Hubbard Hall’s Shakespeare In The Park Production
by Bea Peterson
On Saturday evening, July 25, Wood Park had a large gathering of folks in lawn chairs and on blankets and toddlers wandering very close to “the stage area.” They were all soon transported to Bryant Park during NY Fashion Week in the 1980s. This Shakespeare in the Park performance included singing and dancing, featuring pop music from that era. [private]
The lively group gave a terrific performance and put a new bent on Shakespeare’s words. A King and a Princess took on a whole new look. Love’s Labour’s Lost is a romantic comedy that has four young men swearing off partying and women to devote themselves entirely to study for three years. Then four beautiful young women arrive on the scene and the whole picture changes. There’s the mis-delivered letters, the gals and guys pretending to be other than who they are and the side characters who add to the hilarity of the entire production. It was a fun evening.
The cast included King of Navarre: Peter Hayes, Berowne: Digby Baker-Porazinski, Longaville: Michael Raffel, Dumaine: Jack Boggan, Dull/Mercade: Chris Barlow, Costard: Sebastian Durfee, Don Adriano de Armado: Erin Ouellette, Moth: Christiana Roewer, Jacquenetta: Cate Seeley, Boyet: Adam Shulman, Princess: Ginny Edinger, Rosaline: Audrey Roosevelt, Maria: Delaney Hill, Katherine: Shawna Martinez, Holofernes: Kyra Fitzgerald, Sir Nathaniel: Jennetta Lorman. The Creative Team was made up of Director: David Snider, Stage Manager: Kyra Fitzgerald, Assistant Stage Manager: Kristoffer Ross, Text Consultant: Janet Scurria and Costumes: Sherry Recinella.
The Story Of The Play
The King of Navarre and his three lords, Berowne, Longaville, and Dumaine, swear an oath to scholarship, which includes fasting and avoiding contact with women for three years. They receive a letter from Don Armado, a Spaniard visiting the King’s court, telling them that he has caught Costard, a fool, and Jaquenetta, a country wench, consorting in the park. The King announces Costard’s sentence, and he and the lords go off to begin to live up to their oath.
Don Armado confesses to Moth, his page, that he has fallen in love with Jaquenetta. He writes her a letter that he asks Costard to deliver.
Meanwhile, the Princess of France has arrived to visit the King. Because of his oath, however, the King cannot receive the Princess and her party at his court; he and his lords must visit them at their camp outside the castle. The three lords fall in love with the three ladies, as does the King with the Princess.
Naturally, the minute the four nobles decide to swear off love, all four of them fall in love, and try to hide it. But a series of misdelivered love letters, surreptitious observations, disguises and schemes eventually bring out the truth, and they all must confront their hypocrisy.
But luckily, a messenger arrives to tell the Princess that her father has died, and she prepares to return to France. The women tell their suitors to seek them again in a year, and the play ends with their departure.[/private]