North American Players of Shakespeare (review)

This valuable collection of 21 interviews with experienced Shakespearean actors currently performing in several regions of the United States and the Stratford Festival in Canada aims to fill a void in Shakespeare performance studies by allowing these actors an opportunity to present in their own voices the diversity of their "education, background, training, experience, and aspirations" (12). In his brief introduction to the interviews, editor Michael Shurgot wisely contrasts the collection to the Cambridge Players of Shakespeare series, which comes most readily to mind as a cousin of his enterprise. Shurgot notes two fundamental differences between the Cambridge series and his collection. First, while the Cambridge series presents essays written by Royal Shakespeare Company actors in which each actor focuses on a particular role he or she has performed for the RSC, Shurgot's anthology allows for a broader, more egalitarian take on the nature of Shakespeare in North America: the actors perform in diverse settings rather than for a single prestigious entity with an established tradition in training and performance. Second, Shurgot asserts that the interviews conducted by eight other performance scholars and himself, most of whom have reviewed regional productions for Shakespeare Bulletin, and are therefore very familiar with the work of the actors they interview, have the advantage of allowing the actors to speak across a breadth of topics rather than limiting their exploration of their craft to a single role. While Shurgot does note a recurrence of particular topics in the interviews (suggesting that the interviewers pursued no agreed-upon agenda) his desire to allow the actors their opportunity to speak has restrained in him the scholar's impulse to summarize disparate viewpoints. Each interview is preceded by a brief biography of the actor, usually including his or her educational background and major theatrical affiliations, credits and honors.

From the perspective of a working Shakespearean actor, I think this book offers a wonderful resource to North American theatre professionals preparing Shakespeare roles and to young actors training for those roles, whether individually or as part of a theatre program. Most of the interviews include attention to the topics of training and performance approaches, the primacy of text and vocal work in preparation for Shakespearean roles, perceived differences between British and American performing and directorial styles, and the impact of audiences on the presentation of Shakespeare's plays. The interviews cover actors from the East to the West Coast of the continent (although confining their swath to the northern reaches in an arc from the North Atlantic region to Stratford and Chicago to Ashland, California and the Northwest -so that the book might have been titled Very North American Players), leaving plenty of room for companion collections that might focus on other regional Shakespeare festivals and theatres. The collection opens with the eminent James Earl Jones and includes Philip Bosco, another actor well-known for both stage and screen work, but focuses primarily on actors who have strong regional rather than national reputations.

Real delight awaits regional Shakespeare theatre-goers coming to this collection when they encounter interviews with some of the finest actors from their area. I most enjoyed the interviews with actors I have seen on stage, such as Seana McKenna at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, or Andrew Long and Kate Eastwood Norris from the Washington, DC area. In these instances, the interviews are like the ideal talkback with the actor. So I am completely engaged by Long's discussion of working as part of a company at The Shakespeare Theatre and of his being challenged by director Michael Kahn to be thoroughly prepared for rehearsal so that he is ready to be bold rather than tentative in his choices. I am fascinated by Norris's discussion of the differences between touring Shakespeare to small towns in the Midwest and the South with Shenandoah Shakespeare (now The American Shakespeare Center) and performing it for audiences at the Folger Theater in the nation's capitol. The nature of this collection is such...