What’s Happening in Hamlet?

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Thursday night, 24th Jan

We started this project – HAMLET – in a church hall in Brixton – a poor, vibrant part of South London, UK. Now we’ve landed in the serene acres of Notre Dame, us 5 Brits – and our faces are set firm against the low Fahrenheit temperatures (unheard of in Britain) and we coo at each other’s brand new boots and coats and hats and scarves, specially purchased for this new cold world. Sure enough, after a slightly tetchy arrival, sweating profusely and overdressed in long johns at the airport on Saturday (What’s going on? They said it was COLD in Indiana? This is easy!), the temperature plummeted and rather pleasingly for us, the snow now lies on the ground, 5 days old, and this morning an astonishing blue sky to light us to Washington Hall, the very pretty late 19th Century theatre building where we rehearse in a well-lit expanse of high roof rafters and sash windows, an attic tennis court of a room where we very happily unpacked all our props and costumes – and rolled up our sleeves to unfold our attempt at Hamlet in America. We’re 5 days into our final rehearsal week, now, here in Notre Dame and it’s an obstacle course of all sorts of different shaped joys and challenges: Shakespeare’s verse we go to bed with and wake up with in our heads, but that’s the least of it. We had a fantastic welcome from Debra, Grant, Scott, Ryan, Ron, – and have dined with them, on several occasions, in a grand style and on feasts of such a magnitude ( by which I mean the size of the servings) that we simply have not come across before! Bison does not come on plates – let alone ‘bites’ in the UK, nor do onion rings resemble, well, cliffs of sandstone.

Meanwhile, we’re pushing on with Hamlet – trying to polish up what we’ve already got and coming across new ideas as we go along. Tomorrow we’ve our first preview and let’s see what happens….we’ve enough props that the stage is in danger of resembling Charles Dicken’s The Old Curiosity Shop – a violin, recorders, handkerchiefs, scarves, spectacles, plastic flowers, goblets, umbrellas, gongs, you name it – even as we try to honour the process of 5 actors without a director and ‘keep it simple’.

Here are some pictures of the joys and strifes….and more soon….

Shuna Snow –

Announcing Auditions for 2013 Festival

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AUDITIONS – NOTRE DAME SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Adult Actors (12-2pm) and Young Company (2-5pm)
DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts
University of Notre Dame

Open Auditions for the 2013 NDSF productions of Richard III (The Professional Company) and The Comedy of Errors (The Young Company) will be held Saturday, February 9, from 12-5pm.  The festival is seeking six (6) male and three (3) female actors for Richard III, directed by Laura Gordon and twenty (20) male and female actors, ages 18 and up* for the Young Company, directed by Kevin Asselin. (undergrads and recent grads, playing roles in both shows).

*The NDSF is also casting two (2) roles for children (M or F, ages 10-17) for Richard III, who will be auditioned separately. These two children will portray the sons of Edward IV, heirs to the throne of England.   Please see the contact info below for an appointment, and audition materials.

Actors should prepare one (1) classical monologue under three (3) minutes in length.  (Preferably Shakespeare, but it is more important to have a piece you know well, and with which you can play.)  Actors who sing and those who play musical instruments should prepare a song.  (No accompaniment or instruments are provided.)    To schedule an audition appointment, please contact Company Manager Deb Gasper, either via e-mail at dgasper@nd.edu or by phone at 574-631-2273.

The Professional Company  Professional actors, artists, directors, designers and technicians create live performances in the beautiful DeBartolo Performing Arts Center a the University of Notre Dame.  Young Company performers play supporting roles, providing an opportunity to work and train with some of the best in the business.  Artists have worked in Broadway Theatres, and for Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf and the Goodman, as well as American Players Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, and the Utah, Oregon, New York, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, just to name a few!

The Young Company is a direct outgrowth of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival’s mission to exploring the works of William Shakespeare and other classical authors through performance for the educational, social, and cultural enrichment of its surrounding communities.  Hailing not only from Notre Dame and St. Mary’s College, Young Company performers come from Oklahoma, Georgia, Colorado and even further afield.  Young Company members have graduated from the program to enjoy careers in acting, design and production all over the country.

Laura Gordon, Director of the Professional Company production of Richard III – In addition to serving eighteen seasons as a member of the resident acting company at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Laura has also directed there on multiple occasions, and for the Utah Shakespearean Festival, American Players Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theatreworks and a production of Twelfth Night for the Optimist Theatre which critics called “stylish, intelligent…” and “a wonderful artistic gift to the city.”

Kevin Asselin, Director of the Young Company production of The Comedy of Errors – 2013 marks Kevin’s seventh year of directing the Young Company, including last year’s remarkable production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  He also has often appeared as an actor in the NDSF Professional Company, playing Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice Iachimo in Cymbeline and other roles in Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Henry V and the ill-fated master swordsman Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.  His many regional credits include work for the Goodman, Writers’, Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, American Players Theatre, and eight seasons with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks.  Kevin is currently Assistant Professor of Acting and Movement at Oklahoma City University.

PAUL FERGUSON WINS REGIONAL SHAKESPEARE MONOLOGUE COMPETITION

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Competition sponsored by SHAKESPEARE AT NOTRE DAME in collaboration with the English-Speaking Union of the United States

NOTRE DAME, IN – Paul Ferguson’s Hamlet monologue bested an outstanding group of thespians on Sunday, December 9, 2012 to take first place in the High School Division of the fifth-annual Shakespeare at Notre Dame Regional Shakespeare Monologue Competition.

A freshman at Saint Joseph High School, Ferguson performed Hamlet’s Act I, scene 2 monologue from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He now advances to the English-Speaking Union of the United States (ESUUS) State Shakespeare Competition in Indianapolis on March 3, 2013. There he will compete for cash prizes and the opportunity to represent the State of Indiana at the ESU National Competition in New York City.

Forty-four area students competed in this year’s event. The contestants ranged in age from 8-20 and represented 11 schools from across the greater South Bend region. Many of the contestants are part of the Robinson Shakespeare Company as well as freshmen from the University of Notre Dame enrolled in Professor Gary O’Neil’s Writing and Rhetoric class. In an innovative community-based collaboration, each college student was partnered with a member of the Robinson Shakespeare Company.

This year’s competition was held at Washington Hall on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. The judges for the competition were J. Randall Colborn, Associate Dean of Academics at Indiana University South Bend; Grant Mudge, Ryan Producing Artistic Director for the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival; and Patty Bird, Director of Marketing at Theatre at the Center.

The winners and runner-up for each division were as follows:

HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION (Grades 9-12)

Winner – Paul Ferguson (Saint Joseph High School)

Runner-up –  Christina Camp (Marian High School)

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION (Grades 6-8)

Winner –  Indonesia Holt (LaSalle Academy)

Runner-up –  Josh Crudup (Peace Lutheran)

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIVISION (Grades 1-5)

Winner –  Sam Villagra-Stanton (Kennedy School)

Runner-up –  Cameron Pierce (Montessori at Edison Lakes)

COLLEGIATE DIVISION

Winner – Mary Haley (University of Notre Dame)

Runner-up – Olivia Tuck (University of Notre Dame)

“To see such a rich engagement with Shakespeare’s language by students is nothing short of inspirational,” noted Shakespeare at Notre Dame’s Executive Director, Scott Jackson. He adds, “These kids are excelling in an area that few adults would ever imagine possible!”

For further information about the ESUUS’ National Shakespeare monologue Competition can be found at: http://www.esuus.org/esu/programs/shakespeare_competition/

Additional information about Shakespeare at Notre Dame: http://shakespeare.nd.edu

Winners of the 2012 Shakespeare Monologue Competition

Paul Ferguson