Royalston Shakespeare Company

Thank yous for 2011 Midsummer Night's Dream

2011-08-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

Thank you:
Long before Shakespeare, theater depended upon patronage and that tradition continues: This production of Midsummer Night’s Dream is made possible through the kindness of our community, funding of the members of the Friends of the Phinehas S Newton Library, and the generosity of advertisers.

Especial thanks to:
The Town of Royalston for allowing use of this perfect stage.

Thanks also to the Town Administrative Assistant, Helen Divoll, who cheerfully puts up with our troupe of theatrical distractions.

Parents for providing snacks, running lines, schlepping actors, buying tshirts, and being flexible.

Royalston Cultural council for its funding and enthusiastic support.

Michael and Ann Copeland of the Salvation Army for costuming help.

Athol High School for loaning its spotlight. The RSC would never shine without your generosity.

Noah Siegel for his muscle, tools and know -how on the sound system.

One night only! "The play's the thing..."

2011-07-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

What a great show. The cast and crew really pulled together and gave a thoroughly enjoyable rendition of A Misdsummer Night's Dream at the Royalston Town Hall. Due to snow days extending the school year we had only nine days from casting to opening night. Phew! That was fast and required a sincere commitment from all involved. Thanks to Asher Chase and Noah Dawson for stepping up to help make another season of Royalston Shakespeare Company possible. Big ups to Maureen Blasco, Norah Dooley Beth Gospodarek, and Carla Stanley for encouraging and supporting them in their first year as stage directors.

We are hugely indebted, to the parents and to Kathy Morris, Jen Bartkus and all the staff at the Phinehas Newton Library who each year support us in every way. And a big thanks to the Royalston Arts Council as well. Each year we have sponsors and help comes from the wider community, from cupcakes to costumes, people pitch in and make this event the best way to start a summer I can think of. Here are a just a few photos from my iPhone in a slide show, to give you a sense of the excitement and beauty of the performance on Friday, July 1st, 2011. Check in with Beth or Kathy about more slides and video of the performance.

Here is the slide show:

Dramatis Personae in order of appearance

THESEUS/ OBERON Ben West
EGEUS Noah Dawson
HIPPOLYTA/ TITANIA Tobey Rose Chase
PETER QUINCE Olivia Dufour
SNUG, the joiner Owen MacPhee
BOTTOM, the weaver Hanna Seghir
FRANCIS FLUTE, the bellows mender Hannah Bartkus
SNOUT, tinker Haleigh O’Regan
STARVELING, tailor Marnie Anair
LYSANDER Casey Galat
DEMETRIUS Yasmine Seghir
HERMIA Elizabeth West
HELENA Emily Mangum
PUCK Marissa Galat
PEASEBLOSSOM Julie Gambill
COBWEB Soleil Osgood
MOTH Grace Dufour
MUSTARDSEED Laura Bartkus and
Samantha West

The Stage Crew:
Matt Galat
Owen MacPhee

Lights! Sound! Costumes...& 3 days left

2011-06-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

A few iPhone pics in a slide show...

Whooee.There is lots of work to do and plenty has been done. Lights are up, sound system up and today we worked on costumes and distributed T-shirts! Everybody is doing a great job. Big ups to Carla Stanley for costuming the entire cast this morning in about 1.5 hours. The Royal mortals are dressed up to go clubbing at the disco. The Fairey people are two clashing hippie tribes and the "rude mechanicals" are some country music loving "good old boys". Most of are actors are young women under the age of 15, some by a decade...But they are all fabulous and look fabulous too.

Peter Brook's A Midsummer Night's Dream

2011-06-28T23:48:00.000-07:00

Titania awakes but Bottom "waketh not".

An interesting take on MSND

Peter Brook's A Midsummer Night's Dream

By CLIVE BARNES

Published: January 21, 1971

Many people have seen magic in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the magic of moonshine and fairyland, and-since no Shakespearean play has been so foully encrusted over with nineteenth-century romanticism-the magic of Mendelssohn and bosky scenery looking good enough to eat. Peter Brook has also seen magic in the Dream, but it is the magic of man. His production of the play, first seen last summer at Stratford-on-Avon and now gloriously come to the Billy Rose Theater, is also full of the magic of the theater.

It is a celebration of life and fancy, of man and his imagination, his fate, and the brevity of his brief candle in the light of the world. Shakespeare gave us "the lunatic, the lover and the poet," and Brook smilingly added the acrobat.

This is without any equivocation whatsoever the greatest production of Shakespeare I have ever seen in my life-and for my joys and my sins I have seen literally hundreds. Its greatness lies partly in its insight into man, and best of all its remarkable insight into Shakespeare. But it also lies in its originality. It is the most genuinely and deeply original production of Shakespeare in decades.
So-called original Shakespeare often is enough to make sensitive and sensible men squirm. It usually means strange texts, outlandish readings, battered phrases, rude glosses and impertinent additions. Here it means no such thing. Here it means merely that Brook has forgotten-not really forgotten, for on occasion he jokes about it-or at least ignored, that scaly accretion of time called a classic's performing tradition. Brook has behaved as if A Midsummer Night's Dream had been written just last midsummer by a young man with an archaic turn of phrase, an immortal gift for poetry, and no ability whatsoever to write stage directions.

He has taken this script and staged it with regard for nothing but its sense and meaning. He has collaborated with Shakespeare, not twisted his arm or blinded his senses, not tried to be superior, but just helped him out to get this strange play on stage.

Titania's bower and her people.

Helped by the designer Sally Jacobs, Brook has placed the play within three white and gleaming walls. Across the back are two white doors, and on top of the walls are battlements where musicians can play, actors run or wait, or even on occasion dangle scenery into the playing cockpit below. Its purpose? And for that matter, the purpose of an Oberon on a trapeze, a Puck who juggles with plates or dashes across the scene on Tarzan rope or runs on stilts? Why all this? Are they merely the tricks of Brook's fertile imagination; conjurations to while the time, and limn out a little talent? Emphatically no.
Brook has taken this play as pristine new and samite white. But he also knows that we take to the play our expectations taken from schoolhouse and playhouse. He wants, I think, to surprise us into listening to these lute-songs of the spirit with new ears and unencumbered intelligences.
His one liberty-and this has been taken in some circles as a mere literary conceit-has been to combine the roles of Theseus and Hippolyta with those of Oberon and Titania, that of Philostrate with Puck and that of Egeus with Quince. What sounds perverse in theory, in practice serves to emphasize the playwright's purpose. Shakespeare should have done such a combination himself. For a rare once, the director knows best.

For now the play takes on the shape of an allegory of love, with the actors, and their plays within plays, whether they be mechanicals or poets, all pointed toward some explanation of sudden love and eventual mortality. "What fools these mortals be," muses Puck. But here Puck too is mortal, and fairyland is only a dimension of love, for Theseus, Oberon and, yes, even, the comically tragic Pyramus, all are lovers.
Brook takes the elements of the theater and mixes them as if he were a chef trying out a recipe. Circus tricks, Indian chants, flamenco guitar, children's streamers, paper plates, mock and mocked Mendelssohn, all are thrown into some eclectic broth. Only the text is sacred, to be illuminated, or like some holy child, cosseted, and once in a while cuffed behind the ear, to show a proper religious irreverence.

This year our cast is very young and mostly girls...

The superb actors seem as dedicated to Brook as Brook is to Shakespeare. Alan Howard, humorous and compassionate as the Theseus/Oberon, Sara Kestelman, sensual and womanly as the Hippolyta/Titania, John Kane's supremely amused Puck, David Waller's humanistic and appealing Bottom, the Quince of Philip Locke, the lovers of Mary Rutherford, Frances de la Tour, Terence Taplin and Ben Kingsley are all masterly in the natural way of men and women surprised in life rather than actors caught acting.
If you have any interest in the theater, in life or in your fellow men, I think you will be transfixed by this Dream. And, if you haven't, well, even so, you might appreciate still the fun and the juggling. As Shakespeare would surely be the first to admit, jugglers have their place.

Week 2 of Midsummer Night's Dream

2011-06-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the cast of Midsummer Night's Dream about to start week two of rehearsal at Royalston Town Hall. We are turning over the direction to some members of previous years casts. Asher was Bottom in our 2003 version of Midsummer, the first ever Royalston Shakespeare production. Maureen and Beth and I are still hanging around to help as needed.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, who are manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

Left: Titania and her fairy band and Puck and Oberon, Royal mortals in the back row and rude mechanicals in front

The play features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen, Hippolyta, and set simultaneously in the woodland, and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.[1]

In the opening scene, Hermia refuses to follow her father Egeus's instructions to marry Demetrius, whom he has chosen for her. In response, Egeus quotes before Theseus an ancient Athenian law whereby a daughter must marry the suitor chosen by her father, or else face death. Theseus offers her another choice: lifelong chastity worshiping the goddess Diana as a nun.

Meanwhile, Oberon, king of the fairies, and his queen, Titania, have come to the forest outside Athens. Titania tells Oberon that she plans to stay there until after she has attended Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian changeling to Oberon for use as his "knight" or "henchman," since the child's mother was one of Titania's worshipers. Oberon seeks to punish Titania's disobedience, so he calls for his mischievous court jester Puck (also called "Hobgoblin" and "Robin Goodfellow") to help him apply a magical juice from a flower called "love-in-idleness," which when applied to a person's eyelids while sleeping makes the victim fall in love with the first living thing seen upon awakening (due to the god of love, Cupid, shooting a love arrow at a virgin queen but it, being deflected off a moon beam, flew into a patch of flowers, where the love potion, contained within the arrow, drained into the flowers, giving them their powers). He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower so that he can make Titania fall in love with the first thing she sees when waking from sleep, which he is sure will be an animal of the forest. Oberon's intent is to shame Titania into giving up the little Indian boy. He says, "And ere I take this charm from off her sight, / As I can take it with another herb, / I'll make her render up her page to me."[2]

Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the magical juice from the flower on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Instead, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, not having actually seen either before. Helena, coming across him, wakes him while attempting to determine whether he is dead or asleep. Upon this happening, Lysander immediately falls in love with Helena since he is still under the influence of the flower. Oberon sees Demetrius still following Hermia and is enraged. When Demetrius decides to go to sleep, Oberon sends Puck to get Helena while he charms Demetrius' eyes. Upon waking up, he sees Helena. Now, both men are in pursuit of Helena. However, she is convinced that her two suitors are mocking her, as neither loved her originally. Hermia is at a loss to see why her lover has abandoned her, and accuses Helena of stealing Lysander away from her. The four quarrel with each other until Lysander and Demetrius become so enraged that they seek a place to duel each other to the death to prove whose love for Helena is the greatest. Oberon orders Puck to keep Lysander and Demetrius from catching up with one another and to remove the charm from Lysander, so that he goes back to being in love with Hermia.
Study for The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Joseph Noel Paton

Meanwhile, a band of six lower-class labourers ("rude mechanicals", as they are described by Puck) have arranged to perform a play about Pyramus and Thisbe for Theseus' wedding and venture into the forest, near Titania's bower, for their rehearsal. Nick Bottom, a stage-struck weaver, is spotted by Puck, who (taking his name to be another word for a jackass) transforms his head into that of a donkey. When Bottom returns for his next lines, the other workmen take one look at him and run screaming in terror. Determined to wait for his friends, he begins to sing to himself. Titania is awakened by Bottom's singing and immediately falls in love with him. She lavishes him with attention, and presumably makes love to him. While she is in this state of devotion, Oberon takes the changeling. Having achieved his goals, Oberon releases Titania, orders Puck to remove the donkey's head from Bottom, and arrange everything so that Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena will believe that they have been dreaming when they awaken. The magical enchantment is removed from Lysander, leaving Demetrius under the spell and in love with Helena.

The fairies then disappear, and Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene, during an early morning hunt. They wake the lovers and, since Demetrius does not love Hermia anymore, Theseus overrules Egeus's demands and arranges a group wedding. The lovers decide that the night's events must have been a dream. After they all exit, Bottom awakes, and he too decides that he must have experienced a dream "past the wit of man". In Athens, Theseus, Hippolyta and the lovers watch the six workmen perform Pyramus and Thisbe. The play is badly performed to the point where the guests laugh as if it were meant to be a comedy, and afterward everyone retires to bed. Afterward, Oberon, Titania, Puck, and other fairies enter, and bless the house and its occupants with good fortune. After all other characters leave, Puck "restores amends" and reminds the audience that this might be nothing but a dream (hence the name of the play).

Caleb Chase designed and Carla Stanley finished off this ass-head.

Midsummer 2011

2011-06-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

AMidsummer Night's Dream

directed by Asher Chase and Noah Dawson

Asher blocks the "rude mechanicals..."

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

THESEUS Duke ofAthens - Ben West

EGEUS father toHermia - Noah Dawson

HIPPOLYTA queenof the Amazons - Tobey Chase

QUINCE acarpenter- Olivia Dufour

SNUG a joiner - Owen McPhee

BOTTOM a weaver - Hanna Seghir

FLUTE abellows-mender - Hannah Bartkus

SNOUT a tinker - Haleigh O'Regan

STARVELING atailor - Marni Anair

LYSANDER- Casey Gallat

DEMETRIUS , inlove with Hermia Yasmin Seghir

HERMIA daughterto Egeus, in love with Lysander Elizabeth West

HELENA in lovewith Demetrius- Emily Mangum

OBERON king ofthe fairies -Ben West

TITANIA queen ofthe fairies - Tobey Chase

PUCK or Robin Goodfellow - Marissa Gallat

PEASEBLOSSOM - Julie Gamble

COBWEB - Soleil

MOTH - Grace Dufour

MUSTARDSEED Samantha West

Thank yous! and program notes July 1, 2010

2010-07-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

Directors notes ( written by Beth Gospodarek):
The calendar cries, “Tis time, tis time. To conjure the Scottish Play:
1.     Boil thou first in the charmed pot:   One downloadable Macbeth, halved from knave to chaps. Cut until 25 or so pages remain and the tale is sooth.

2.     Open locks, whoever knocks. On a summer Monday morning, add 20 -30 kids of all ages and abilities . Resolve to give them all something fun and meaningful to do.

3.     For a charm of powerful trouble: Rewrite script. Print . Read through with all considering words, place, plot and intention.

4.     Fire burn and cauldron bubble: Spend agonizing hours casting all that darest according to their wishes.

5.     Into the flame: Beg borrow and steal lights, sets, costumes and props.

6.     Fair is foul and foul is fair: Build a set.

7.     Now about the cauldron sing: Rehearse the antics for 9 days beginning on the solstice.

8.     Round about the cauldron go: Have a full dress performance.

9.    Our duties we will welcome pay: Thanks and honor to the supporters of the pageant.

Then the charm is firm and good. We are humbled by the intrepid efforts of all the participants and delighted that what is done here cannot be undone.

Norah, Beth and Maureen, weird sisters all

Norah, Beth and Lindsey and Rosie. Maureen B left to mail the Royalston newletter

The directors: Norah Dooley
Beth Gospodarek
Maureen Blasco, Technical Director
Rosalie Dooley Fairchild, Costumes & Assistant Director
Lindsay Limoges, Costumes & Assistant Director
Caleb Chase, Sets and Sound Effects
Asher Chase and Devin Snell, Assistant Directors

The Cast: Dramatis Personae in order of appearance
Witch 1:    Yasmine Seghir
Witch 2    :       Tobey Chase/ Casey Galat
Witch 3:    Marnie Anair
Sargeant:     Hanna Seghir
King Duncan: Ryan Carrier
Malcolm, the King Duncan’s heir: Meredith Carrier
Donalblain:    King Duncan’s daughter: Isabelle O’Connor
Thane Lennox, a noble: Marissa Galat
Thane Ross, a noble:   Katelyn Robinson
The Thane of Fife, MacDuff, a noble:   Noah Dawson
Thane Banquo: Emily Mangum
Lord Macbeth: Benjamin West
Lady Macbeth: Casey Galat/ Tobey Chase
Attendant: Soliel Osgood
Messenger: Erin Snell
Porter at the Gates/ Apparition: Hannah Bartkus
Murderer 1: Hanna Seghir
Murderer 2: Isabelle O’Connor
Gentlewoman: Elizabeth West
Doctor: Lila Jacobs

Declan Flynn - Tech crew and carpenter


And a few thank yous :
Long before Shakespeare, theater depended upon patronage and that tradition continues: This production of “The scottish Play” is made possible through the kindness of our community, funding of the members of the Friends of the Phinehas S Newton Library, and the generosity of advertisers.

Especial thanks to:
The Town of Royalston for allowing use of this perfect stage.    Thanks also to the Town Administrative Assistant, Helen Divoll, who cheerfully puts up with our troupe of theatrical distractions.

Parents for providing snacks, running lines, schlepping actors, buying t-shirts, taking photos and being flexible. Especial thanks to Jen Bartkus for help with the program and cake.

Royalston Cultural council for its funding and enthusiastic support.

Majors Michael and Ann Copeland of the Salvation Army   for costuming help.

Athol High School for loaning its spotlight. The RSC would never shine without your generosity.

Great Show! + Slide show from the Dress Rehearsal

2010-07-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to all in the cast and crew of Macbeth! Yes, I am outside the theater, so I can write and say the title of the dread play. Last night we created a magical performance of a difficult play. The more we directors do this work with the Royalston Shakespeare Company, the more we love to do this work!

Will write more later. But for now? Thanks for helping our summer start off with a joyful, challenging and fulfilling project.

Tonight - Macb hits the stage!

2010-07-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a preview from our blog. Our workshop performance will show what school age kids can learn in less than two weeks. We have been delighted, once again, by our cast and crew. They make this intense work a pleasure. These are a few pics from 350+ taken at the Dress by Melanie Mangum.. To see it all, come tonight at 7PM. And a slide show will be up soon.

Day Seven - backstage at the "Scottish Play"

2010-06-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Set as seen from the lighting "booth"

The costumes, organized by "character"

Directors desk

The music on today's slide show is "Scotland the Brave" (Scottish Gaelic: Alba an Aigh) and it is a patriotic song and one of the main contenders to be considered as a national anthem of Scotland. In June 2006, the song came second to Flower of Scotland in an online poll with more than 10,000 votes to determine the nation's favourite unofficial "anthem". The song is used to represent Scotland in the Commonwealth Games.

History
The real Macbeth took the throne of Scotland in 1040, after killing his cousin King Duncan I in a battle near Elgin in the Moray district of Scotland. Duncan's eldest son, Malcolm, ended Macbeth's reign in 1057 by killing him in battle and later assuming the throne as Malcolm III. The real Lady Macbeth's first name was Gruoch, ( pronounced "ga-rue-wah"). Although this is not mentioned in the play, Macbeth was her second husband.

More quotes:

"There 's daggers in men's smiles". (Act II, Scene III).

"What 's done is done". (Act III, Scene II).

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair". (Act I, Scene I).

"I bear a charmed life". (Act V, Scene VIII).

"Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness." (Act I, Scene V).

"When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done,
When the battle 's lost and won". (Act I, Scene I).

"Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" (Act II, Scene I).

Day Six - from the bloody Scottish Play

2010-06-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

The players have been learning their lines and more oft' than not, they speak them with great art. Meanwhile, back stage and downstairs the production crew is working away and the set and props are really coming along! Maureen Blasco is leading the work with design and painting from Caleb Chase and man-of-all work, Declan Flynn. The work creating props got a huge boost from the Gospodarek family who made some awesome weapons over the weekend. Big thanks to Noah Seigel and Steven Chace for carpentry, sound set-up and dangerous ladder work. Rosie and Lyndsey are working magic with our thrifting and costuming the cast in a neo-Scots theme. This evening, as the actors struggle to get all those words into their heads, the production crew is making torches, cauldrons, daggers, thrones, crowns and sound effects.

Please note this time change: "Tomorrow and tomorrow..." we will end at 1pm as we hope to run through the play, from King to King, to King on Tuesday and Wednesday. And, if your actor wears a kilt in the play they need hiking boots, Doc Martens, work boots, or some high topped foot wear and knee socks. We will have some shoes to try on but are in need of extras. Also, we need 3 pair of old gloves that can have the fingers cut off (without hands in them). Slide show below.

Some quotes from the 1st act

2010-06-27T10:29:00.000-07:00


Ian McKellan and Judy Dench as the Macbeth's

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare's great tragedies. There's murder, battles, supernatural portents, and all the other elements of a well-worked drama. And great quotes - Here are a few from Macbeth Act 1

"First Witch: When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch: When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.1
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.1
"If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.3
"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.3
"Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.3
"Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it...
"More is thy due than more than all can pay."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.4
"Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.5
"Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top full
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.5
"Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters...Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under 't."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.5
"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly

"Letting 'I dare not" wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.7
"I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.7
"Screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 1.7
more to come...

Day Five- cast goes home with T-shirts on, ready to memorize lines!

2010-06-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

We hope you will wear your t-shirt in the coming week and invite people to the show. Great job so far on learning the meaning of Shakespeare's language and delivering the lines in staged readings. Next week we will work with sets, props and costumes so we need those lines to be memorized.

Warning - loud bagpipe music with slide show (below) of RSC at work on Day 5 or the "Scottish Play"

Slide show from Day Two of Mr. and Mrs. MacB "hit" the town

2010-06-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Pictures (above) by RCD Fairchild.

The story behind the superstition....

( Two of this production's directors were the first say the dread name and ran three times around the theater on Day Two)

Angels and Ministers of Grace: Theatrical Superstitions Through the Ages
by Kristen McDermott

". . . why do I yield to that suggestion, Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And make my seated heart knock at its ribs, Against the use of nature?"
— Macbeth, 1.3.133-6

If at any time you find yourself starved for attention, simply wander into the backstage area of any theater in the English-speaking world. Start to chant "Double, double, toil and trouble," or perhaps simply shout the word "Macbeth!" at the top of your lungs. You will instantly be surrounded by actors and stagehands, frantically shushing you and maybe even trying to push you out the door. Once outside, you must do several things: you must turn around three times, spit over your left shoulder, run around the theater three times and either 1) say the filthiest word you know, 2) say "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" or 3) speak a line from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Then you must wait to be invited back into the theater. Only then will the dread Curse of the Scottish Play be reversed.

Anyone who has studied Macbeth in high school or college has heard of the Curse of the Scottish Play — or "the Plaid Play" — or simply, "That Play." In fact, it officially entered the elite ranks of pop culture last year in an episode of The Simpsons. America's most beloved animated family visited England and met Sir Ian McKellen as he rehearsed "That Play." Of course, the Simpsons' incessant mentioning of "Macbeth" onstage results in the hapless Sir Ian's being struck by, among other things, lightning and a scaffold.

Productions of Macbeth have historically (it is claimed) been beset with disaster — accidents both onstage and off, from actors gouged and maimed during the many sword fights in the play, to friends and relatives of theater people struck with sudden, unexplained ailments during the run of the show, to the bizarre offstage deaths of actors and directors connected with Macbeth productions. The explanations for these occurrences are long and complex, ranging from the purely supernatural to the purely practical. Macbeth is cursed, some argue, because its depictions of witchcraft rituals invite evil spirits into the space of the theater. Others claim that the curse is the cumulative result of random bad fortune over 400 years of performances, creating a backstage atmosphere of nervousness and tension that invites danger. More pragmatic people suggest that the play is plagued with bad luck simply because any production that features lots of swordplay and special effects with smoke and flames will suffer more than its share of accidents.

One thing is certain: professional theater people respect the curse, whether they literally believe in it or not. Actors have traditionally had a hearty respect for the unseen forces at work in the world, perhaps because their own livelihood depends so much on luck, illusion, and a deep connection with the darkest recesses of human emotion. This may also be the reason why the world of the theater is densely packed with superstitions and ghost stories.

Here are some things that actors never do:

* Whistle backstage
* Say "good luck!" to one another
* Speak the last line of the play (the "tag") in rehearsal
* Peek through the curtain to see the audience
* Leave hats on dressing room beds or shoes on the floor.

Of course, some of these superstitions have perfectly logical origins. When the lights and curtains were operated by teams of stagehands manipulating hundreds of heavy bars and sandbags backstage, they used the sailors' language of whistles and handclaps to communicate with one another. Any ill-timed whistle could bring a half-ton curtain down onto your head! Having a distracted fellow-actor sit on one's elaborate stage hat because it was lying on the chaise in your dressing room would also be a bad thing. But many stage superstitions seem much more obscure.

Pictures from Day Two

2010-06-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

Games and a read-through from beginning to end were the order of our day's work.We cast the play and then had to recast a bit as our players were shuffled about due to summer commitments. A slide show, with more pics from Tuesday, is in production.
.

The Scottish play starts!

2010-06-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

The cast hit the road running on Monday with a fun group of new to us and long time RSC actors who are working with the usual suspects of directors, and co-directors (see side bar). We learned about the plot of the Scottish play and improvising on themes, using a selection of wigs and hats for characterization. We have set a cast for the play and did a complete read through of the script and are on way.

When and where - MON JUN 21st

2010-06-17T05:26:00.001-07:00

We'd like to meet from 9:30AM - 12:30PM at Royalston Town Hall, starting bright and cheery on MONDAY JUNE 21st. The final performance will be on THURSDAY JULY 1st so as not to interfere with anyone's plans for the July 4th weekend.

Here is a bit of silliness from the "other" RSC...Reduced Shakespeare Company. Text below.

Witches: Double, double, toil and trouble

(Macbeth enters with sword. In nearly impenetrable Scottish accents:)

Macbeth: Stay, ye imperrfect macspeaker. Mactell me macmore.

Witches: Macbeth, Macbeth, beware Macduff
None of woman born shall harm Macbeth
'Til Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane, don't ye know.

(Witches out; Macduff in, hiding behind a twig.)

Macbeth: O, that's dead great. Then macwhat macneed macI macfear of Macduff, eh?

(Macduff throws down disguise, wields sword, throws two-fingered gesture at Macbeth.)

Macduff: See ye Jimmy and know that I was from me mother's womb untimely ripped! What d'ye think about that?

Macbeth: Aye, it's bloody disgusting. Lay on, ye great haggis-face.

(They fence. One misses, apologizes; they stop a beat and continue.)

Macduff: Ah, Macbeth! Ye killed me wife, ye murdered me babies, and ye dropped a in me stew!

Macbeth: Och, I didna'!

Macduff: Oh aye, ye did! I had t' throw half of it away.

Macbeth: Well, then, eat out, Macduff!

(Macduff chases Macbeth offstage. "Time out!" Macduff enters, but Macbeth can still be heard fighting in the back. Macduff sticks sword through curtains; backstage, Macbeth's scream is abruptly cut off. Macduff disappears, reenters with severed head.)

Macduff: Behold where lies the usurper's cursed head. Macbeth, yer arse is out the windie.

(Macduff throws the head to the witches, who screech with delight. He tries to start the next line, but is cut off by the cackling several times.)

Macduff: Shut up, ye gits!

(The witches fall silent.)

Macduff: That never was there a story of more blood and death, than this o' Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth. Thankee.

(He bows and departs. Lights out.)

When and where

2010-06-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

We'd like to meet from 9:30AM - 12:30PM at Royalston Town Hall, starting bright and cheery on MONDAY JUNE 21st. The final performance will be on THURSDAY JULY 1st so as not to interfere with anyone's plans for the July 4th weekend.

Here is a bit of silliness from the "other" RSC...Reduced Shakespeare Company. Text below.

Witches: Double, double, toil and trouble

(Macbeth enters with sword. In nearly impenetrable Scottish accents:)

Macbeth: Stay, ye imperrfect macspeaker. Mactell me macmore.

Witches: Macbeth, Macbeth, beware Macduff
None of woman born shall harm Macbeth
'Til Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane, don't ye know.

(Witches out; Macduff in, hiding behind a twig.)

Macbeth: O, that's dead great. Then macwhat macneed macI macfear of Macduff, eh?

(Macduff throws down disguise, wields sword, throws two-fingered gesture at Macbeth.)

Macduff: See ye Jimmy and know that I was from me mother's womb untimely ripped! What d'ye think about that?

Macbeth: Aye, it's bloody disgusting. Lay on, ye great haggis-face.

(They fence. One misses, apologizes; they stop a beat and continue.)

Macduff: Ah, Macbeth! Ye killed me wife, ye murdered me babies, and ye shat in me stew!

Macbeth: Och, I didna'!

Macduff: Oh aye, ye did! I had t' throw half of it away.

Macbeth: Well, then, eat out, Macduff!

(Macduff chases Macbeth offstage. "Time out!" Macduff enters, but Macbeth can still be heard fighting in the back. Macduff sticks sword through curtains; backstage, Macbeth's scream is abruptly cut off. Macduff disappears, reenters with severed head.)

Macduff: Behold where lies the usurper's cursed head. Macbeth, yer arse is out the windie.

(Macduff throws the head to the witches, who screech with delight. He tries to start the next line, but is cut off by the cackling several times.)

Macduff: Shut up, ye gits!

(The witches fall silent.)

Macduff: That never was there a story of more blood and death, than this o' Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth. Thankee.

(He bows and departs. Lights out.)

2010 season - Directors stop looking and decide

2010-06-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here it is, a play all must read in high school - generally sophomore year ~ "the Scottish play" aka Macbeth.

Join us and "Screw your courage to the sticking place..."
Here is a great synopsis of the play...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5nlx2XzP-4
and a lesser one here.

2010 season - Directors look at Midsummer Night's Dream

2010-05-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

On the other hand, we have also been looking at A Midsummer Night's Dream and thinking about which play will use the many talents that will fill Town Hall on Monday, June 21st.

2010 season - Directors look at Romeo and Juliet

2010-04-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

What? Romeo and Juliet? From June 21st to July 1st 2010 ? In ten days?

Do we, the RSC have the chops, the actors and the moxie to take on this play? We directors have the creative juices flowing so let us know. Who is ready to represent this tragedy ? The plot of R&J plays out in real time, as stories all over our globe will attest. Romeo and Juliet was first played at the Globe Theater by our own Willy Shakes.

Registration will be at the Royalston Public Library sometime in mid-June.

Free Shakespeare in Boston AUG 2

2008-07-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

Celebrate Shakespeare Day! This event is not possible without our volunteers – it’s a great way to spend the day and support our programs at the same time. It will be Saturday, August 2^nd, 2008 from 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm at Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common.

This year we are proudly presenting As You Like It runs from July 16-August 3. (617) 532-1289 or (617) 532-1266 spowell@citicenter.org or devintern@citicenter.org

Pics from Dress Rehearsal

2008-07-07T12:39:00.001-07:00

Photobucket Album

Another RSC Reduced Shakespeare Company

2008-07-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Just found these Reduced Shakespeare Company videos on youtube
Mostly PG rated - they were on Canadian TV.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=94B9-UEf51Q
Hamlet
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BvPdWcCHkxM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hoM8bHQtSEU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ofKJ6UFv60
http://youtube.com/watch?v=H2Jzkop04P4

youtube is up!

2008-07-01T06:13:00.001-07:00

WED July 2nd - Julius Caesar '08 - 7pm

2008-06-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

Caleb Chase's graphic for the cover of our program. Caleb also appears as the conspirator Decius and the soldier Strato as well.

More work in progress

2008-06-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Sheila Leavitt, designer and dear friend, for the help with the sets!

This is a hard play and the kids are doing fabulously well.

Work in progress

2008-06-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Melanie Mangum for these pictures

Julius Caesar 2008

2008-06-15T06:25:00.001-07:00

Starts JUNE 19th! See you then.

The Return of the Royalston Shakespeare Company

Once more into the breech. What’s past is prologue, and for the 5th straight year the RSC will cudgel its brains and strive mightily to see what happens when thirty plus kids combine with a great script to bring the Bard to the boards of town hall in only two weeks. (What fools these mortals be!) Combined with community support and a lot of whirlwind energy, this theater workshop has made the Royalston summers even more glorious.

In the RSC, kids, ages 8 and up, learn the plots, times and language of Shakespeare as well as the camaraderie and work of participating in a workshop theater production. Not merely players with entrances and exits, they run lights, work on sets, create props, choose music and modify costumes as well as act. As in past years, the tried-and- true triumvirate of directors, Norah Dooley, Maureen Blasco, and Beth Gospodarek, will be assisted by teens, Rosie Dooley Fairchild and Lindsay Limoges, who have been participating in the RSC since their ages were in the single digits.

Rehearsals will run Mon - Fri from 9 am to 12:30 beginning June 19, with a few extra brush up rehearsals in the afternoons as necessary.
The performance is slated for July 2nd at 7 pm. Thanks to funding from the Friends of the Library and the Cultural Council, there is no cost to participate. (Families can help out by providing a snack, buying a t-shirt and making a donation at the door, not to mention schlepping kids to rehearsal and running lines.) It is required to attend each rehearsal and the performance in order to participate. Space in the program is limited. Register by calling the library at 978-249-3572.

Much Ado About Nothing 2007

2008-06-15T06:24:00.004-07:00

Hamlet 2006

2008-06-15T06:24:00.003-07:00

The Tempest 2005

2008-06-15T06:24:00.001-07:00

Midsummer Nights Dream 2004

2008-06-15T06:16:00.000-07:00