Reanne Maskart

Carrie Chapter
World of the Play
1 February 2015
Production Histories
1.) Two Gentleman of Verona (Regional)
Name of Theatre: Lowell Davies Festival Theater on the Old Globe
campus
Production Date (Year): 2014
Director, Cast, Designers: Mark Lamos with John Arnone (Scenic
Design), Linda Cho (Costume Design), Stephen Strawbridge (Lighting
Design), Acme Sound Partners (Sound Design), Fitz Patton (Original
Music), Jeff Michael Rebudal (Movement), Mike Rossmy (Fight Director),
David Huber (Voice and Text Coach), Tara Rubin Casting (Casting), and
Bret Torbeck (Stage Manager).
2.) Two Gentleman of Verona (International)
Name of Theatre: Royal Shakespeare Company Theater
Production Date (Year): 2014
Director, Cast, Designers: The Two Gentlemen of Verona full cast
includes: Mark Arends (Proteus); Elliot Barnes-Worrell (Outlaw); Martin
Bassindale (Speed); Pearl Chanda (Julia); Nicholas Gerard-Martin
(Thurio); Robert Gilbert (Outlaw); Jonny Glynn (The Duke of Milan);
Molly Gromadzki (Host/Singer); Youssef Kerkour (Sir Eglamour); Sarah
MacRae (Silvia); Michael Marcus (Valentine); Roger Morlidge (Launce);
Keith Osborn (Antonio); Leigh Quinn (Lucetta) and Simon Yadoo
(Panthino/Outlaw).
Directed by Simon Godwin. The production is designed by Paul Wills
with lighting by Bruno Poet. The music is composed by Michael Bruce
with sound by Christopher Shutt. The Movement director is Jonathan
Goddard.
3.) Two Gentleman of Verona (University)
Name of Theatre: Tomlinson Theater
Production Date (Year): 2016
Director, Cast, Designers: Directed by James J. Christy, Lighting Design
by Row Walters, Costumes by Jeff Sturdivant, Stage manager Emily
Jolley, Cast features Paul Harrold as Valentine, Jon Diaz as Proteus,
Nathan Landis Funk as Thurio, Katie Horner as Julia and KO Del
Marcelle as Silvia
4) Two Gentleman of Chicago (Verona) (Divergent Theme)
Name of Theatre: Falcon Theater Box

Production Date (Year): 2012

Director, Cast, Designers: Proteus (Matt Walker), Valentine (Rob
Nagle) and Silvia (Monica Schneider) Julia (Christine Lakin), Silvia
(Monica Schneider) Launce (Beth Kennedy), Crab the Dog (Roosevelt
the Pug) and Speed (Matthew Morgan) Directed by Matt Walker
Reviews:
Regional Reviews: San Diego
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Old Globe
These are the dog days of summer, and the Old Globe is marking the
occasion by performing not-too-taxing Shakespeare in the pleasant
outdoors, where the human performers are almost upstaged by a dog.
Almost.
Shakespeare fans will know immediately that this "not too taxing" play
is The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and that Shakespeare clearly wrote
the part of Crab, the dog, intending for the animal to upstage Launce
(Richard Ruiz) his master as part of their clown act.
But, Crab, whose name in the credits is Khloe Jezbera, is so well trained
that she never calls attention to herself except when planned. And
that, too, is upstaging, in a way.
(Though, Crab did run off-stage at one point so gleefully chasing after a
human actor that I giggled to myself, "Exit, pursued by a dog.")
The dog may also be part of the show to distract audiences from the
paper-thin story that is notable mostly for devices that Shakespeare
would perfect in later plays. Proteus (Adam Kantor) and Valentine
(Hubert Point-Du Jour) are students learning to be the two gentlemen
of the play's title. They are each in love, Julia (Kristin Villanueva) for
Proteus and Silvia (Britney Coleman) for Valentine. Leaving Julia in
Verona to follow Valentine to Milan, Proteus falls head over heels in
love with Silvia at first sight, causing at first bemusement and then
consternation from Valentine. You see, Silvia has more than one suitor,
but she is secretly betrothed to Valentine.
Julia, meanwhile, decides to pursue Proteus when he does not return to
Verona quickly. She dresses as a man for safety while traveling alone
and then as a convenient disguise when she finds that Proteus has
forsaken her. Fortunately, it doesn't take much for everyone to realize
that all's well that ends well.
Veteran Shakespearean director Mark Lamos sets the production in a
fantasy version of Renaissance Italy, with a set by John Arnone that
piles hillsides with buildings and costumes by Linda Cho that are of the
period but also commenting on the period. Fitz Patton contributes lively
original music to which Jeff Michael Rebudal sets what is credited as
"movement" (but, it looks a lot like tightly choreographed dance to

me). Mr. Lamos directs the cast (dog included) with both discipline and
flair.
That self-same cast is young and appealing, and the secondary players
mostly come from the Old Globe's graduate theatre program, which is
housed at the University of San Diego. Local favorite Mark Pinter
deserves a mention for scoring in his portrayal of Silvia's father, the
Duke.
San Diego's dog days run into September, and so does this highly
enjoyable show.
Nightly except Monday, through September 14, 2014, in the Lowell
Davies Festival Theatre on the Old Globe campus, located in San
Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. Tickets, beginning at $29,
are available at the box office, by calling (619) 23-GLOBE
The Old Globe presents The Two Gentlemen of Verona, by William
Shakespeare. Directed by Mark Lamos with John Arnone (Scenic
Design), Linda Cho (Costume Design), Stephen Strawbridge (Lighting
Design), Acme Sound Partners (Sound Design), Fitz Patton (Original
Music), Jeff Michael Rebudal (Movement), Mike Rossmy (Fight Director),
David Huber (Voice and Text Coach), Tara Rubin Casting (Casting), and
Bret Torbeck (Stage Manager).
The cast includes Britney Coleman (Silvia), Arthur Hanket (Antonio,
Dancing Master, Outlaw 2), Adam Kantor (Proteus), Mark Pinter (Duke,
Fencing Master), Hubert Point-Du Jour (Valentine), Rusty Ross (Speed),
Richard Ruiz (Launce), and Kristin Villanueva (Julia). Joining them are
Old Globe/USD M.F.A. Program actors Erin Elizabeth Adams (Lucetta),
Lindsay Brill (Silvia's Page), Lowell Byers (Turio), Jamal Douglas
(Servant to Antonio, Musician, Outlaw 3), Adam Gerber (Sir Eglamour),
Kushtrim Hoxha (Panthino), Tyler Kent (Host), Robbie Simpson (Dancing
Instructor to Silvia, Musician), and Patrick Zeller (Outlaw 1); and
Ensemble members Meaghan Boeing, Charlotte Bydwell, Stephen Hu,
Allison Layman, and Megan M. Storti. Khloe Jezbera joins the cast as
Crab.
via:
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sandiego/sd124.html
It is astonishing to think it is 45 years since this early comedy was last
given a full production on Stratford's main stage. The bonus is that the
audience falls upon it as if it were an unknown play; and Simon
Godwin, making a striking RSC directorial debut, explores its light and
dark sides as eagerly as if it were one of the new works with which he
made his name at the Royal Court.
At first, it looks as if we might be in for a romp. We enter the theatre to
discover an alfresco Veronese cafe seething with extra-textual activity.
But Godwin takes the play seriously and highlights the main theme:
the contest between love and friendship. The action hinges on the fact

that Proteus, following his friend Valentine to Milan, falls for his chum's
girl, Silvia, and betrays his own once-adored Julia. But, rather than
playing Proteus as a rotter, Mark Arends lends him a tortured
complexity that prefigures the self-exploration of later Shakespearean
heroes. Pearl Chanda's Julia, donning boys' clothes to pursue Proteus,
is also an immensely touching study of heartbroken devotion. Not even
the charm of Michael Marcus as Valentine and Sarah Macrae as Silvia
can disguise the fact that the former is Shakespeare's stupidest hero
and the latter an under-characterised enchantress.
Godwin also misses the odd trick: in the very funny scene where
Valentine reveals his elopement plans to Silvia's father, we need to be
aware of the rope ladder he's vainly concealing. But this is a production
that brings out the identity-transforming nature of love that nicely
contrasts staid Verona with racy Milan and that brings a touch of
melancholy reflectiveness to Shakespeare's abrupt denouement: what
future, one wonders, do Proteus and Julia really have?
It not only emerges as a better play than one remembers; as in all
good Shakespeare productions, the minor characters have a life of
their own. Roger Morlidge's Launce shows that the play's truest love
relationship is between a man and his dog, in this case a lugubrious
lurcher who inevitably steals the audience's affections. Jonny Glynn
lends Silvia's ducal dad the raffish air of a key member of Milan's smart
set and Nicholas Gerard-Martin makes Silvia's foolish suitor, Turio, a
toffish raver.
It's a delightful evening, aided by Paul Wills's swift-moving designs,
that proves the play is more than a trial run for the later comedies. It
exists in its own right as a study of love's metamorphoses. By Michael
Billington
via: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jul/23/the-twogentlemen-of-verona-rsc-stratford-review