SFX: Boat engine, crowd chatter, etc, continuing…
GARDNER: LOTS OF PEOPLE ENJOY NEW HAMPSHIRE'S LIVELY SUMMER THEATRES.
BUT THE CROWDS WHO SETTLE IN FOR AN EVENING OF BROADWAY SONG AND DANCE DON'T GENERALLY HAVE TO CONTEND WITH INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO HANDLE A MARITIME EMERGENCY.
SFX: captain's announcement about life jackets, boat engine revs up, cuts through water, etc., continuing….
IN THIS CASE, HOWEVER, THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE APPROPRIATE.
THE THEATRE FOR THIS SUMMER PRODUCTION IS TEN MILES FROM SHORE ON APPLEDORE ISLAND, THE LARGEST OF THE ISLES OF SHOALS.
WE'RE GOING TO SEE UNH'S PRODUCTION OF SHAKESPEARE'S THE TEMPEST, A PLAY THAT BEGINS, DISTURBINGLY ENOUGH, WITH A SHIPWRECK…
SFX: Water and boat sound cross-fade to gull shrieks and percussion and dialogue from shipwreck scene, fading…
THE PLAY'S CAST IS MADE UP ALMOST ENTIRELY OF STUDENTS FROM UNH PROFESSOR DAVID KAYE'S "SHAKESPEARE AND THE ENVIRONMENT" CLASS.
CAST MEMBER C. J. LEWIS, A JUNIOR FROM BOW, SAYS KAYE, WHO'S ALSO THE DIRECTOR, WANTED TO INCORPORATE AS MUCH OF APPLEDORE'S AMBIENCE AS POSSIBLE IN THE PRODUCTION.
LEWIS: Well, all of the props and the masks and the puppets were completely made from natural elements; trees and bark and leaves, saplings. Prospero's staff is actually a piece of beach-wood that we found on the island as well as all the logs that we used in the play, so everything was very organic and raw, which was something that David Kaye stressed when we started the project, he wanted everything to be just very earthy and real, nothing electronic or technological involved, so, you know, outdoor theatre in its purest, rawest form.
SFX: Production sounds; singing, dialogue, percussion underscore, ambient island noise, continuing…
THE PERFORMANCE TAKES PLACE ON A LITTLE KNOLL OVERLOOKING APPLEDORE'S RAGGED, STONY SHORELINE.
THE AUDIENCE SITS UNDER A SMALL TENT - PROTECTION FROM THE PUNISHING OCEANSIDE SUN.
THE ACTORS APPEAR FROM BEHIND SCREENS OF LOW BUSH OR THE LIP OF THE KNOLL ABOVE THE WATERLINE.
A PERCUSSIVE UNDERSCORE OF DRUMS, WINDCHIMES, AND CYMBALS BLENDS WITH THE SOUNDS OF WIND AND WATER AND THE SHRIEKS AND MUTTERINGS OF APPLEDORE'S UBIQUITOUS GULLS.
SFX: Continuing production sound, cross-fading to Richman's voice rising over it, fading…
THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT YOUR AVERAGE PRODUCTION OF THE TEMPEST.
BUT ONE OF ITS MOST UNUSUAL FEATURES HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ISLAND SETTING OR THE PROPS.
THE ACTOR IN THE LEADING ROLE OF PROSPERO IS LONGTIME UNH THEATRE PROFESSOR DAVID RICHMAN, WHO HAS BEEN BLIND SINCE CHILDHOOD.
RICHMAN: Well, there are so few roles that I can credibly play - I mean really credibly play - and I think blindness can be an asset to Prospero because Prospero is "blind" in so many ways, to so many things…..but Prospero is the one…from the time that I started thinking seriously about Shakespeare…it occurred to me that when I got old enough, I could play Prospero credibly…and when this opportunity came up I grabbed it.
SFX: Brief excerpt of "Ye elves" speech by Richman, fading under following…
DAVID RICHMAN IS A LONGTIME TEACHER AND DIRECTOR OF SHAKESPEARE, AND THE AUTHOR OF A BOOK ABOUT HIM.
SO HE IS EMINENTLY QUALIFIED WHEN IT COMES TO UNDERSTANDING PROSPEROS' THE INTRICATE LANGUAGE AND COMPLEX EMOTION.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PHYSICAL LOGISTICS OF PERFORMANCE FOR SOMEONE WHO CANNOT SEE?
DIRECTOR DAVID KAYE SAYS THAT REQUIRED SOME SPECIAL CONSIDERATION -
KAYE: Of course, working on a natural surface; ground, rock, grass, proposed some new and interesting problems….but we had worked a great deal beforehand, the students getting a real chance to work with David, to feel what it's like to guide him, coming up with really specific techniques of how to orient him to make sure he was pointing in the right direction, how to make sure that an object that he had to reach, he could reach, was something that was partially choreographed and partially discovered as the actors learned how to work with David.
THE DIRECTOR ALSO STAGED THE PERFORMANCE SO THAT PROSPERO WOULD BE GUIDED IN AND OUT OF SCENES BY OTHER ACTORS.
AND HE TREATED DAVID RICHMAN'S BLINDNESS AS PART OF PROSPERO'S CHARACTER, an artistic choice that required the actor, in essence, to suppress some of the skills he's developed over the years as compensation for the fact that he cannot see.
AGAIN, DAVID KAYE:
KAYE: 'Course, one of the most interesting aspects of directing David in terms of his blindness is the fact that because he's been blind for the great majority of his life, he has adapted, quite convincingly. You know, he always knows where everybody is; he has no difficulty whatsoever making it look like he sees you.
GARDNER: DAVID RICHMAN JOKES THAT THIS ABILITY HAS COME UP IN OTHER ROLES HE'S PLAYED ONSTAGE.
RICHMAN: One of my performances…..my favorite review….I was told that I'd given an unconvincing performance as a blind man.
RICHMAN'S EXTRAORDINARY AWARENESS, ALONG WITH HIS COMMAND OF LANGUAGE, HAS MADE HIM A RENOWNED DIRECTOR AT UNH.
HE HAS STAGED MANY PLAYS THERE BY SHAKESPEARE AND OTHERS.
STILL, STUDENT C. J. LEWIS SAYS HE WAS IMPRESSED BY HIS TEACHER'S ABILITY TO SET ASIDE HIS PROFESSORIAL ROLE DURING REHEARSALS FOR THE TEMPEST.
LEWIS: (47:40) David Richman is a phenomenal encyclopedia of knowledge, especially when it comes to Shakespeare, and he's actually been really, really good about just being an actor in this production. It would have been easy for him to step on…anybody's toes, and saying, it should be done this way, but he was very happy and very excited to just be an actor and do the actor's job….at the same time you can just ask him anything about anything regarding Shakespeare and he'll spit it right out.
SFX: Last words of Prospero dialogue, then sustained applause, fading under following…
GARDNER: LIKE THE REST OF THE CAST, DAVID RICHMAN FOUND THE PERFORMING THE TEMPEST ON APPLEDORE ISLAND AN EXHILARATING EXPERIENCE.
RICHMAN: The first time in rehearsal that I did the 'Ye elves of hills' speech, which is one of my favorite speeches in Shakespeare, in that setting, smelling the salt air, listening to the noises of the various birds, almost being able to hear the elves that I was referring to….everything that the play is about came together, the magic of it, the reality of it…unique is not a word I often use, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is not a phrase I often use - I believe that word and that phrase apply very precisely.
SFX: Gull and motor sounds, Appledore harbor -
UNFORTUNATELY, THEIR APPLEDORE PERFORMANCE WAS A ONE-DAY STAND.
BUT THOSE WHO STILL WISH TO SEE DAVID RICHMAN AND THE REST OF THE UNH CAST PERFORM THE TEMPEST CAN DO SO TONIGHT OR TOMORROW, AT THE BELL CENTER, A SMALL THEATER IN DOWNTOWN DOVER.
CURTAIN TIME IS 8 PM.
YOU WON'T GET TO TAKE A ONE-HOUR BOAT RIDE TEN MILES OUT TO SEA.
BUT IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT DAVID KAYE'S CAST AND CREW BROUGHT SOMETHING OF THAT SALT AIR AND ROCKY SHORELINE BACK WITH THEM IN THEIR PERFORMANCES.
FOR NHPR NEWS, I'M KEVIN GARDNER.
SFX: Gulls and harbor sounds fading out…
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