KIT in the City


May 6–9, 12–16 at 7:30pm
 May 10 & 17 at 3pm

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Watermill Theatre (UK) and Propeller production
Directed by Edward Hall
Set design by Michael Pavelka
Lighting design by Ben Ormerod
BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton Street)
www.bam.org

Artist Talk with Propeller
May 7, post-show (free for same-day ticket holders)
BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton Street)

“Edward Hall’s superb, all-male company Propeller proves again the value of a true ensemble and a director who treats Shakespeare’s plays as if they’d just been written.” —The Guardian

Edward Hall and Propeller aim to rediscover Shakespeare by staging his plays with great clarity, speed, and imagination. Their adherence to the original men-only tradition onstage underscores Shakespeare’s intricate tanglings between the sexes and animates the physical life of the production with the poetry of the text.

Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is a work that poses still-incendiary questions about truth, morality, and prejudice. The story revolves around Shylock, an observant Jewish moneylender caught between his faith’s strictures and the demands of Christianity. In this astute production, Hall and the company reveal the play’s underlying absurdities—the virtue in vice and vice in virtue—while delivering an unsparing rendition of the harrowing bargain at its core.

About the artists
Director Edward Hall, a member of a major theatrical family, made his U.S. directorial debut in 2003 with Rose Rage at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre—a production which he and Roger Warren adapted from Henry VI parts I, II, and III. This production subsequently transferred to the Duke Theater in New York, where it received four Jeff Awards including Best Play, Best Director, and Best Ensemble Cast. The original production, for which he received an Olivier Award Nomination for Best Director and the TMA Award for Best Touring Production, opened with Propeller at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, U.K. and subsequently toured to the Haymarket Theatre in London, as well as internationally. He made his New York directorial debut with Propeller at BAM with A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Spring 2004, which was nominated for several Drama Desk Awards. Hall and Propeller returned to BAM in 2005 with The Winter’s Tale as part of the Next Wave Festival and subsequently in spring 2007 with a double-bill of The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night. A former director with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hall has received a South Bank Show Award for Henry V for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Career highlights include directing Natasha Richardson on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire and Kenneth Branagh in an acclaimed National Theatre production of Edmond. He also directed the Olivier Award nominated production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the National Theatre.
The all-male Propeller was formed in 1997 in conjunction with the Watermill Theatre to create an ensemble for Edward Hall’s Henry V and has been praised for its original interpretations of Shakespeare’s works including Henry V, The Comedy of Errors, Rose Rage, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Winter’s Tale. Both Henry V and The Comedy of Errors toured extensively in Europe, South America, and the Far East. Hall and Propeller aim to perform Shakespeare’s plays with a contemporary aesthetic while maintaining emphasis on the spoken word, and to continue developing relationships between performers and audiences. “Working with a minimum of money and fuss, and a maximum of ingenuity and imagination,” says The Daily Telegraph (U.K.), “Propeller has become one of the finest and most distinctive acting ensembles in the country.”

The Watermill Theatre (U.K.), a year-round, regional producing theater created in the mid-60s, is a converted 19th-century mill situated in gardens beside the Lambourn River in the Berkshire countryside. The Watermill Theatre has brought new energy to its historic space, featuring a wide range of productions, youth theater, education, and outreach. A floor plan conducive to the Shakespearean presentation of plays “in the round” and the building’s small size provide the opportunity for theatergoers to receive an intimately authentic theater experience. The theater’s professional reputation for producing quality work attracts high caliber artists and production personnel, which in turn creates opportunities for works to tour throughout the world.

Designer Michael Pavelka is an award-winning international scenographer who has designed over 130 productions worldwide, many of which have been new plays and new musicals.  He is a longstanding collaborator with director Edward Hall and has won Manchester Evening Standard Awards for Hall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Galileo (for best production and best design, respectively). He was awarded the Barclays Theatre Award for Best Touring Production for his work on Rose Rage in 2002 and his designs for ensemble performance have been developed at major companies including The Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the National Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Lighting designer Ben Ormerod has varied and award-winning work that covers theater, dance and opera.  He is hailed as one of the most exciting lighting designers in the U.K. Ormerod has designed for the Bristol Old Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has worked with Edward Hall on many productions such as Rose Rage, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Winter’s Tale.
Artist Talk with Propeller

On Thursday, May 7, members of Propeller will present an Artist Talk in the Harvey Theater, immediately post-performance.

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Posted on May 7th, 2009 by admin
Filed under: NY da Teatro - Theatre NY, NEW YORK