Third Annual Phoenix Shakespeare Festival

Abstract

HE third annual Shakespeare Festival of the Phoenix Little Theatre, like its predecessors, was a resounding success. It -g1 59 assumed a statewide character through the participation for the first time of the drama department of the University of Arizona, located in Tucson. This was made possible by the temporary withdrawal of the Phoenix College drama department, which had participated with distinction in the first two festivals. The festival was launched with the now traditional fanfare-period dancing on the greensward. by the PLT corps de ballet, and singing by the Bach and Madrigal Society, plus sweetmeats and beverages in the gaily decorated boothsall presided over by Good Queen Bess in the person of Scarlette Caywood. However, any Shakespeare Festival worth its salt must be judged not by sideshows but by the qualities of the productions on the main stage. These were the University of Arizona's King Lear, directed by Peter R. Marroney, April 2 through 4; Arizona State University's As You Like It, directed by James Yeater, April 6 through 8; and Phoenix Little Theatre's Henry IV, Part I, directed by Norman MacDonald, April io through I2. For many years Marroney has been a guiding light of the legitimate stage in Tucson, where in addition to serving as head of the drama department at the University, he organized the city's most popular summer playhouse, The Arizona Corral Theatre (in-the-round). Authorities have said of Lear that, among the tragedies of passion, it is the one in which the passions assume the largest proportions, act upon the widest theater, and assume their absolute extremes. These were the main factors that determined the scope of the University of Arizona production. The director's purpose was to encompass the rugged grandeur, the pagan and pessimistic philosophical implications of the play, with its universal appeal in the eternal, albeit unnatural, relationship of parents and children in both the main and sub-plots. Although Shakespeare is vague regarding the background and historical incidents involving the legendary Lear, Marroney sought to treat the character as a British king of importance in history, and chose the Saxon period for the festival presentation, as being compatible with the mood of the play and its barbaric, wild phases. On the stage this period called for boldness in speech and action, by a cast possessing well-trained, rich, and resonant voices with variance of range. Be it said to the director's great credit, never in this reviewer's experience has a cast of student actors met these requirements so consistently and effectively as in this instance. The men, in particular, were successful in master-