ANCHOR INTRO: Barry Edelstein [pronounced ED-EL-STEEN] assumed the artistic directorship of the Old Globe at the end of 2012. But this week marks the opening of the first play he has directed for The Globe, Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando tells us why this is such an appropriate play for him to begin with. Shakespeare said the play’s the thing but for Barry Edelstein it’s all about clarity. BARRY EDELSTEIN: So a big part of our rehearsal process has been focused on clarity of this sort of very difficult text. Edlestein is the Globe’s new artistic director and the text in point is Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. CLIP Edelstein directing – I want to make sure that the agitation of it is disappointment and not rage. At rehearsal, Edelstein offered guidance on how to deliver lines for maximum clarity. Cast member Billy Campbell says Shakespeare – who acted himself -- provides built-in instructions for the actor. BILLY CAMPBELL: His instructions for clarity are sort of written into the text, if you follow those instructions the stuff becomes crystal clear. The tone, the rhythm, the emphasis on the antithetical parts of the speech, the phrasing of the speech -- but what Barry does is just put the emphasis on clarity. Clarity that be be attained in part by simply giving the play a more contemporary setting. Edelstein says that can make it much more immediate, accessible, and fresh for a modern audience. BARRY EDELSTEIN: You look at a guy in a period production who’s a doctor, you don’t know that that’s a doctor but in a modern world if you put a white coat on somebody, that’s a doctor. So by dressing these characters in ways that refer to the world that you and I actually live in we can communicate a lot more information to the audience about who they are and how much rank, and status they have, how much wealth they have. He chose The Winter’s Tale as the first play to direct at the Globe because it’s his favorite Shakespearean work. BARRY EDELSTEIN: It’s a play about making mistakes and getting second chances, and it’s humanity is extremely affirmative and heart-warming and very very joyous and I thought that would be a wonderful note on which to launch my tenure as the artistic director of the Globe. The play is about two kings, friends since boyhood, and the irrational jealousy that erupts when Leontes suspects his wife and his friend have betrayed him. BARRY EDELSTEIN: So it’s this wildly theatrical thing that starts out as being a story about jealousy and ends up being a story about forgiveness and redemption. Casting is also key to clarity and the right actor can make a difficult character more accessible. Campbell plays Leontes. BILLY CAMPBELL: Traditionally the problem with Leontes is that the perceived problem is that his jealousy comes out of nowhere. BARRY EDELSTEIN: Harold Bloom the famous Shakespearean said that Leontes is Iago to his own Othello, Again, Barry Edelstein. BARRY EDELSTEIN: One of the interesting things about Shakespeare he writes a lot of plays about kings who break down. So by having Billy play this part who is so handsome and so well put together, and is like the perfect captain of the football team, suddenly have this kind of extraordinary breakdown is a dramatic journey that’s more powerful and more interesting. But Campbell confesses even he has has trouble with Leontes’ jealousy. BILLY CAMPBELL: I don’t really identify with it because I’m just not a jealous person. That’s something Edelstein puts to good use. Campbell’s struggle to understand Leontes’ jealousy reflects our own struggle. So by putting distance between himself and Leontes’ jealousy we can it as something out of character for the King and therefore feel sympathy for him rather than anger at him. Plus Canpbell is just a likable guy. BARRY EDELSTEIN: It helps because you’re right the things that he does are really repellant. Campbell his come to terms with the character by realizing the play is not just jealousy. BILLY CAMPBELL: I could identify with the overall theme, the enveloping theme of the time which is wonder, cause I have a great deal of joy and wonder. BARRY EDELSTEIN: I don’t want to give away a spoiler but there’s a miracle that happens at the end of the play and all we hear about is how wondrous that miracle is. It is required that you do awake you face and for me that’s where Shakespeare gets to the end of his life, awake your faith, you have to believe , you just have to suspend your rational mind and simply believe that miracles are possible, that things that are larger than simple human existence are possible, that’s the beauty of the play and that ultimately for me Audiences can now experience the wonder of Shakespeare brought to vivid life on the Globe stage by its new artistic director Barry Edelstein. Beth Accomando, KPBS News. The Winter's Tale continues at the Globe through March 16.
Barry Edelstein assumed the artistic directorship of the Old Globe at the end of 2012. But tonight marks the opening of the first play he has directed for The Globe, Shakespeare’s"'The Winter’s Tale."
Shakespeare died some four centuries ago but his plays remain vivid and timely. For The Globe's new artistic director Barry Edelstein nothing breathes more vivid life into these old texts than clarity.
"So a big part of our rehearsal process has been focused on clarity of this sort of very difficult text," Edelstein sys, "As the Globe always is, we’re blessed with an extraordinary company of American classical actors. And so I think audiences will find that the text is impeccably clear and people will understand what’s happening."
For his directorial debut at the Globe, Edelstein picked a personal favorite, "The Winter’s Tale" – one of Shakespeare genre-defying late plays.
"It’s a play about making mistakes and getting second chances and it’s humanity is extremely affirmative and heart-warming and very very joyous and I thought that would be a wonderful note on which to launch my tenure as the artistic director of the Globe. The story of the play is actually quite simple. It’s about two kings, the king of Sicilia, and the king of Bohemia. They were boyhood friends. The King of Bohemia has been visiting Sicilia for nine months, coincidentally, the King of Sicilia’s wife is nine months pregnant, and suddenly out of the blue sky, he becomes convinced the baby that his wife is carrying belongs to his best friend and that his wife has cheated on him. This sends him off into a spiral of violent jealousy," Edelstein says.
It’s not often performed because the tone is tricky. Care is needed to move it from tragedy to comedy and romance. But throughout, Edelstein always looks for ways to make Shakespeare more accessible to a modern audience.
"We’ve set it in a kind of invented modern world, modern clothes. The men are wearing suits and ties; the women are wearing cocktail dresses," Edelstein explains, "You look at a guy in a period production who’s a doctor, you don’t know that that’s a doctor but in a modern world if you put a white coat on somebody, that’s a doctor. So by dressing these characters in ways that refer to the world that you and I actually live in we can communicate a lot more information to the audience about who they are and how much rank, and status they have, how much wealth they have, what their profession is without having to actually talk about it and I find that makes the play a much more immediate, much more accessible and feel more fresh than many period productions can."
Casting is also key to clarity and the right actor can help an audience understand a difficult character.
"My name is Billy Campbell and I am playing Leontes, the king of Sicilia, traditionally the problem with Leontes is that the perceived problem is that his jealousy comes out of nowhere," actor Billy Campbell says.
"Harold Bloom the famous Shakespearean said that Leontes is Iago to his own Othello," Edelstein adds.
"It seems especially true, he is that he is his own Iago. And his own worst enemy," Campbell says.
"So by having Billy play this part who is so handsome and so well put together, and is like the perfect captain of the football team, suddenly have this kind of extraordinary breakdown is a dramatic journey that’s more powerful and more interesting," Edelstein says.
"The Winter’s Tale" was one of Shakespeare’s final plays and he mysteriously stopped writing four years before he died.
"And in my view it’s that he stopped because he found what he had been looking for over 20 years of his life, and what is that? In The Winter’s Tale, the answer is very clearly one word which is wonder. It is required that you do awake your faith and for me that’s where Shakespeare gets to the end of his life, awake your faith, you have to believe , you just have to suspend your rational mind and simply believe that miracles are possible , that things that are larger than simple human existence are possible , that’s the beauty of the play and that ultimately for me is the beauty of working in Shakespeare," Edlestein states.
And audiences can now experience the wonder of Shakespeare brought to vivid life on the Globe stage by its new artistic director Barry Edelstein.
"The Winter's Tale" continues at the Globe through March 16.
Companion viewing: "King Lear," "The Tempest," "Coriolanus"
