Shakespeare on Nantucket
by Ginny McNasus
Did William Shakespeare really exist? Was he truly only one writer, or were there several writers whose work has all been attributed to the Bard’s canon? There are many opinions and theories, but whatever you may believe, Shakespeare is alive and well on Nantucket Island!
This weekend, Nantucket’s own Seaside Shakespeare Company presents his lively comedy, Twelfth Night, as part of Nantucket Arts Council’s Shakespeare by the Sea Festival. The play follows a of a pair of twins separated in a shipwreck, (an effect creatively enacted by the Seaside Shakespeareans,) each thinking the other has drowned, who spend the rest of the action trying to make new lives for themselves. The Shakespearean conceits of mistaken identity, women disguised as men, star-crossed lovers, and besotted clowns abound here, making Twelfth Night a delightful crowd-pleaser. This production sets itself apart with a lyrical original score by New York-based composer Kim D. Sherman. Seashakes will offer a Pay-What-You-Will Preview on Saturday, August 11th upstairs at the Unitarian Church for patrons who prefer to watch their Shakespeare indoors! The production runs approximately 90 minutes.
Formed by then New York-based actress Susan McGinnis in 2003, Seaside Shakespeare is a professional company whose productions utilize the talents of both visiting and local artists in indoor and outdoor venues on Nantucket. Their original work, The Wit & Wisdom of Will’s Women, was enthusiastically received at last year’s Shakespeare by the Sea Festival and as part of NAC’s ARTSWEEK in October. Twelfth Night will be the troupe’s most ambitious production to date.
Practicing swordplay
Top photo: Rehearsal photo of Laurel Devany and Tom Butler as Viola and Orsino listen to a ballad that “gives echo to the very seat of love.”
But Shakespeare is not new to Nantucket. Theatre Workshop of Nantucket successfully produced both Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet within the recent past, as well as a number of other of the Bard’s works throughout its fifty-year history.
The Shakespeare by the Sea Festival will include the free Twelfth Night productions on Children’s Beach, as well as indoor performances of Much Ado About Nothing at Bennett Hall by the Cape-based troupe, Shakespeare on the Cape, on Friday and Saturday, August 17th and 18th. The week’s activities will kick-off with a cocktail reception at the home of Sharon and Frank Lorenzo on Thursday, August 9th from 6-8, and will be rounded out by Shakespeare films at the Whaling Museum and a lecture series featuring renowned Shakespeare scholar Marjorie Garber and author of Shakespeare in the Garden, Mick Hales.
For complete details of Festival events, please go the the Nantucket Arts Council’s website and stay tuned to the calendar section of this website.
