Friday. May 23. 1986
Arts and Entertainment
Oregon Daily Emerald
Celebrating
‘cathedrals’
See Page 3B
Research, intuition blended in ‘Winter’s Tale’
A 7 p.m. curtain call is scheduled. Some actors
scurry across the stage setting up needed props while a
lone actor addresses his lines to the sky outside Villard
Hall. Others sprawl haphazardly across the theatre
floor, patiently awaiting their cues.
Suddenly, the lights dim. Positions are taken, and
a run-through of "The Winter's Tale.” the final produc
tion of University Theatre's 1985-86 season, begins
After an intense Thursday night rehearsal, exhausted
cast members gather round to hear Director Robert Bar
ton's critique of their performance.
The wait is not long and the critique, although
severe, is delivered in a light vein.
"Forget it," Barton warns the 18-member cast.
“You're not getting a single compliment out of me
tonight."
"But we need strokes." a voice quips, drawing
tired chuckles from the exhausted actors.
"Bob is a good director." says .Scot Crisp, who
plays Clown in “The Winter's Tale". "Even when he
gives critiques, he does it on a positive note. And when
giving harsh criticism, there's a wit that takes away any
emotional reaction to it. So it's constructive."
As director. Barton has the ability to "visualize
what he sees in his mind's eye” and turn it into a reali
ty. Crisp adds.
It’s a director's obligation to expose a variety of
plays to people, says Barton, who is also the perfor
mance program coordinator and an associate professor
in theatre arts and speech.
"To make a play understandable to the audience is
very challenging to a director.” says Barton.
Audience comprehension is a key factor in Bar
ton's production of "The Winter's Tale." Extensive
research and technical preparations for the production
began last year as an "automatic” process.
"If you're directing a play that you love, the
research is almost automatic," says Barton. "It’s fun to
read about it (the play). You read everything that you
can get your hands on — production histories and all
sorts of criticisms and background."
Scholastic research or “library work" only serves
to lay the foundation that enables the creative juices to
flow.
"What you have to do is to read as much as possi
ble,” says Barton. “Then let yourself absorb it and let it
intuitively filter into the work.”
Then, the original Shakespearean text of "Winter s
Tale" was cut and shaped into an understandable, and
much shorter, acting version. Meetings with set and
costume designers were held in May. but auditions for
cast members did not take place until February.
"It's a gradual process," Barton says. "As director.
1 try to pull the play forward in time and the audience
backward so they meet."
"Winter's Tale" is one of Shakespeare's most
obscure plays but one of his most beautiful, adds Bar
ton. "It's got everything. It's very comical, and it’s very
moving.”
Besides. "You have the chance in your lifetime to
see many productions of Romeo and Juliet,” Barton
adds. "But I think that Shakespeare is a great enough
writer that his other works deserve to be shared with
the public."
"It seems to me that the total education of the
students at the University.” says Barton "is that (they)
get exposed to philosophy and ideas that are unknown
to (them) when (they) first come here."
Exposure to "every major dramatic period and a
full spectrum of plays” is an obligation the University
has to its students. Barton says.
"We have the reputation of classical theater." Bar
ton adds. "This is where people come to see Chekhov,
Shaw and Moliere. And that's a very good identity for a
university theatre."
Yet, despite the complications and the intricacies
involved in directing a play written by Shakespeare,
one never becomes tired of them. New wisdom
and insights into the human experience can always be
found.
"There’s always something undiscovered," says
Barton. "You can play a Shakespearean role three or
four times and still begin to find more in it."
"Shakespeare is the Olympics of acting." Barton
adds. "A lot of people can play themselves in a simple,
comtemporary piece of work, but the real performers of
m
(from !eft)Cast members Kim Anderson (Queen Mer
rnione). Max Martin (Prince Mamilliusl. Jedda
Schmitz (Time, Ruler of all Mortals) and Mike! Mac
enormous power and force are those that can handle
Shakespeare."
These plays are "magical" and are the “fairy tales
for grownups," Barton says. "They take place in ex
traordinary. fantastical worlds, full of splendor and
grandeur. And it’s certainly true of a play like
"Winter's Tale."
Although problems seem to occur every night, the
search for the right music was the "real challenge."
"It (music) needed to lx; vaguely Eastern," says
Barton. "It needed to have a flavor to it that was l»oth
exotic and still very accessible to the audience."
But, "All Shakespeare are monumental challenges
that brings its own challenges." Barton adds.
"Winter's Tale," according to Barton, "is a
wonderful play trapped inside some difficult
language."
Much of the text work in "The Winter's Tale” was
done prior to the actual rehearsals in an attempt to
"free" the beauty of the play without altering its essen
tial language.
The actor's time committment to the show is
tremendous. Rehearsals are four hours long and am
held five nights a week.
Actors receive the chance to become very "loose
and very playful" with their characters.
"They (actors) have the chance to inhabit the
character without being inhibited by the verse.” says
Barton. "It's essential that the actor feel an absolute
kinship with Shakespeare.”
"The key goal when doing Shakespeare." says
Miket MacDonald, who plays l^ontes, "is making him
accessible to the audience. The real key is to unders
tand what is being said, to manipulate the vowels and
to make every consonant a weapon."
As an additional challenge to the cast of "Winter's
Tale,” members portray four or five different characters
during the show, which is similar to the productions in
Shakespeare's time.
Flaying several small character roles helps every
single person feel vital to the play. Barton says.
"If you're playing four small parts and one big
part, they all come out to a massive contribution to the
play.” says Barton.
Donald (kin# l#ontes) rehearse a scene from I>niver
sify Theatre's production of Shakespeare's "The
Winter's Tale."
Believing in one's character lends "credulity” to
the production and helps cast meml>ers create a world
that the audience can believe in
"The main thing is to win the audience by being
the character says Barbara Pitts (Perdita). "You have
to really give in to the fantasy. If you're true to your
character, then the audience wilt remember you."
“You want to create a world that the audience is
compelled by," Barton says. "You try to find the basic
humanity in every one of those characters so that the
audience forgets that the play is 4(H) years old. that the
language is complex, and they appreciate it just as they
would any gruut story.
"It's sort of like a journey that you try to get the au
dience to go on." Barton adds.
The appeul to the play lies in its story line, its
magic and its mystery.
“People love watching kings and queens, princes
and princesses." says Barton. “It's a very rewarding
play to watch because you get a whole range of
humanity."
"Everyone is going to get something out of it,"
says Xaxaro Kokkoris (Mopsa). "There isn't any line in
the pluy that doesn’t have any meaning behind it. The
actors may have only one line but it's significant Hnd it
gives them significance to be on stage."
Also, Shakespeare often generates an ability in ac
tors to discover a "universality" in themselves that
enables them to play characters that are often "one stop
down from the angels," says Barton.
"There’s a king somewhere in everybody." says
Wade Johnson, who plays Polixenes. "When 1 go on
stage. I give myself license to bo above people. And I
enjoy being the King."
"The Winter's Tale” will l»e performed tonight and
Saturday night. May 19-31 and June 6-7 at the Univer
sity's Robinson Theatre. Curtain time is 8 p.m. All seats
are reserved and tickets are $5.50 for the general public
and $3.50 for University students.
Story by Frale de Guzman
Photo by Karen Gegner