When the audience is let in, approximately ten minutes
before the scheduled performance time, the cast is already on stage, frozen in
tableau. Ten minutes is a long time to hold a pose, but they somehow manage it.
The space itself contains one raised platform in the upper right portion of the
stage, with two sets of stairs leading from it, and three separate entrances
upstage. Just before the play begins, the stage goes dark. Then, as the lights
come up, one or two actors at a time break their poses and exit, leaving just a
few soldiers who engage in a brief battle scene. Agamemnon (Chadwick J.
Bradbury) steps forward, unmoved by the battle that happened in front of him,
and speaks the first line of the production: “Princes/What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks?” This is
in fact the first line of the third scene, as this production does a bit of
re-ordering of scenes, and cuts the prologue entirely (the tableau taking its
place). Agamemnon finds Ulysses’ speech about Achilles and Patroclus humorous,
which leads Ulysses (Brando Cutts) to turn his speech onto Agamemnon himself,
which then raises the Grecian general’s ire, a nice moment. Brando Cutts is
excellent here, and delivers one of the production’s best performances. I
particularly like the exchange he has with Nestor (Andy Kallok).
This production then goes to the first scene of the text,
in which Troilus (Aaron Joseph) tells Pandarus (Kevin McGrath) of his love for
Cressida. It is interesting that this production decides to introduce the
audience to the Greek camp first before getting into the story of the title
characters. Troilus speaks gently, with a voice of kindness and love, in
contrast to some of the more aggressive tones of other characters (and might
that be part of the reason for the re-ordering of scenes?). Kevin McGrath is
delightful as Pandarus, particularly in the scene where he and Cressida watch
the parade of men. Probably the best performance of the production is that by
Amanda Swearingen as Cressida, made all the more remarkable by the fact that she came in
just four days before the play went up, after the original Cressida took ill.
When we first see her, she is adorable, with a coquettish and playful air. Each
man that Pandarus describes enters from the audience and takes a spot on the
platform, as if they are players on a team being introduced before a
championship game, a nice and fun touch. Aeneas in this production is female,
played by Ryanna Dunn, who also interestingly plays Helen (so she gets to play
on both teams). So Pandarus’ lines about her are changed slightly. But it is
after the men exit that Cressida and Pandarus really shine. And later, I love
the pleasure Pandarus takes in getting Troilus and Cressida together, even
leading them off stage to the bedroom.
Thersites (Leonardo Lerma) enters like a great explosion
of color and sound and movement, followed by Ajax (Beau Nelson), in great
contrast to him, a pouting brute. Both turn in wonderful performances and are
fun to watch. I love that Ajax raises an eyebrow when beginning to consider
Ulysses’ words of praise. And I love in a later scene when Thersites does a
humorous impression of Ajax, lowering his voice. In Shakespeare’s text, there
is some hint that Achilles and Patroclus might be lovers (like in Ulysses’ line
“With him Patroclus/Upon a lazy bed the
livelong day”). In this production, their relationship is not left in any
doubt. When Achilles (Robert Watson) says “no
man is beaten voluntary,” Patroclus (Alexander James Salas) coughs,
indicating that he likes to be beaten, and Achilles hushes him. The two men
then embrace, and there is absolutely no question but that they are lovers.
Patroclus is played as a rather doting, admiring and overly effeminate young
lover, and not at all like a soldier. The problem with this portrayal is that
when the other characters ridicule Achilles, it seems to be in part because he’s gay,
and not because of his proud and lazy nature. After all, the others are upset
with Achilles because he is avoiding the battlefield, not for his romantic
choices; Achilles is supposed to be a tough warrior. I prefer the slightly more
subtle indications of the relationship, and there are those too. For example,
when Ulysses says to Achilles, “‘Tis
known, Achilles, that you are in love,” he happens to be facing Patroclus;
but he quickly turns back to Achilles to finish the thought, “With one of Priam’s daughters.” But then
Patroclus’ speech lacks the power it would have if he weren’t playing the
character so effeminately. There are also some odd choices with regards to the
playing of Agamemnon. On the line “Pride
is his own glass,” he seems to mimic the act of taking a sip from a cup,
when the word “glass” in this case means “mirror,” not something to drink from.
I love Cressida’s playful delivery of “O foolish Cressid, I might have still held
off,/And then you would have tarried.” At the end of Act IV Scene ii, after
Cressida says “I will go in and weep,”
she and Pandarus freeze upstage while Paris and Troilus enter below for that
brief Scene iii, an interesting way to do it, for in a sense they are then present
while Troilus tells Paris he will deliver Cressida to Diomedes. Once Paris (Courtney
Sims)
and Troilus exit, Pandarus and Cressida begin Scene iv. Though this production
does not do much in the way of set dressing changes, there are two curtains
which are used for certain scenes. At the beginning of Act III, a blue
translucent curtain is pulled across the stage, and Pandarus, Paris and Helen play the scene behind it. So it is as if we are peeking into
their private chamber, uninvited, an audience of voyeurs. On his line “To a hair,” Paris rubs his shaved pate.
Later, for the first scene of Act V, the curtain is drawn across the stage
again, this time with the actors on the same side of it as the audience is, so
it is like we are within Achilles’ tent now. Then a white curtain is drawn
across the stage, with Troilus and Ulysses on the far side of it, and Cressida
and Diomedes on the closer side. This is interesting, for we are now literally
on the side of Diomedes rather than Troilus, as he begins to woo Cressida. Garret
Martinez is much, much too young to play Diomedes. You need someone with some
power, someone that Cressida would actually be attracted to, in that role.
After all, she does sleep with him, despite her professed love for Troilus.
Amanda Swearingen is absolutely fantastic in this scene when Diomedes demands a
token from her. And I love how Ulysses opens the curtain to reveal Troilus’
face staring in the direction that Cressida exited, a wonderful moment.
Troilus And
Cressida was directed by Brandon Alexander Cutts. There is one ten-minute
intermission, which comes at the end of Act III Scene i (use the intermission to meet a pig named Hamlet). The play runs through
September 15th, so get your tickets soon for this seldom-seen play. By the way,
in 2010 I began seeing as many Shakespeare productions as possible, with the
hope of seeing all thirty-seven plays (no, I’m not counting The Two Noble Kinsmen). Troilus And Cressida was number
twenty-eight for me.
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