London Spotlight: June 2005

It was William Shakespeare who asked, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” It’s London this June that challenges ticket buyers to use their balmy summer days for comparing inviting treatments of the Bard. For nine years now travelers from the states and from everywhere else have been able to see Shakespeare plays in productions as near to what the Elizabethans enjoyed as anyone could wish. The place is the Globe Theatre in Southwark on the south bank of the Thames. Incidentally, this astounding replica doesn’t occupy the exact spot where the original Globe stood. Somewhat ironically, it’s closer to where the Rose — the Globe’s chief competition for swells and groundlings — was situated. The actual Globe grounds are a short walk away.

Nevertheless, thanks to American actor and mover-shaker Sam Wanamaker, a new octagonal Globe opened in 1996 that probably resembles near enough the one that burned to the ground in 1613, was rebuilt and then was closed by the Puritans in 1642. Though there is no reliable record of what the Globe’s interior looked like, the current version has to come close. The modern architectural phenomenon sports a thatched roof that covers the stage as well as the seated patrons. And that’s all authentic. Furthermore, nothing covers the central area where in rain or shine the front rank of standees are able to push right up to the stage and engage with the actors, if the actors so wish — which they often do.

Since the (re?)opening and for the final preparatory years preceding it, the superb Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance has been associated with the Globe. At first working alongside Wanamaker, Rylance became artistic director when the older man died before he could see his dream realized. During the first season Rylance appeared as the title character in Henry V, which begins, of course, with a reference to the Globe as “this wooden O.” In succeeding years, the indefatigable thesp has also performed a memorable Hamlet and a Cymbeline that employed only a handful of doubling players. He even trod the venerable boards in drag as a dolorous Olivia in Twelfth Night. The man’s enthusiasm for the Globe is practically poetic — or was one late December afternoon when he took this reporter on a backstage tour, opened a high window overlooking the stage and talked animatedly about the opportunity given him to head the company.

This season is Rylance’s last in the position. (He will be replaced next year by Dominic Dromgoole, a one-time Peter Hall protégé.) And as usual, he’s demonstrating his impeccable sense of occasion. He’s taken on the role of Prospero in The Tempest. Prospero is, needless to say, adept at eulogies — one of the most famous beginning like this: “Our revels now are ended.” Since Rylance, perhaps more than any of our first-rank Shakespeareans, has a voice that has the softness of chamois, his declaiming those words while perhaps thinking of his own concluding revels ought to be something to see and hear.

As usual, the Globe season — which opens in May and runs through to October — includes six Shakespeare or Shakespeare-related productions in repertory. And Rylance isn’t the only notable Shakespearean showing up for the festivities. Corin Redgrave — only last season defying the gods as the foolish monarch in a Royal Shakespeare Company King Lear — will be Pericles in the play of the same name (click here for info). For Bard trivia collectors: Vanessa Redgrave, Corin’s sister, played Prospero (not too well) at the Globe five years ago. Also FYI: In England, the Globe has often been accused of catering excessively and superficially to tourists. Pay no attention. This is vital theater. It’s Shakespeare for theater-goers eager to understand how the playwright’s first audiences experienced the classic comedies, tragedies, and histories.

Elsewhere in London — in the West End, as a matter of fact — there’s a production of As You Like It that’ll tease those looking around for star-power. The version, set in 1940s France, opens this month at Wyndham’s and includes in the cast Dominic West, known to televiewers for his role in The Wire, as Orlando; Helen McCrory, about whom English critics make a big fuss, as Rosalind; and Sienna Miller, who’s been linked to Jude Law for some time now, as Celia. David Lan, the artistic director of the Young Vic helms the romantic comedy. At the Open Air theater in Regent’s Park, where an especially magical breeze can sometime carry the rich perfume of nearby roses, Twelfth Night and Cymbeline are on offer in repertory.

Not to forget Henry IV (Parts I & II), continuing at the National Theatre with Michael Gambon as Falstaff. The great Gambon seems like ideal casting to everyone but the man himself. Declaring that he’d never read the play (or seen it produced?) before he was asked to take on the great role, Gambon recently said to a Financial Times interviewer, “I wonder why people think I should play Falstaff. I am by nature an introspective actor. I think I’m best in parts that are quiet…I get a bit annoyed that people want me to play Falstaff.” Truth is, Gambon gets almost nothing he does anywhere near wrong, and neither does production director Nicholas Hytner. By the way, anyone seeking Deborah Warner’s Julius Caesar with Ralph Fiennes as Antony, Simon Russell Beale as Cassius, and Fiona Shaw as Portia can forget about finding it and its 100-actor (give or take a few) cast in London. It’s moved to Paris where it fills the Theatre National de Chaillot through June 11.

Other noteworthy recent openings: Ewan McGregor and Jane Ally McBeal Krakowski in a revival of the great Frank Loesser-Abe Burrows Guys and Dolls, and Val Kilmer — of all people — in an adaptation of James M. Cain’s steamy novel noir, The Postman Always Rings Twice. No one will compare the latter tale of obsessive love and murder to a summer’s day.