About a dozen students talk quietly on the front steps of Harris Hall, reading what appear to be course packets. At first glance, it looks like these students are waiting outside for class to begin. Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that these “course packets” are actually scripts, and the conversation is not everyday small talk but dramatic dialogue. It’s a Sunday afternoon, and these students are “backstage” at their rehearsal of William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
While the offstage cast members wait for their cues, two actors rehearse on a sidewalk stage area between Harris and University Halls. As Communication sophomore Ross Knorr enters the scene, a bicyclist tears across the stage, not even noticing the rehearsal in progress. As if on cue, a loud car horn blasts on Sheridan Road. Unflustered by the many distractions, Knorr, who plays Orlando, continues to recite his lines.
Lovers & Madmen, Northwestern’s Shakespearian theater company, performs an annual Spring show at The Rock. According to the “As You Like It” cast, the show’s natural setting and minimal props give it a simple, intimate atmosphere — much like a set the Bard himself might have used. Despite its apparent simplicity, staging an outdoor show is challenging — especially with Chicago’s tempestuous spring weather.
“Weather is a tough thing to argue with,” says Communication junior Jackie Intres, the show’s director. “Cold and wet actors sometimes have a tough time maintaining character.”
Despite the fluctuating temperatures, the actors have been rehearsing outdoors since early Spring Quarter. Rehearsing in the rain and the cold causes the actors some discomfort, yet stage manager Lucy Gillespie, a Weinberg freshman, says the unpredictable elements help to bring out the creativity in the cast.
“(Bad) weather really brings the cast together,” Gillespie says. “Everyone gets really excited and hyper and fun.”
The actors admit they are sometimes annoyed by these disturbances, yet cast member Mark DeFrancis, a Communication senior, says that dealing with distractions has helped him become a stronger actor.
“It definitely forces you to learn different sets of skills and different ways of thinking as an actor,” DeFrancis says. “It keeps you on your toes.”
Ensemble member Adil Mansoor, an Education freshman, says small disturbances such as loud noises and passersby not only make the play unique, but unpredictable.
“Those sorts of things make it more fun,” Mansoor says. “It’s part of the character of the show.”
According to Intres, much of the play’s character is created by its outdoor setting. The show is presented on the south side of Harris Hall, facing Campus Drive. Characters interact with their “set,” they play and hide in nearby trees, extending the stage beyond the sidewalk.
“We have trees and flowers and wind and rain and all the things the characters speak about in the text,” Intres says. “The Forest of Arden is not magical like the ‘Midsummer’ forest; it is a place of realistic possibility. When you don’t have the confines of a stage around you, it’s much easier to feel that sense of possibility streaming from the trees and sun into the audience.”
To stay in touch with the simplicity and naturalism of the original play, period costumes are used while props and lighting are kept to a minimum. According to Intres, the unpretentious stage reflects the lightheartedness of the comedy itself.
“This show really displays Shakespeare’s silly side,” Intres says. “Nobody is giving huge suffering soliloquies, and everyone is having fun. There is a greater sense of the spontaneous, romantic and silly when you play outdoors.”
“As You Like It” is playing at The Rock, Friday at 5:30 and 11 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. Performances are free.
Communication sophomore Mackenzie Horras is a PLAY writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
