UPDATED Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (Flipped!) Opens at UC Davis Mondavi Studio Theatre
01-30-2009
UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance presents The Winter’s Tale written by William Shakespeare and directed by graduating MFA candidate Patricia Miller. This unconventional physical theatre production with original live music weaves a magical transformation from broken hearts to redemption and death to life. Themes of grief and the healing power of time are expressed in this story of a privileged family torn apart by a patriarch’s possessive rage. The Winter’s Tale opens on Friday, February 13, and plays through Sunday, February 15. It continues Thursday, February 19, through Sunday, February 22, in the Studio Theatre at Mondavi Center.
This rarely performed Shakespeare work features the emotional depth of King Lear (often considered its inspiration) and the raw comedy and rude mechanicals of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “Shakespeare’s emotional range is wide and immediate running the gamut from mourning to hilarity with his most famous stage direction, 'Exit, pursued by a bear!'” notes Director Patricia Miller.
Miller’s direction explores two parallel worlds: the 1930’s elegance of a café society destroyed by a paranoid king’s jealousy, and the fertile chaos of a contemporary Bohemian Roma community. Miller was drawn to The Winter’s Tale for her MFA thesis because of the exciting clash of these worlds and her personal connection to the subject matter. “I have spent a long time in the Balkans and maintain a love of that music and culture. I am happy to find in Winter’s Tale, a project that embraces that joie de vivre as I am to explore the emotional formality of my upbringing in England. Also, the play’s themes deeply reflect my own experiences of loss and the joys of parenting.”
Miller directs in the contemporary European “physical theatre” style making Shakespeare’s poetry vital, passionate, and direct. “This is Shakespeare flipped!” she quips, “not your grandmother’s Shakespeare – there is no pretension.” According to Miller, physical theatre technique teaches actors what dancers have known for years. She has directed her UC Davis cast to embody Shakespeare’s words.
“I love Patricia's physical theatre direction,” says undergraduate Mark Curtis Ferrando who plays Clown. “It has presented me with new challenges. When you are sad you tend not to want to move around much, and when excited, you usually bring your voice up in pitch and speed. I had to find a balance between firm, energetic movements and the melancholy emotional core.”
Assistant Director Julie Friedrichsen observes how Miller’s physical theatre direction grips the audience, "Patricia approaches every scene as if it were a work of art, a series of extraordinary paintings moving and blending into each other. This blurs the lines between actor and audience, art and reality, movement and stillness, order and chaos. She streamlines each moment so that a single gesture of hand or slight turn of the head creates tremendous emotional anticipation. There are times when - as a collective body - the audience moves to the edge of their seat, holding their breath until the gesture is complete and they collectively exhale in relief. Working with Miller has been a rewarding and enlightening experience for which I am grateful as I know I am seated at the feet of a master."
Physical theatre performances are finely tuned by experienced cast members. Amy Louise Cole, who portrays Paulina, has performed professionally for over a decade. She is a member of Actors Equity Association and Executive Director of El Gato Theatre in San Francisco. Jorge Luis Morejon, who plays Time, brings twenty years of theatre, opera, dance and performance art experience to The Winter’s Tale while pursuing his PhD in Performance Studies.
Miller’s aesthetic, stamped in the English punk era, emerges in an energy that resonates through every aspect of the production including original Balkan music composed by Daryl Henline and performed by the company. Henline’s music beats with the current popular rhythms of gypsy punk rock band Gogol Bordello.
Scenic Designer Josh Steadman appreciates the richness of Miller’s Bohemian setting. His scenic design reflects the director’s interest in spiritual ritual, “I used research on the living spaces of nomadic people in Eastern Europe’s Balkan region to create scenic elements including huts that represent pivotal characters. The hut as symbol represents re-birth or the mother’s womb.”
Rounding out the concept artist team are Lighting Designer Jacob W. Nelson, Costume Designer Wenting Gao, Sound Designer Christian Savage, Properties Designer Daniel Jordan, and Stage Managers Jenny Estremera and Samantha Whitehouse.
The Winter’s Tale offers a feast of human experience with intense emotion and imagery, clowns, live music and plenty of bears.
Patricia Miller Bio
Raised and trained in the UK, Patricia Miller brings a diversity of experience to theatre directing, teaching and acting. Last season at UC Davis she directed the U.S. premiere of Nights at the Circus based on Angela Carter's novel and adapted for stage by Emma Rice and Tom Morris. Other U.S. directing credits include The Magic Theatre, UC Riverside and San Francisco venues. U.K. directing credits include Mountview Theatre School; National Youth Theatre of Great Britain; New Playwrights Festival, London; Riverside Studios, London and the Edinburgh Festival. Bay Area acting credits include Family Butchers (Peg) for the Magic Theatre; Magic Theatre festivals of Irish Women Writers and the Playwrights in Danger; Romeo and Juliet (Lady Capulet) and Dolly West's Kitchen (Rima, understudy) for TheatreWorks; Beautiful Thing (Sandra) and Cloud Nine (Maud/Lin) for NCTC; Bold Girls (Marie) for Viaduct; Women of Lockerbie (Chorus) for BAPF.
Miller's teaching and directing credits include UC Riverside, UC Davis, Berkeley City College, San Francisco City College, California Shakespeare Festival and Aurora Theatre Education. As Casting Director she has worked for Aurora Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, NCTC and the Playwrights Foundation and for such notable directors as Kent Nicolson, Joy Carlin, Tom Ross and Chris Smith.
This production contains some adult language and sexual innuendo.
What: The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, Directed by Patricia Miller
Where: Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center
When: Fri 2/13 ~ Sat 2/14, 8pm
Sun 2/15, 7pm
Thu 2/19, 1pm
Fri 2/20 ~ Sat 2/21, 8pm
Sun 2/22, 2pm
Tickets: $16/18 General; $11/13 Student & Child
Purchase tickets: (530) 754-2787, or toll-free (866) 754-2787 or www.mondaviarts.org
Special School Group Tickets:
School and youth groups of 10 or more receive a special rate of $5 per ticket at the teacher or group leader’s request. Call the UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance at (530) 752 -5863 to make arrangements for this discount.
More information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu
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