 "Photo: The London Stage")
The British are coming. Actually, they’re already here.
Hailing from across the pond, traveling Shakespeare company Actors From the London Stage will perform Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear” in the B. Iden Payne Theatre. Performances will run today through Saturday.
Matt Davies, an English graduate student, three-time company performer and current associate director for this week’s performances, spoke about the company and the trials of adapting “King Lear” to the unique style of the actors from London.
“Actors from the London Stage developed around the idea of what they wanted in a play,” Davies said. “They asked ‘How many actors could manage doing a whole play?’, and they came up with five.”
Five actors play all the parts in the production.
“Sometimes they have to double up on parts and even talk to themselves on stage. We focus on the text,” Davies said. “We use a minimal amount of props and have only one prop case because the actors are traveling about on a plane and have minimal costume changes. These actors are literally traveling out of a suitcase.”
Formed in 1975 by British actor Patrick Stewart and University of California-Santa Barbara professor Homer Swander, the company embarks on an American Tour which includes week-long residencies at various colleges.
The cast features five experienced actors from various major English theaters with extensive experience in Shakespearean acting. With such a small cast, the performers must learn to work together, adapt to play multiple roles consecutively and even direct themselves.
“We have to become real character actors,” Davies said. “It’s what makes us unique. The five actors really just show up at the beginning of rehearsals, meet and say ‘Shall we get started?’ Here, there’s no ‘director’ but rather five ‘directors.’”
Another challenge for the company is selecting material that can be adapted to its style.
Many of Shakespeare’s historical plays have far too many characters to be covered by the actors, Davies said.
“‘Richard III’ has 53 named characters and various assorted officers and such,” Davies said. “You have to know the history; there are many different names...that would just become a nightmare. Two of the big tragedies we do are ‘Hamlet’ and ‘King Lear.’ Every five or six years, when we feel we have the right actors in place, we take on one of those. ‘King Lear’ hasn’t been one for at least 10-15 years now, so we’re very excited.”
Putting on any production can be strenuous work, but the company has to endure particularly mentally and physically draining performances on tour. The American Tour hits colleges in eight different cities across the nation in a 10-week span, eventually returning to London on Nov. 26.
“This is a very demanding tour,” Davies said. “You’re not pampered, and you’re not looked after. You’re traveling from state to state, trying to avoid swine flu.”
Although the play is an old one — it’s believed to have been written over 400 years ago — Davies stressed that the message of the play holds true today.
“Shakespeare writes in a very universal manner, and those themes simply never go away,” he said. “It’s about growing old, caring for those who are losing their wit and it’s about regeneration, forgiveness and the family coming together. The Wednesday night performance is already sold out, and it will sell out Thursday and Friday too, so get your tickets. Expect to see Shakespeare in a style with an empty stage, minimal sets and props and incredibly versatile actors telling a great story with great skill — it really is what we do.”
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