See young William Shakespeare blossom as a writer and discover his muse with Texarkana Repertory Co.'s "Shakespeare in Love" production in a week.
TexRep presents two weekends of the play, a successful adaptation of the 1998 film that won a Best Picture Oscar with Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow in lead roles. Performances are held Nov. 2-4 and 9-11 with 7:30 p.m. shows Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. matinees on Sunday.
"It's really a beautiful play," said director Michael Cooper. It's one of those types of shows he's particularly pleased to present. It's special, and the setting is 1593 in London.
"It's young Will Shakespeare. He's only written 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' at this point," Cooper said. The young scribe faces writer's block, however, and a looming deadline to complete a play.
"He meets his muse, a girl by the name of Viola-wealthy family, wealthy father who wants her to marry this other rich guy. And he is inspired and begins to write what will turn out to be 'Romeo and Juliet,'" Cooper said. "You see the play created within the context of the play."
Viola also aims to act, but in Elizabethan England women cannot do so. "So she disguises herself as a a man and she becomes an actor," Cooper explained. "And then things work their way from there."
Lee Hall wrote the adaptation; Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman also worked on the adaptation, which expands on what was presented so memorably in the movie. It's a great play, the director said: "It's funny and it's moving. We keep it moving."
The staging includes a "semi Globe Theatre." Chris Polson is working on the set design and Kaye Ellison has been working on costumes for months.
"This is all in house. We are renting nothing," Cooper said. They're essentially creating Elizabethan England on stage. That includes appearances by Queen Elizabeth, all of her royal and elaborate dress included. Many of the actors also play more than one character throughout.
"We have men playing female roles when we are rehearsing a play," Cooper said. That reflects the setting. In Viola's real life, she has a nurse, who's played by a female, but the nurse in a "Romeo and Juliet" rehearsal in this play is played by a man.
"It plays on that love story side. It's a beautiful love story. If you happen to like Shakespeare, there are things that will play on a lot more levels because interspersed throughout the play people say lines that come from other Shakespeare plays," said Cooper, who worked hard to secure the rights to the play.
Lead roles are played by Victor Vargas as Will Shakespeare and Sarah Edwards as Viola. The large cast of 18 includes both newcomers and familiar TexRep faces.
Ellison has quite the challenge getting costumes arranged for this sort of play. Elizabethan dress can be costly, but she's found ways to make do in inventive ways.
"I have used a lot of leather scraps to make doublets, and I've used upholstery fabric to make the queen's dresses. Then I've used drapery panels to make skirts," Ellison. "It's a whole lot of different things. Just be real creative."
The performers are enjoying the white blouses with ruffles and lace, she said. She even needs to make a ruff for a live dog who appears on stage.
For Queen Elizabeth, the dress includes huge skirts with massive underpinnings. There's the hair, the ruffs and the neck fans. Moving around stage will be a production unto itself. She'll even have to be "upstairs" at one point.
"She's on three times, and I have made her two dresses. I started this summer," Ellison said, adding, "We will add and adorn as we need to."
Chances to see TexRep's inventive production of "Shakespeare in Love" start a week from today.
(Tickets: $15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors, $5 for Texarkana College students and faculty. Get tickets at TexRep.org. Memberships also available. More info: 903-831-7827.)