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Great Lakes to stage plays by Shakespeare, Moliere
By John Benson
Perhaps there’s no greater enticing elixir of humanity explored in the arts than that of regret and forgiveness. That is, one can’t make deeds undone, so instead, they seek solace from those they’ve wronged.
No, this theme isn’t the next episode of Dr. Phil (well, actually it probably is). It’s the common bond in the Great Lakes Theater’s fall repertory productions of “The Winter’s Tale,” William Shakespeare’s epic of romance and renewal, and a ’60s-inspired, music-infused adaptation of Moliere’s comedy-classic “The Imaginary Invalid.” The plays will be staged Friday through Nov. 4 at the Hanna Theatre.
The former play, one of the last four works Shakespeare ever penned, returns to Northeast Ohio for its first professional production in decades.
“It really blends both comic elements and tragic elements,” said Charles Fee, Great Lakes Theater’s producing artistic director. “In a sense, this is a point in Shakespeare’s work where he really makes these two ideas of tragedy and comedy into a single experience about people who do horrible things to each other, but rather than dying for it, they forgive each other. It’s just an extraordinarily beautiful experience.”
In a nutshell, “The Winter’s Tale” revolves around a royal family that is ripped apart when King Leontes imprisons Queen Hermione on suspicions of infidelity and exiles his newborn daughter. Eventually, broken hearts are mended when the king’s abandoned orphan falls in love with a Bohemian prince. In what is truly un-Shakespearean like, the tale rises above wrath and regret to achieve romance and renewal in a miraculously cathartic conclusion.
Today, critics would bemoan such a change in style as selling out — perhaps thinking an audience focus group changed what seemingly should have been a tragic ending into a happy one. Nevertheless, “A Winter’s Tale” remains a less-produced production of the Bard’s because Fee said it’s quite the demanding script for actors, while producers shy away due to its two set locations.
Then there’s the new music-infused adaptation of a Moliere comic masterpiece “The Imaginary Invalid,” which was created by young director Tracy Young, who last year directed the Great Lakes Theater’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” Working with playwright Oded Gross and composer Paul James Prendergast, Young set Moliere’s final play, a satire of the medical community, in 1960’s Paris with retro-inspired music and dance.
“I don’t set out to create these reps that are going to play together, but of course whenever you put two plays together, you start to hear some resonance between them,” Fee said. “The truth is ‘The Imaginary Invalid’ is a farce, a wild comedy, but it is also a play that has its dark side and a play that ends with forgiveness in a slightly melancholy vein. It is just unbelievably funny and smart and a thrilling piece of theater.”
Something else unique about “The Imaginary Invalid” is its originality. Sure, it’s a comic classic, but Young’s adaptation is exclusive. This is a quality that often eludes a repertory Shakespeare company. So just how important is it for the Great Lakes Theater to find and produce such productions?
“It’s very, very important, and the key for us is as a classical company focused primarily on classic theater, we’re not typically looking for new plays,” Fee said. “But when we find a new adaptation of a classic play, that’s sort of the perfect blend for us of bringing something really new to life and adding to the work of the American theater. This production is going to have a life beyond us, I guarantee you.”