It all began on a lawn in front of Turtle Pond in Central Park, the NY tradition of \u201cShakespeare in the Park\u201d \u2013 don\u2019t you wish you had been there for the first performance? Well, if you are in Israel next week, you will have a chance to become part of theatre history when Shakespeare Jerusalem presents \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Show\u201d at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens on Thursday, July 2, at 18:30. As is traditional, the performance is open to the public free of charge, and yes, it\u2019s in front of the pond.<\/p>\n
Summer is the season for lovers and love is the theme of the evening\u2019s program, beginning with \u201cThe Battle Between the Sexes\u201d a selection of short scenes from Richard III, The Taming of the Shrew, The Winter\u2019s Tale, A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream, Othello and As You Like It. The scenes are performed in English, by Herzl Tobey and Roni Yakobovitz, with narration in Hebrew by Shannon Kisch, artistic director and founder of Shakespeare Jerusalem. The decision to perform in English and Hebrew stems from Kisch\u2019s desire to share her love for Shakespeare with as wide an audience as possible. Noting that those unfamiliar with Shakespeare\u2019s work often assume that it is difficult to understand and \u201cheavy\u201d, Kisch says, \u201cShakespeare is a great poet, but if he hadn\u2019t been an entertainer he wouldn\u2019t have survived in Elizabethan theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kisch has chosen to begin the evening with one of Shakespeare\u2019s most audacious scenes: Richard, who has just murdered Lady Ann\u2019s husband, tries to seduce the grieving widow.\u00a0 Kisch admits, \u201cIt\u2019s a tough one. If it works, the audience somehow has to believe it\u2019s true. When you read it on paper it doesn\u2019t make sense \u2013 Richard doesn\u2019t even believe it. Richard views love as a war, as a battle. He has to make Ann believe. You like him; you get so much into his head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Talking to Kisch, one feels that she is inside Shakespeare\u2019s head, seeing the world through his plays. Her intimacy with Shakespeare\u2019s work takes the evening in an innovative direction with \u201cMy Best of Love\u201d: a musical created from Shakespeare\u2019s sonnets in combination with popular Israeli songs, a love story in verse, text and song. Looking at the paired songs and sonnets, Kisch notes, \u201csometimes the language is surprisingly similar,\u201d as in the connection between Yossi Banai\u2019s \u201cMerov Ahava Shotek\u201d (So Full of Love I Cannot Speak) and Shakespeare\u2019s sonnet 23, which implores \u201cO learn to read what silent love hath writ\u201d. The cast includes: Michael Marks, Nadav Vikinski, Lisa Woo and Abe Doron. The translations of the sonnets into Hebrew are by Shimon Zandbak.<\/p>\n
Shakespeare Jerusalem\u2019s first full-length production was of \u201cHenry V\u201d<\/a> in November 2008 and director Shannon Kisch is currently in rehearsals for \u201cTwelfth Night\u201d. Kisch hopes to expand the summer program next year to a full week, \u201cShakespeare works so well outdoors. Sitting surrounded by nature enhances the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Thursday, July 2, 2009 at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens It all began on a lawn in front of Turtle Pond in Central Park, the NY tradition of \u201cShakespeare in the Park\u201d \u2013 don\u2019t you wish you had been there for the first performance? Well, if you are in Israel next week, you will have a chance to become part of theatre history when Shakespeare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n18:30 Battle Between The Sexes
\n21:00 My Best of Love
\nInformation: www.shakespearejerusalem.co.il<\/a>
\nskisch@shakeskpearejerusalem.co.il<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"