The Shakespeare Season in New York

Abstract

HE I957-I958 season of Shakespeare in New York evidenced a paucity of productions, with the New York Shakespeare Festival making the major contributions in quantity and quality. They totalled four out of six productions during the season, and among the bright spots of their series were the Richard III of George C. Scott, the Rosalind of Nancy Wickwire, and the directing of Stuart Vaughan. A Two Gentlemen of Verona by the touring Stratford (Ontario) Shakespearean Company and Julius Caesar by the Shakespearewrights completed the season. Without the New York Shakespeare Festival, which unfortunately discontinued operations at the end of the summer because of lack of funds, there would have been only one locally produced professional production of Shakespeare; a discouraging reflection when it is recalled that his works are a staple in the world's theatre capitals other than New York. The productions of the New York Shakespeare Festival were not as good as one hoped they would be; many of the actors, with all the earnestness in the world, had insufficient conceptions of their roles and lacked the capacities of voice and movement necessary for a Shakespearian interpretation. But taken as a whole, the virtues of the Festival outweigh its faults. On the credit side of the productions were clarity, liveliness and interest, which meant that school children for the first time in decades in New York were able to see live and vivid stage Shakespeare-and all free of charge. It is a sad commentary that the city which earns so much revenue from the legitimate theatre could not supply the small amount of funds producer Joseph Papp needed to continue the Festival. One of the outstanding features of the series-Richard 111, As You Like It (both at the Heckscher Theatre), Othello and Twelfth Night (outdoors in Central Park)-was the direction of Stuart Vaughan in the first two plays. Mr. Vaughan, as we have commented in earlier reports, has the ability to make a Shakespearian play move, to sustain the tension and excitement and to maintain clarity in action and dialogue for his unsophisticated, non-paying audience. Richard 111, which opened November 25, brought to light an excellent young American actor, George C. Scott, whose Richard was terrifying and pitiful at the same time. Disfigured by a livid scar across his eye, his mouth drawn to a tight line, and his gloved hand clutched to his side, this Richard was first revealed to the audience silhouetted in red against the central arch of the setting; he stepped forward on the extended apron and spoke the opening soliloquy directly to the audience, slowly and meaningfully. His was no mere tyrant but a many-faceted character-ambitious, cruel and ruthless, but tortured inwardly and more terribly than his victims whose falls we witnessed.