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  • Seattle Shakespeare Company 2012-13 Season
  • Michael W. Shurgot
Antony and Cleopatra Presented by Seattle Shakespeare Company at Intiman Playhouse, Seattle, Washington. November 2-18, 2012. Directed by John Langs. Set by Jennifer Zeyl. Costumes by Pete Rush. Lighting by Geoff Korf. Composer/Sound by Robertson Witmer and Evan Mosher. Properties by Megan Tuschhoff. Choreography by Mollye Maxner. Voice/text direction by Barney Hammond. With Justin Alley (Demetrius/Ventidius/Soldier), Hans Altwies (Antony), Sydney Andrews (Octavia), John Bogar (Maecenas/Messenger), Mike Dooly (Pompey/Decretas), Darragh Kennan (Octavius Caesar), Daniel A. Guttenberg (Soothsayer), Dan Kremer (Lepidus/Clown), Charles Leggett (Enobarbus), Jason Marr (Philo/Scarus), Chris Maslen (Menas/Thidias), Alex Matthews (Eros/Messenger), Nick Rempel (Agrippa/Soldier), Joseph Anderson Shaw (Menecrates/ Messenger), Matt Shimkus (Messenger/Camidius), Adam Standley (Alexas), Allison Strickland (Iras), Amy Thone (Cleopatra), and Terri Weagant (Charmian).
Love's Labour's Lost Presented by Seattle Shakespeare Company at Center House Theatre, Seattle, Washington. March 13-April 7, 2013. Directed by Jon Kretzu. Set by Andrea Bryn Bush. Costumes by Deane Middleton. Lighting by Kent Cubbage. Sound by Robertson Witmer. Properties by Marleigh Driscoll. Movement/dance by Crystal Dawn Munkers. With Scott Ward Abernethy (Boyet), Allan Armstrong (Holofernes), Jonathan Crimeni (Loungeville), Mike Dooly (Costard), Samara Lerman (Princess of France), Kayla Lian (Rosaline), George Mount (Sir Nathaniel), Jay Myers (Dumaine), Rebecca Olson (Katharine), Allie Pratt (Maria), David Quicksall (Don Adriano de Armado), Mickey Rowe (Mote), Jason Sanford (King of Navarre), Brandon J. Simmons (Mercade), Paul Stuart (Berowne,) and Donna Wood (Jaquenetta).
The Taming of the Shrew Presented by Seattle Shakespeare Company at Intiman Playhouse, Seattle, Washington. April 25-May 12, 2013. Directed by Aimee Bruneau. Set by Craig Wollam. Costumes by K. D. Schill. Lighting by Jessica Trundy. Sound by Robertson Witmer. Choreography by Gordon Carpenter. Properties by Marleigh Driscoll. With Keith Dahlgren (Gremio/Walter), Karen Jo Fairbrook (Mama Baptista), David Gassner (Pedant/Soldier/Joseph/Priest), Bill Higham (Vincentio/Curtis), David S. Hogan (Grumio), Brenda Joyner (Bianca), Kelly Kitchens (Kate), Samara Lerman (Tranio), Pilar O'Connell (Widow/Phyllis), David Quicksall (Petruchio), Brandon Ryan (Biondello/ Sugarsop), Brian Claudio Smith (Lucentio), and John Ulman (Hortensio).

In its 2012-13 season the Seattle Shakespeare Company produced two comedies in its usual venue, the cramped Center House Theatre, and staged a captivating Antony and Cleopatra in the more expansive and versatile Intiman Playhouse.

Center stage for Antony and Cleopatra was a large, rectangular box filled with the sands of Egypt where Cleopatra, Iras, and Charmian lounged and dallied. Upstage hung a huge gold disc bearing hieroglyphics around its perimeter and at its center a winding trail that symbolized the Rivers Nile and Cydnus, the worm that gave Cleopatra ironic "joy" in her monument, and an eye that looked out upon the carnival sensuality of Cleopatra's Egypt. Just inside the top edge of the box lay a long striped mat and several pillows—Cleopatra's luxurious bed—and at the four corners stood tall poles bearing images of wild animals. Although the play traversed the wide world, the sands of Egypt never disappeared; Roman generals walked around, rather than through, the sands, as if even in Rome Egypt's exotic landscape were a sensed and visible presence.

An opening pantomime immediately revealed the prevailing sensuality. To eerie electronic sounds several male and female dancers, entangled in each other's arms and legs, gyrated in and around the desert stands while thrusting their pelvises forward, as if celebrating Antony's and Cleopatra's bold sexuality. As Demetrius and Philo entered from the stage left vomitorium to condemn Antony, the dancers froze momentarily in sexually explicit poses, only to then dance off stage as Antony and Cleopatra entered: she in a white skirt and lavish golden bra every bit a queen, her lover lounging around the palace in a white tunic and brown canvas pants. Their testy relationship was established immediately. Amy Thone as Cleopatra, stretched alluringly on her mat, urged Antony to hear the messengers with a sarcasm that revealed not only her annoyance at the recurring summons from Caesar and Fulvia, but also her fear that eventually Antony would leave her and return to Rome. Hans Altwies, a tall, muscular Antony, desperately wanted Rome to melt...

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