the demographic that has most to say about the moment in which we live in the year 2013. We have always been an opinionated race of beings – but rarely have we lived through times in which sharing opinions has been quicker, more instantaneous, and more interactive. The rise of the internet, desktop publishing, and social media now allows anybody with a computer, phone, and an internet connection to be a reviewer. Moreover, the Ivory Towers of major print publications now have a chink in their armor in the form of the “Comments Section.” It is now possible to talk back to a critic in a public forum. While I will reserve judgment on the relative merits of this development, it does say something to me about playing Shakespeare, whether in 1613 or in 2013 – fundamentally, people vote with their wallet. They either buy a ticket or they don’t. Reviewers and critics can share their opinion and their experience but, again, it is the general public who ultimately decides the fate of a production.

And…we hope you will indeed buy a ticket (click here!) and come experience our Twelfth Night for yourself.

Life is short, love is fickle, laughter is precious, youth’s a stuff will not endure, and the rain it raineth every day. Come and let us tell you a great story.

The cast of Twelfth Night dances away as Feste (Louis Butelli) strums on his ukulele. Photo by Scott Suchman.

I’ll close this post as Shakespeare closes his play – with lyrics to a song:

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man’s estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
‘Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain in raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,

And we’ll strive to please you every day.

Until next time!

Cover art for “Silent Shakespeare.”

Hello once again from your pal Louis Butelli! We have completed our first full week of rehearsals for Robert Richmond’s production of Twelfth Night, beginning April 30 at the Folger Theatre. We’ve got a really spectacular ensemble of actors working on this beautiful play, and we’re having lots of fun getting to know each other, and creating the world of Ilyria. You should probably go ahead and pick up your tickets now by clicking here.

I’d just like to thank you so, so much for reading along here in the Production Diary. Over the next several weeks, I – in conjunction with some other members of the company – will keep you posted on how rehearsals are progressing, and hopefully shed some light onto the experience of presenting a play by William Shakespeare in the year 2013, nearly 450 years after the plays were written.

If you’ve been following the blog, you know that I’ve undertaken a little experiment. With the invaluable assistance of my very own “Library Sherpa,” Circulation Specialist Alan Katz, I’ve been digging into the Folger Shakespeare Library’s world-class collection of books, music, art, and other media relating to the work of William Shakespeare, in order to prepare for Twelfth Night.

In prior posts, I shared some thoughts about the original Feste, Robert Armin (click here to read), and about the Folger’s amazing collection of Prompt Books (click here to read). In this post, I’ll address one of the more surprising components of the Folger collection – Shakespeare on Film.

Before I get into it, though, I just want to say a couple of things about notions of “high-brow” and “low-brow,” when it comes to all of the choices we have, as a species, for our entertainment and our art.

Shakespeare himself, whoever he was, wrote popular plays for a wide audience. These plays were successes at the box office, among the critics (with some notable exceptions), and, perhaps most importantly, with the large, diverse crowds that packed the theater to see them. If you had a pulse and a penny, you could go to the Globe (etc.) and see the latest Shakespeare play. Of course, you could just as easily head across the street to see some bear-baiting. Who would know?

And, frankly, who would care? Nobody of any class, ruling or otherwise, has ever exempted themselves from the odd guilty pleasure. To be fair, historically, the ruling class has usually encouraged and disseminated the most garish of our entertainments – and the finest of our art.

As a child of the 1980’s, filmed entertainment has been an enormous part of my life. Movies and television have been a constant, nearly parental presence for about as long as I can remember. If I took a second right now to brainstorm a list of “best possible feelings,” you know, sensually, aesthetically, nostalgically, psychologically, etc., one of them would certainly be arriving at a movie theater and sitting back into a comfy chair with a bag full of popcorn as the house lights dim.

And let’s not even get into the Internet.

Screenshot of Malvolio, “I will smile!”

It’s amusing to me that early movies, I mean the silent ones in film’s beginnings, were generally considered the lowest of low-brow entertainment. More amusing still is the fact that numerous early filmmakers turned to Shakespeare for subject matter, in order to bring a little bit of narrative heft to the proceedings. Of course, there have been many, many adaptations and interpretations of the plays put on film since then, to triumphant and fascinating effect, but those early ones were really pretty darned cool.

One of many great things about the Folger collection is that it doesn’t ask anyone to make large, sweeping decisions about “high-brow” and “low-brow.” Rather, it continues to collect any materials relevant to the greater understanding of Shakespeare, including a DVD copy of Ten Things I Hate About You, a 1999 film adaptation of The Taming Of The Shrew, directed by Gil Junger, and starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles.

Knowing and sharing my affinity for movies, when I headed back into the Library, Alan already knew that the collection includes a DVD copy of Silent Shakespeare. All we had to do was enter the title into HAMNET, submit the call number to the Circulation Desk, and head to the Audio Visual Room to watch.

Here’s the précis of Silent Shakespeare, from distributor Milestone Films:

“In the early days of the cinema, pioneer filmmakers created these seven charming, moving and magical films based on the plays of William Shakespeare. Considered a ‘lowbrow’ medium, the fledgling movie industry sought to elevate its status by immortalizing the classics and hiring the greatest actors of the day. As most of these early photoplays were only one or two reels long, adapting the Bard proved to be both challenging and inspiring. Whatever these films gave up in language and length, they made up for in exuberance, cinematic artistry, visual wit and bravura acting.

Digitally restored to video by the British Film Institute’s National Film and Television Archive, the DVD features King John (Britain, 1899, with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree), The Tempest (Britain, 1908), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (USA, 1909), King Lear (Italy, 1910, with Francesca Bertini), Twelfth Night (USA, 1910), The Merchant of Venice (Italy 1910, with Francesca Bertini) and Richard III (Britain, 1911, with Sir Frank Benson).”

Rather than talk too much about the experience of watching, instead, I’ll share some clips that I found on YouTube so that you too can enjoy.

The Tempest: Clip of Act 1, scene 2 (1m, 35s). Prospero, Miranda, and Ariel discussing their situation, with Special Effects Shot of the shipwreck. Click here.

Screenshot of Viola and Olivia from “Twelfth Night” silent film.

NOTE: the following three clips are completely silent. May I suggest playing some music while you watch? Piano pieces work really well, but anything will do. And, if you watch a second time, try it with a different piece of music. It spins everything in a completely different direction.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The whole movie. Part 1 (5m, 45s) click here; Part 2 (5m, 48s) click here.  The film rolls were short, so they had to make short films!

Twelfth Night: The whole movie (12m, 13s). Click here.

OK! Much more to come. Please feel free to leave a comment or a suggestion. I’d love to hear what you thought of those clips, and what sorts of things you think Alan and I ought to search for next. Also, seeing as we’re in rehearsals for Twelfth Night, we’d love to hear your ideas about the play, so that we can steal them. Get your tickets here!

All the best! Until next time!

I’m going to be playing the role of Feste, the play’s resident sad clown and wandering minstrel. To prepare, I’ve taken on a little experiment. With the assistance of my “Library Sherpa,” Alan Katz, I’ve been exploring the Folger Shakespeare Library’s world-class collection of books, music, art, and other media relating to the work of William Shakespeare. In the last post (click here to read), Alan helped me locate and pull some very inspiring books. This time, he had something even more exciting to share with me: the Folger’s collection of Prompt Books.

WARNING: things are about to get long and nerdy.

The Folger collection is generally divided into two categories, Rare and Modern, with the year 1831 serving as the current dividing line between the two. With the advent of industrialized printing, the old methods of pulping wood for paper proved to be too labor-intensive – and time-consuming – for mass production. As such, paper manufacturers started to use acid to break down the pulp leaving us with…paper that is itself acidic. Not only do books made with acidic paper break down more quickly – flaking, yellowing, cracking – but they also “poison” nearby books, causing them to degrade as well. So, to protect Rare books from their poisonous Modern neighbors, the Rare books reside in the vault.

In this case, by “rare,” we mean anything that is “primary source” material, from Folios and Quartos to the personal papers of Laurence Olivier and Lynn Redgrave, and everything in between. According to Alan, many of the rare books in the Folger’s collection are studied by scholars today more as “objects” or “artifacts” than they are as literature.

Detail of a page from a Prompt Book, with cuts in dialogue for Sir Toby and Feste.

Which leads me to Prompt Books. Easily the most utilitarian version of a Shakespeare play, a Prompt Book is the text of the play used by actor/managers – and later producers, directors, and stage managers – to actually put on said play. In a Prompt Book, one can find everything from cast lists, to theater accounting, to show reports, to light and sound cues, to actors’ entrances, exits, and blocking. In essence, a Prompt Book is the blueprint for mounting a production – and a fascinating way to imagine what it might have been like to attend an old production.

Of course, theater itself is fundamentally ephemeral. Here today, gone tomorrow. It is an immediate art form, one that requires collaboration by a large team of people to present something that is never exactly the same twice. Even a single production of a play changes from night to night – to say nothing of the way that theatrical conventions morph and evolve over centuries. With a Prompt Book, we can listen for the ghosts of past productions whispering to us.

In fact, the oldest available Prompt Book for Twelfth Night is from a production at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. It’s not possible to determine the actual date, but we can narrow it down. First, the text the company used to mount the production was an actual Second Folio, which was published in 1632. Next, the earliest archeological evidence for Theatre Royal dates to 1663. Finally, the theater burnt to the ground in 1672. So, in a way, we can feel fairly comfortable in dating the production as “1660s.”

Regardless, for an actor in the 21^st century, looking back to see a “precious” Second Folio marked up with handwritten notes for blocking and entrances by an actor in the 17^th century…well, it’s just chilling. Who was he? What role was he playing? Was he as excited for his production as we are for ours? Impossible to tell and, though it’s the oldest Twelfth Night Prompt Book in the collection, it is also lightest on notation. Fortunately, there are others that get much more specific.

Before we get to that, though, I have to mention a few quick things about JSTOR, Shattuck, and Microfilm.

Boxes of reel and microfilm.

There is such a huge amount of material in the Folger collection that one can easily get overwhelmed. If you’re like me, a library lay-person, and you find yourself in the building to do some research, I can’t begin to tell you how valuable it is to have a Library Sherpa. Alan’s constant refrain is to start broadly (a general search on HAMNET, for instance), to take note when names and details are repeated, and to focus in on those details, in order to dig deeper.

In this case, we began with JSTOR. As Wikipedia says, “JSTOR (JAY-store, short for Journal Storage) is a digital library founded in 1995. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now also includes books and primary sources, and current issues of journals. It provides full-text searches of more than a thousand journals.” JSTOR is a subscription service, but you can certainly feel free to visit the website by clicking here.

Anyway, I logged in and, as Alan suggested, I started broadly, searching just for the word “Feste.” Ironically, perhaps, the more enticing journal articles that came up, were from Shakespeare Quarterly, published in-house at the Folger. Reading through a few, I found myself most compelled by an article called “A Star Is Born: Feste on the Modern Stage” by Karen Greif (Shakespeare Quarterly, Volume 39, No. 1, Spring, 1988, pp 61-78).

Several interesting things emerged – most pertinently, for Prompt Book sleuthing, were two versions of Twelfth Night cited by Ms. Greif, both presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford:  Peter Hall’s 1958 production, and John Barton’s 1969 production.

With this point of entry, Alan directed me to “the Shattuck,” which is, basically, the most comprehensive listing of the world’s existing Shakespeare Prompt Books, and where, geographically, to find them. Named for its author, Charles H. Shattuck (1910-1992), the listing comes to us in two publications, “The Shakespeare Promptbooks: A Descriptive Catalogue” (University of Illinois Press, 1965) and the 11-volume “John Philip Kemble Promptbooks” (Folger Shakespeare Library, 1974).

Microfilm reader showing image from a page of a Twelfth Night Prompt Book.

As it turns out, the Folger does not have the Hall and Barton Prompt Books in the collection – rather, the originals are housed at the RSC in Stratford. However, the Folger is full of surprises. While they do have a significant number of originals on-site, more stunningly, they also have Microfilm of pretty much every Prompt Book listed in Shattuck – including the Hall, the Barton, and many, many dozens more.

Brief side note: there is no denying that we live in a digital age, and that it has revolutionized the way we process, store, and share information. That said, more than any .jpeg ever has, the crisp immediacy of the documents on Microfilm made me feel like I was in the presence of the original works. Somehow, I spent several hours with the Microfilm viewer without noticing the time go by, and had to be asked to leave because the Library was closing. Sorry, for any inconvenience, y’all.

So! To conclude this entry, I’ll just take you through a small handful of things discovered amongst the Prompt Books. And please note, though I dealt only with Microfilm images of the works below, Alan points out that, had something about the image been unclear, or had any handwriting seemed indecipherable, the Folger is always happy to bring out an original object, and to provide a handwriting expert to assist in deciphering.

Print of the “Malvolio gulling” scene from Twelfth Night.

Quick note: One of the most tricky scenes in any production of Twelfth Night is the so-called “gulling scene,” wherein the clowns hide while Malvolio reads their false letter, which he believes to be a love letter from his mistress, and unrequited love, Olivia. (To read the scene, click here). I wondered how others had dealt with it, and that’s why it’s mentioned so much below.

Twelfth Night Prompt Book: “A Compilation of Stage Business,” adaptation by Fred Grove, London, 1900s (?)

-Gulling scene was played with a large “hedge,” placed left of center stage, behind which all of the clowns could hide, and with Malvolio down center stage.

-Notes indicate that the running gag was to keep the entire crowd of clowns moving constantly around the hedge, barely avoiding Malvolio’s sight.

-Sir Toby continually keeps ruining the gag with his interjections, and has to be tackled repeatedly to avoid detection.

-Sir Andrew pops his head “through the hedge” for his interjections.

-Malvolio had a hat, which figured into the business of discovering the letter.

Twelfth Night Prompt Book: Charles Kean’s Prompt Copy, Princess’s Theatre, London, performed September 28, 1850

-Blocking for gulling scene not noted, but includes simple underlined stage directions like “the men hide themselves,” and “they advance from behind the trees,” which would suggest the presence of false trees, at the least.

-Sir Toby’s interjection “Out, scab!” is changed to “Out, patch!”

-Malvolio was played by John Liston, Feste was played by John Fawcett (not much known about them), and Orsino was played by a “Mr. Barrymore.” While it would be nice to imagine “John Barrymore,” this production came before he was born, and when his father, Maurice, was only 3 years old. This ghost is some other Barrymore.

-The stage manager kindly listed the running time for the show: “1^st Act – 33, 2^nd Act – 20, 3^rd Act – 25, 4^th Act – 30, 5^th Act – 20. Total, 128. Plus Waits – 12, 140. 2 hours, 20 minutes.”

Detail of the JP Kemble Prompt Book showing the handwritten additional scene.

Twelfth Night Prompt Book: J.P. Kemble. Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, 1810. Original book sold for “Price, 18 pence.”

-OK, I didn’t even get to the gulling scene in this one, because there was too much other fascinating stuff. First of which…

-This production, some 29 years earlier, also featured a Mr. Barrymore as Orsino, a Mr. Liston at Malvolio, and a Mr. Fawcett as Feste. Really??

-Weird: this production of Twelfth Night seems to have been a Musical, with Viola doing quite a lot of singing, including a “sonnet” after her very first scene, a love duet called “Henry 8” with Olivia, and a quartet with Valentine, Curio, and “Benvolio,” who appears to be on loan from Romeo & Juliet.

-Weirder: at the end of the play, Act IV, scene 4, they have inserted a big masque for Juno, Iris, and Ceres, which owes a huge debt to The Tempest.

-Weirdest: somebody added an original scene, handwritten, for Roberto the Sea Captain and a Sailor at the top of the show. It’s too good not to share…

Act I, Scene 1 (Thunder, lights a little down)

The seashore. A vessel discovered wreck’d, the sky chequered, marking the clearing up of the storm. Enter Roberto and two sailors (U & R)

1^st Sailor: Even so, our self devoted bark is dash’d upon the trembling shore.

Roberto: I have seen many a tempest; but, till tonight, such bursts of thunder, sure none e’er heard – the seaman’s whistle was as a whisper in the ear of death.

1^st Sailor: And, save ourselves, all in a watery grave.

Rob: No, – others have escap’d, and ‘mongst the rest, thank Fortune, one, whose gentleness, and dulcet sounds so often cheer’d us on our voyage! Behold – she comes!

Enter Viola

Viola: What country, friends, is this?

Weird!!!

Twelfth Night Prompt Book: RSC, Stratford. Director: John Gielgud. First Performance: April 12^th, 1955.

-Viola was played by Vivien Leigh, Malvolio was played by Laurence Olivier, and a young fellow named Ian Holm was in the ensemble.

-For the gulling scene, they used three “tree-boxes,” (which I can only imagine were large, portable hedges) arranged in a semicircle around an ottoman for Sir Larry.

-Business, again, featured lots of hiding, peering, popping up and down behind the hedges, and elaborate chases around all of the furniture.

-Another frequently discussed component of the scene is Malvolio’s line, “If this fall into thy hand, revolve,” after which, possibly, the actor playing Malvolio spins in a circle, thus “revolving.” I am happy to report that Sir Larry did so, and in a “clockwise” fashion.

And finally…

Sir Peter Hall.

Twelfth Night Prompt Book: RSC, Stratford. Director: Peter Hall. First Performance: April 22^nd, 1958. (Prompt book also used for tour of Russia)

-Malvolio was played by Mark Dignam, Feste was played by Cyril Luckham, and Ian Holm had been promoted from the ensemble to play Sebastian.

-The ensemble carried on a “tree and two bushes” for the clowns to hide behind for the scene.

-The business is not explicitly notated, but apparently, they devised a bit to make Malvolio aware of the fake letter, which he was resolutely not noticing.

-It’s not clear if Mr. Dignam did the “revolve” bit, but in the text, there is a pause noted after the word “revolve,” so it’s very, very possible.

-He did, however, ask that the rest of the ensemble hold for a very big piece of business about Malvolio’s smiling at the end of the scene.

OK! Wow. I’ve gone on for far too long. I’ve got to tell you, though, do yourself a favor and check out these Prompt Books.

Don’t have a Library Sherpa? Not to worry! In mid-September, 2013, the Folger is presenting an exhibition featuring originals of the best and most exciting Prompt Books from the collection. Free and open to the public, the exhibition will appear in the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Great Hall, and will also feature costumes and artwork from the collection. Dr. Denise Walen is curating, assisted by Alan Katz. So, see? You do have a Library Sherpa! Please check back soon for further details.

And please pick up your tickets for Twelfth Night now! Click here!

Until next time.

Illustration of Feste by Charlotte Bakewell.

Hello again from your pal Louis Butelli, soon to be rehearsing to play Feste in Robert Richmond’s production of Twelfth Night, beginning April 30^th at the Folger Theatre. Tickets are on sale here.

As I mentioned last time (click here), I’m in the process of using the Folger Library’s world-class collection of materials related to Shakespeare and the early modern era in the West to prepare for Twelfth Night. With some help from my Library Sherpa, Folger Circulation Specialist Alan Katz, I’ve been visiting the Library and gently dipping my toes into the river of information that runs through the building.

If you’re a Library lay-person, like myself, the sheer volume of material can be a little bit daunting. As such, Alan graciously took the time to hold my hand as I began. At his suggestion, we started with a “search theory” which, in this case, we’ve been referring to as “Finding Former Festes” – in other words, scouring the records for evidence of other actors who have played the role.

For my first visit, I checked my coat and bag in the cloakroom (no bags, pens, or sharp objects allowed inside), signed in with Eric Castillo, the friendly attendant in the antechamber – which I have come to think of as the “air lock” – and passed through the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room. There are so many things to say about this room, some of which I’ve already said here, but that’s for another entry.

The Reading Room at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

I headed downstairs to the circulation desk where Alan was waiting for me. To avoid any kind of panic attack on my part, we decided to start small. We opened a web browser and called up HAMNET, the Folger’s complete online catalogue, (you can follow along at home, if you like!) and entered just one search term…the word “Feste.” This was enough to get us started. The search returned 86 results, inclusive of art works, music, and, of course, books.

Keeping things simple, we decided to start with just a few titles to get me going. Armed with call numbers – Folger is organized using the Library of Congress system – Alan took me down into the stacks where the “Modern” collection is housed.

We pulled three books:

“The Fools of Shakespeare” by Frederick Warde, McBride, Nast & Co., New York, 1913

“Wise Fools in Shakespeare” by Robert Hillis Goldsmith, Michigan State University Press, Michigan, 1955

“Shakespeare’s Great Stage of Fools” by Robert H. Bell, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2011

Library Sherpa Alan Katz (left), with Louis Butelli, brushing up on some fools.

As I suspected, these books did a phenomenal job of unpacking “Feste” the character, his relationship to the play itself, and the impact the Fools and clowns have on all of Shakespeare’s plays.

All three books hit on Feste’s scene with Viola in III,i of Twelfth Night, wherein the two discuss what it is to be a fool. Weird sidenote:  Feste is only ever referred to by name once in the play, by Curio in II,iv. The rest of the time he is referred to as “Fool,” and in the stage directions, he is listed as “Clown.”

VIOLA: I warrant thou art a merry fellow and carest for nothing.

Clown: Not so, sir, I do care for something; but in my
conscience, sir, I do not care for you: if that be
to care for nothing, sir, I would it would make you invisible.

VIOLA: Art not thou the Lady Olivia’s fool?

Clown: No, indeed, sir; the Lady Olivia has no folly: she
will keep no fool, sir, till she be married; and
fools are as like husbands as pilchards are to
herrings; the husband’s the bigger: I am indeed not
her fool, but her corrupter of words.

VIOLA: I saw thee late at the Count Orsino’s.

Clown: Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun,
it shines every where.

And then this from Viola, upon Feste’s exit:

VIOLA: This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, cheque at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practise
As full of labour as a wise man’s art
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But wise men, folly-fall’n, quite taint their wit.

Louis Butelli’s private reading shelf. Talk about clout!

Great stuff in these books, all three of which I can recommend highly to fans and/or aficionados of Shakespeare’s comic characters. Still, in terms of “Finding Former Festes,” we were just a little bit out of luck…with one very notable exception.

All three books mentioned a gentleman called Robert Armin, who was a shareholder and company member in Shakespeare’s ensemble at the Globe. The late, great “melancholy” clowns – Touchstone, Lear’s Fool, and Feste, for example – were written for Armin to play. He’s long been a kind of pet obsession of mine, along with the great clown Will Kemp who Armin replaced. There’s lots I’d like to say about these guys…but that’s for another post.

Meanwhile, Alan and I returned to HAMNET and plugged in “Robert Armin,” and up came a virtual treasure trove. For the purposes of this entry, I’ll limit myself to just one book.

Armin himself was a writer, and we found a pretty excellent book, which is a compendium of his four major works:

“Occasional Issues of Unique and Very Rare Books,” A.B. Grosart, ed. Printed in 1880 by Charles E. Simms, Manchester, UK (62 copies only). Volume 14, “The Works of Robert Armin,” 1605-1609. Handwritten notes in text and margins by someone with the initials “BN.”

This was all pretty chilling. In addition to the works themselves, the volume contains reproductions of the original title pages, three of which originals are in the Folger collection, just waiting for me to come and take a look at the next time I’m in.

Robert Armin.

Armin’s four titles are…

Foole Upon Foole (a book of jests), Nest of Ninnies (the same book of jests with some new material, probably re-released to sell more copies), The Maids of More-clacke (a play), and The Italian Tailor and his Boy (a long verse poem).

I’ll just focus on two of these briefly to conclude the entry.

“The History of the Two Maids of More-Clacke – with the Life and Simple Maner of John in the Hospitall,” printed for Thomas Archer, London, 1609, for sale in his shop.

While this play does not contain Shakespeare’s genius, and is prone to no small number of ambiguities – some of which are related to sloppiness in the printing process, some of which are related to the mysterious and incomplete notation of character, and some of which are due to, shall we say, the lack of an editor – it is pretty fascinating to see what sort of play Armin wrote for himself to appear in.

It is theorized that Shakespeare wrote many of his characters with particular actors from his company in mind. In this way he could play to their strengths and unique skill sets. In a roundabout way, then, reading Maids of More-Clacke was a bit like reading a play written by Feste himself. As such, it is filled with a fair amount of chaos, mistaken identity, disguises, mismatched lovers, and idiocy – on the part of John in the Hospitall, a lunatic, played by Armin himself. There are long sequences, John’s particularly, that sucked me in and put a big smile on my face. Still, there were others that had me completely baffled. I look forward to returning for another read.

“Foole Upon Foole, or Six Sortes of Sottes,” printed for William Ferbrann, London, 1605. “Not so strange as true.”

This is a “book of jests,” or, a series of anecdotes about six Fools who were well known to Armin and his contemporaries. Armin was interested in the distinction between “natural fools,” people who we would probably classify as “mentally ill” in some way or another, and “artificial fools,” those who told jokes for a living, or were represented on stage. “Foole Upon Foole” has some of each. As Armin promises on the title page, the book tells tales of “a flat foole and a fatt foole, a leane foole and a cleane foole, a merry foole and a verrie foole.”

Will Sommers.

One of the fools Armin details in the text is a gentleman by the name of Will Sommers. Will was court jester to King Henry VIII and, it is said, was the only person who could make Harry laugh when he fell into one of his renowned fits of rage. I single him out for mention because, in a strange confluence of foolery, I played Will in Folger Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII in 2010. Director Robert Richmond inserted Will into the story as a kind of guide, or “conduit” for the story. I absolutely loved playing him, and he holds a special place in my heart.

I’ll close the entry by quoting from a section wherein the King, being “melancholy,” calls for Will who asks him three questions. The first two failed to cheer the King, but the third seemed to do the trick. Here, then, is Robert Armin writing about the jests of Will Sommers:

Now tell me, sayes Will, if you can, what it is, that being borne without life, head, nose, lip, or eye, and yet runnes terribly roaring through ye world till it dies? This is a wonder qd the King, & no question, & I know it not. Why, quoth Will, it is a fart. At this the King laught hartily, & was exceeding merry and bids Will aske any reasonable thing, & he would grant it. Thanks, Harry, sayes he, now against I want, I know where to find, for yet I need nothing: but one day I shall: for every man sees his latter end, but knows not his beginning. The King understood his meaning, and so pleasantly departed for that season, and Will layes him downe amongst the Spaniels to sleep.

These words, written by the original Feste regarding one of his progenitors, help immeasurably in starting to envision the “Feste” that I’ll portray. He is brave in the face of supreme power, he is clever and crude, he is rewarded for his jesting, but prefers a life unencumbered and is most content to bed down with the dogs.

Alan and I were only able to find one “Former Feste” this time, but, I’d say, we found the best of the bunch.

OK. More Literary Spelunking to come. Until next time!

King Henry (Zach Appelman, top) leads his men into battle in Henry V. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Hello again from your pal Louis Butelli! Last week, we closed Folger Theatre’s Henry V. It was a great run: some stellar crowds, some excellent press, and some (hopefully) entertaining blog posts both from me and from the fabulous Katie DeBuys.

If you came by to see us, you’ll also remember Richard Sheridan Willis as the Chorus and Chris Genebach as Exeter. Richard, Chris, and I are just about three weeks from going back into rehearsal for Folger’s upcoming Twelfth Night. Directed by Robert Richmond, Twelfth Night will feature an ensemble of actors from Washington and New York, a lush scenic design from Tony Cisek, and a live band on stage. Come and see it! Tickets are on sale here.

Meanwhile, the Production Diary will be up and running during our break. In preparation for Twelfth Night, I’m going to attempt a little experiment here.

The Reading Room at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

As you may be aware, the Folger Shakespeare Library is home to one of the world’s most stunning and extensive collections of works related to the early modern era in the West, and to William Shakespeare and the theater. (For a more thorough description, click here.) Once per week, for the next three weeks, I’m going to track down an item from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s collection, and explore the item’s relationship to the Folger Theatre’s next production, Twelfth Night.

I’ll head to the Reader’s Room, just like one of the many incredible scholars who use the collection daily, and get down and dirty with some of the Library’s treasures. PLEASE NOTE: I am using “down and dirty” metaphorically. I have already been made aware of the protocol for handling the collection’s rare materials, which you can peruse here and here.

Folger Library Digital Image Collection.

For this experiment, I’ll be interested in how each piece relates to the play as a work of historical literature, how the collection itself can interact with our production, and how an actor might use the collection to put together a role. At least one of the pieces will be a book and/or document, but I’m also hoping to take a look at some paintings, listen to some music, and watch some film.

If you’d like to play along at home, I should just mention here that the Library already has vast online resources that anybody with a computer can access. For starters, take a look at:

LUNA, the Folger Shakespeare Library’s online digital image collection; and,

HAMNET, a highly interactive, bibliographic reference for the entire collection.

Overwhelmed? Me too! I suddenly thought that it might be useful to enlist the services of a Library Sherpa.

May I please introduce you to Mr. Alan Katz….

Alan works at the Folger Shakespeare Library as a Circulation Assistant, and has kindly agreed to hold my hand as I attempt to navigate the collection. With a peripatetic upbringing, moving 13 times in 12 years, Alan received his undergraduate degree in Theater History from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, before coming to Washington, DC to earn his graduate degree – also in Theater History – from Catholic University of America. He’s worked as a dramaturg for Folger Theatre on Orestes, WSC Avant Bard on The Bacchae, Inkwell Theatre on Cygnus, among others. In his spare time, Alan translates from Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon, and writes for Folger Magazine.

I can’t imagine a more highly qualified guide and, having met up for Vietnamese sandwiches to discuss the notion, a kinder, friendlier, or smarter guy with whom to team up.

So, I sincerely hope that you will return to this space for a few minutes, and follow along as Alan and I indulge in some literary spelunking. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts about what sorts of documents you’d like to read about, please do comment below, and we’ll see what we can find.

Thanks for reading. Until next time!

Michael John Casey as Nym in Henry V. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Actor Michael John Casey currently stars in Folger’s current production of Henry V, showing tremendous range and versatility playing a multitude of roles, including Nym, Westmoreland, and Burgundy. Michael has appeared all over the DC theater landscape, including performances at Ford’s Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Imagination Stage, The Kennedy Center, among others. In addition, he has worked in film and television. In our current blog series highlighting the extraordinary cast of the very successful Henry V, Michael was kind enough to answer a few questions for us and our Production Diary readers. Here’s what he had to say:

Folger: What specifically draws you to the play Henry V? What is unique and special about this particular play?

MJC: The thing enjoy most is about this play is the social complexity rooted in the humanity of its characters. From the travails of the “lower” class (Pistol, Bardolph, Nym & the Boy) to the yearning for clarity and right of the king to the socio-political commentary of the disparate factions of the British Empire, this play cuts a path through that world with characters trying to find their way. Some make it, some don’t. That struggle (although, not all on the same scale) is common to us all.

Folger: The cast does a lot of the scene changes using the moveable pikes. Can you tell us about what the process of choreographing all of the changes was like?

Michael John Casey on stage in Henry V. Photo by Scott Suchman.

MJC: At the beginning it seemed a mess. It didn’t make sense to some of us. We seemed to get the assignments based on who was free and where we were in relation to a pike that needing moving. And it changed quite a bit. With the reassignments, the colored markings, and  the timing of the moves, it didn’t feel organic, but cripplingly mechanical…until just after the invited dress. Then the assignments were set and it started to take shape. I think in the traitor scene, it really clicked. As the pikes moved to suggest the movement of a docked ship and the shift out of that scene, the pikes started to make the seemingly “unworthy scaffold” into a mobius, shifting and bending from one shape and locale to another. These shifts not only started to identify the locale, but comment on the emotional and physical events happening. I love the fact that we are seen as well. The lights also aid in the framing of this effect. As one of the “flat and unraised spirits,” there is a sense of purpose to telling the story scenographically that, as an actor, is very satisfying. We become part of the set…maybe we haunt it a bit.

Folger: Do you have a favorite moment that takes place on stage in Henry V?

MJC: The wordless moments shared with the other soldiers during the St. Crispin’s Day speech. The moment that we realize that we are about to become brothers for standing and fighting alongside each other, whether we survive or not. The speech is great writing and Zach [Appelman] is great in the role, but I think those exchanges, those mini-revelations are it.

King Henry (Zach Appelman, left) makes an impassioned speech to his people. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Folger: Share with us your experience of working at the Folger.

MJC: This is the second show I have done at the Folger. The first was Twelfth Night in 2003. Both experiences shared the same sense of fun and purpose in rehearsals and joy of performing, albeit with different narratives.  

Folger: What’s your favorite Shakespeare play – and why?

MJC: Tough one….Louis Butelli recently answered this question at a high school audience talk-back by saying that his favorite was Henry V as this was the one he was currently knee deep in. I have to agree. There is a certain amount of love one grows to have for a show when working on it, so it is kind of a hard question to answer. That aside, I have always loved Henry V of all the histories, Twelfth Night of the comedies and Othello of the tragedies. If I had to pick, I think I’d say Twelfth Night.

Folger: What would you like people to take away from this performance as they leave the theater?

Michael John Casey (top left) pictured here with Catherine Flye, James Keegan, Katie deBuys, and Louis Butelli. Photo by Teresa Wood.

MJC: That with all the pomp and “general ceremony” of attending the theater, that these utterly human and relatable characters struggled together and loved, lied, fought, and died for their beliefs and for each other. That this story offered by the Chorus, is at once epic and intimate, populist and personal.

Folger: We hear that you are a new dad – congratulations! What would you tell her if she wanted to be a stage actor?

MJC: Thanks! What would I tell her? Watch and listen. Some of the greatest learning experiences I have had were in rehearsals, listening to a director or just watching another actor approach a scene. “Watch and listen.”

We would like to extend a hearty, “Thank you” to Michael John Casey for answering a few questions for us. This is the final weekend to catch Michael and his fellow cast members in Henry V. The production must close this Sunday, March 10.

Louis Butelli stars in Henry V at the Folger.

Hello again from your pal Louis Butelli!

Well, here we are, in the midst of our final week of Henry V at the Folger Theatre. It’s a special week for a variety of reasons. First, due to some pretty great press and overwhelming demand for tickets, this week is an extension from our initial closing date. Second, the excellent Richard Sheridan Willis had a pre-existing commitment and was unable to stay with us for the extension (more on that right here). This means that I am on as the Chorus this week. I hope you’re able to come along and see us as we race to the finish line!

Meanwhile, this will be my final post for Henry V. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone who has been following along, and to the delightful Katie DeBuys for sharing blogging duties with me.

As we get ready to close our show, here are a few highlights from our time together, in case you didn’t get to read them the first time around:

• Go Backstage with Katie!
• Learn About St. Crispin’s Day!
• Robert Richmond’s Early Ideas About Henry V!
• Meet Catherine Flye!
• Meet James Keegan!
• Some Thoughts on Richard III’s Bones!

It’s hard to believe this journey is about to come to an end. It has been an honor to work on this great play with this amazing team, and a pleasure that it has been as successful as it’s been.

The great joy of working on any piece of theater is in the collaborative nature of the art form. A big, disparate group of people, from a number of specialized departments, must come together to create something larger than the sum of its parts.

Folger Theatre’s production of Henry V is no exception. Without the expertise and teamwork of every department – from the producers, the administrators, the front of house staff, the volunteers, and the security guards to the designers, the technical team, the marketing team, the stage management team, the performers, and the understudies – this production would simply never have been. So, thanks, guys! I’ll miss you all!

The cast & crew of Henry V. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Finally, to finish off this series of posts, I just want to take a second to acknowledge my dear friend and collaborator of many, many years, the director of Henry V, Robert Richmond. It is thanks to Robert’s vision and leadership that the show had the success that it did, and I am honored and excited to start working on his version of Twelfth Night, coming next to the Folger.

Thanks again for reading. Until next time!

Pomme Koch places the crown atop the head of Zach Appelman. Photo by Teresa Wood.

Continuing in our series of Henry V cast interviews, today we bring you Zach Appelman, who plays the young King Henry. Not only does this mark Zach’s Folger debut, but his DC theater debut as well.  And the city’s critics have responded, giving his multi-layered performance as Henry V unanimous praise. Just read The Washington Post review of the production here to give you an idea.  Zach appeared on the Broadway stage in the critically-acclaimed War Horse, and has appeared on television’s Homeland as well. He also makes his screen debut opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Kill Your Darlings, coming out later this year.  We asked Zach a few questions about playing Henry, the production here (staged by Robert Richmond), and what he thinks of the DC theater scene. We hope you enjoy. 

Folger: What preparation did you do in order to play King Henry?

Zach: I did a great deal of research, and read a number of books about that period in English history and the real King Henry. It’s incredibly useful to have a clear sense of the world in which the character lives. It informs you when working though some of the basic questions about the character. Who is he? What was his life like while growing up? What was his education like?

With Shakespeare, however, the research only takes you so far. The real foundation of the performance, for me, lies in the text. There is so much invaluable information in the language and the verse. Shakespeare truly writes “character” into his verse…what words they choose, how they uniquely formulate thoughts, what images they cling to. If you look at three of Shakespeare’s kings, say Henry V, Richard II, and Richard III, you will find three very distinct linguistic styles…different vocabularies…different minds. It’s really astonishing. So I used this as my starting point. Long before rehearsals even begin, most days I am hunched over a table at a tiny coffee shop in Brooklyn, reading and re-reading the text, defining and re-defining each and every word, and meticulously feeling out the rhythm of the iambic pentameter. It’s painstakingly detailed detective work, and for me it’s one of the most exciting parts of the job! 

King Henry (Zach Appelman) goes incognito. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Folger: What specifically draws you to the play Henry V? What is unique and special about this particular play?

Zach: Henry V is often thought of as a “war” play, but it so much more than that. It is a fascinating exploration of humanity. Henry is one of Shakespeare’s most accessible kings, in that an audience can really identify with him. He wasn’t born into royalty, but rather it was thrust upon him unexpectedly as a teenager after his father seized the crown. The fate and responsibility of an entire nation is dumped upon the shoulders of this young man….a young man who never wanted that burden in the first place. What an extraordinary position to be in! It’s a fascinating lens through which to explore leadership, responsibility, and the human cost of war. It’s a coming of age tale in a way, and something we can all relate to.

Folger: What is your favorite moment that takes place on stage in Henry V?

Zach: My favorite moments are when the audience is really responding to Shakespeare’s language. There is a moment right after intermission where the Chorus (played by the marvelous Richard Sheridan Willis) speaks directly to the audience, setting the scene of the night before the battle. It is a quiet moment, almost whispered as he paints a picture for the audience of the French and English soldiers huddled in their tents. In the final line of the speech, with simple, but powerful words, he describes King Henry walking through the camp to comfort his soldiers…In performance, this beautiful line is consistently met with an audible gasp or sigh from the audience. Beautiful words, spoken so simply and with such clarity, that they make the audience gasp. The power of Shakespeare’s words becomes so palpable. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Henry (Zach Appelman) in the middle of trying to woo Princess Katherine. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Folger: What is your favorite Shakespeare play – and (briefly) why?

Zach: I’m really partial to the Henriad, Shakespeare’s second tetralogy of history plays beginning with Richard II, though both parts of Henry IV, and climaxing with Henry V. I imagine Elizabethan audiences followed these stories like modern audiences follow sagas like Game of Thrones, or The Lord of the Rings. The stories told in these plays are epic and riveting, and you become very emotionally attached to the fates of these characters. The plays are suspenseful, incredibly funny, deeply moving, and stuffed full of some of the most delicious language ever written.

Folger: You are new to the DC theater scene. Tell our readers, if you will, something about Zach Appelman, the actor. How would you describe yourself?

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends!” Zach Appelman as King Henry. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Zach: The DC theater community has been so wonderful.The audiences especially are fantastic. A few weeks ago, a family came with their two small children to see Henry V, and they were waiting in the lobby after the show. The young boy (about 8 years old) shyly approached me and said he wanted to give me something. Excited beyond belief to see the play, he had brought a tennis ball with him to give King Henry after the show. He handed it to me sheepishly, grinning from ear to ear. It was perhaps the sweetest gift I’ve ever received, and a fantastic welcome to the DC scene. It’s sitting in my dressing room as we speak.

Folger: What would you like people to take away from this performance as they leave the theater?

Zach: For audience members unfamiliar with the history plays, I hope they leave the theater with a new interest in them. For those who know Henry V quite well, I hope our productions sheds new light on certain aspects of the play, and challenges some of their preconceived notions.

And with that, the countdown has begun — only 10 days left to see Henry V on the Folger stage before it closes on March 10. There are limited seats still available, so call 202.544.7077 if you’d like to join us.

Also, make sure to pick up a copy of The Washington Post this Sunday (3/3) for a wonderful feature article on Zach Appelman playing the young king. Thanks to Zach for taking the time to answer a few questions for us. We hope to see you at the theater!