Shakespeare comes alive in Staib Park
Friday, July 24, 2009
BY HOWARD PROSNITZ
"Troilus and Cressida" is one of Shakespeare's lesser known plays. Set in the Greek and the Trojan camps during the Trojan War, it is generally categorized, along with "Measure for Measure" and "All's Well That Ends Well," as one of Shakespeare's problem comedies dealing with themes of sexual conflict.
Lee Goffin Bonenfant and Jennifer Mauerhofer, members of the Hudson Shakespeare Company, perform a scene from 'Troilus and Cressida' in Staib Park.
On July 15, some 40 persons sat under the stars in folding chairs, on blankets or on grass in Staib Park for a free performance of "Troilus and Cressida" presented by the Hudson Shakespeare Company and sponsored by the City of Hackensack's Recreation Department. The performance was part of Hackensack's annual summer outdoor Shakespeare festival.
On Aug. 5 and 12, the Hudson Company will present "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in Staib Park.
A professional group of working actors from New York and New Jersey, the Hudson Shakespeare Company has been the resident theater company at Hackensack's Cultural Arts Center at 39 Broadway for the past eight years.
In addition to Shakespeare, the company has performed modern plays such as Dracula, Waiting for Godot and a George Gershwin review at the 117-seat theater, once a branch of the Johnson Public Library.
Although in past years the Shakespeare festival rotated among the city's parks, Staib Park on North Summit Avenue has become its home.
"The actors loved Memorial Park but between the bus traffic and the frequent noise of trains, performances became difficult," said company director Jon Ciccarelli. When trains would pass with their horns blasting, actors were forced to stop in the middle of their lines and wait.
The company performs Shakespeare's plays as they were performed in Shakespeare's own time with actors in costume but with minimal scenery.
"Most people know about the Globe Theater, but a lot of the plays Shakespeare wrote were written for mobile theaters. They were written to be adaptable to various venues," Ciccarelli explained.
Troilus and Cressida was chosen for the festival because, with a cast of almost 30 and an abundance of action and sword play, it offers opportunities to the actors and the appeal of spectacle to the audience.
"Each year we try to produce different titles that people haven't seen before," Ciccarelli, said.
Several of the male roles were taken by female performers, an innovation frequently found in New York theater today as a result of deliberate non-traditional casting and of generally having more women auditioning than men, said Ciccarelli.
The play's complicated action centers on the love of the Trojan warrior Troilus for Cressida, the daughter of Calchas, a Trojan renegade to the Greek side. Troilus woos Cressida through her uncle Pandorus. Cressida feigns indifference, but eventually responds. But Calchas arranges for Cressida to be brought to the Greek camp in exchange for a Trojan prisoner.
Troilus and Cressida vow eternal love, but no sooner does Cressida arrive among the Greeks than she begins flirting with the warriors and quickly becomes unfaithful to Troilus. After Troilus sneaks into the camp and overhears Cressida declare her love to a Greek, he returns heartbroken to Troy and is killed in battle soon after. The sordid love story is set against the background of the siege of Troy and familiar Greek and Trojan heroes, including Achilles, Ulysses and Ajax, are among the characters.
Hackensack recreation supervisor Gregory Liosi noted the cultural arts center will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in October.
Next summer, the Hudson Shakespeare Company will help celebrate with a production at Staib Park of either "Hamlet" or "Henry V."
"We are going all out with sets, sounds and lighting. We are planning the biggest production so far," Liosi said.
E-mail: prosnitz@northjersey.com
