Shakespeare's Henry IV, the NY CLassical Production

It's been a very long time since I went out to draw NY Classical theater's panoramic productions. I was busy being pregnant and being a new mom... And after a very long pause, finally, last week, I went to Battery Park to see the 25th anniversary production of Henry IV. It was as delightful, energetic and exciting as ever! Directed by the one and only Stephen Burdman. Some of my all-time favorite actors were in the play: John Michalsky, Ian Gould, Ian Antal, Nick Salamone. There were also many new phenomenal actors.

I felt anxious going back to life drawing without any warmup. But what I discovered was that drawing is like riding a bicycle: it comes right back. My hands just knew what to do. All I needed was to remind myself to look at the actors and to not judge what's on the page as I was drawing it. I enjoyed it immensely!

Cheers to NY Classical's 25th season and here's to 25 more! 

 

"Macbeth" by the New York Classical Theatre

"Double, double toil and trouble; 
Fire burn and cauldron bubble."
 

Don't miss New York Classical Theatre's 18th season this summer! An incredibly powerful production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth", directed by Stephen Burdman, is playing in Battery Park till 8/20; then in Brooklyn Bridge Park 8/22-8/27 [excluding Thursdays & rainy days]. All performances start at 7pm and are free to attend. Read this glowing and descriptive review by Pete Hempstead in TheaterMania.com >

The Three Witches in front of Castle Clinton, Battery Park

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair" 
 

The Three Weird Sisters and Banquo (Clay Storseth)

Macbeth (Will Dixon) and Banquo (Clay Storseth)

Malcolm (Ian Antal)

"Things without all remedy 

Should be without regard:  

what's done, is done"

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Macbeth (Will Dixon) and Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

"Come, you spirits. That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full. Of direst cruelty."
 

The Three Witches and Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg)

"-What three things does drink especially provoke?

-Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and
urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance"
 

The Three Witches

Banquo (Clay Storseth) and Macbeth (Will Dixon)

"Are you a man?"

Lady Macbeth (Jenny Strassburg) and Macbeth (Will Dixon) over Banquo's body

"Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief
Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it."

 

Macduff (M. Scott McLean) and Malcolm (Ian Antal)

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

 

Mad sleepwalking Lady Macbeth  (Jenny Strassburg)

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, 
a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage 
and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, 
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 
 

Macbeth (Will Dixon)

Make sure to check out some amazing reportage art of this production by my friends Veronica Lawlor, Charlotte Noruzi, Margaret Hurst.

"The Rivals" by the New York Classical Theatre

The New York Classical Theatre's 18th season started with Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy "The Rivals" (pictured below) and continues with Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth" (first performance is July 31 at the Battery Park's Castle Clinton.)

"The Rivals" is from 1775; it's a romantic comedy about tension between marriage for the sake of love and artifice for the sake of money. As always, I was blown away by the performances and loved drawing the actors (so much so that I attend 3 shows: at the Rockefeller Park and at the Carl Schurz park, with artists Charlotte Noruzi and Margaret Hurst. Check out their wonderful drawings of this play by clicking on their names).  New York Classical's stage is all of the park, and audiences follow actors from scene to scene. Performances are free to attend - all you have to do is show up at 7pm. It's an absolute treat and delight! Get the dates and locations for the upcoming "Macbeth" performances here>
 

Lydia: "How charming will poverty be with him!"

David (right) about Lydia: "She has a lapdog that eats out of gold, she feeds her parrot with small pearls, and all her hair-curlers are made of bank-notes!"

Sir Anthony Absolute to Mrs Malaprop: "Madam, a circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge!" 

Sir Anthony Absolute (right) to his son Jack, talking about his arranged marriage: "...the lady shall be as ugly as I choose"

Sir Anthony Absolute: "..don't put me in a  P H R E N Z Y!"

Mrs Malaprop (right) to Lydia (left): "I don't know any business you have to think at all. Thought does not become a young woman."

Julia to Faulkland: "My heart has known no other guardian - we will fly together."

Jack Absolute (right) to Faulkland (left): "You are the most teasing, captious, incorrigible lover!—Do love like a man"

Faulkland to Julia:"If I loved you less, I should never give you an uneasy moment" 

Capt. Jack Absolute (right) to Faulkland: "YOU DON'T DESERVE HER!"

Sir Lucius O'Trigger (right) to Bob (left): "Can a man commit a more heinous offence against another than to fall in love with the same woman? Oh, by my soul! it is the most unpardonable breach of friendship." 

-Capt. Jack Absolute [Reads.]:  "As for the old weather-beaten she-dragon who guards you.–Who can he mean by that?"
-Mrs. Malaprop:  "Me, sir!–me!–he means me!"

Sir Lucius O'Trigger: ''Modesty is a quality in a lover more praised by the women than liked.''

The End!

"The Winter's Tale" by New York Classical Theatre

Mairin Lee as Hermione and Brad Fraizer as Leontes

Here are my (way overdue) summer reportage drawings of The Winter's Tale production by the amazing New York Classical Theatre, directed by Stephen Burdman. The main theme of this Shakespearian comedy (which, to me, felt more like a tragedy 'till the last act) is marital fidelity, devastating power of jealousy, forgiveness and Time.

I attended performances in both Battery and Brooklyn Bridge parks. Each park transforms the play. Battery park feels much more intimate, in contrast with the magnitude of Manhattan skyline in Brooklyn Bridge Park. What a luxury it is to attend awesome off-Broadway productions on summer nights,  for free, outdoors, in some of the most beautiful parks in New York...and be able to see it again, as long as it doesn't rain! If you're not familiar with the panoramic nature of New York Classical theater, here's one of the latest reviews.

The Winter's Tale was the second production of New York Classical's 17th summer season, the first being  A Midsummer Night's Dream (drawings here). I look forward to the 18th season, wondering what kind of magic Stephen Burdman, theatre's Artistic Director, is preparing for us next.

p.s. Check out this fantastic illustrated synopsis of the Battery Park staging by my friend, artist Evan Turk! 

Sunset in Brooklyn Bridge Park

Brad Fraizer as Leontes, Peyton Lusk as Mamillius, David Heron as Polixenes (foreground)

Leontes and Paulina

Brad Fraizer as Leontes and Lisa Tharps as Paulina

John Michalski as Camillo

Leontes:

“Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? Stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh?- a note infallible
Of breaking honesty. Horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? Wishing clocks more swift;
Hours, minutes; noon, midnight? And all eyes
Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,
That would unseen be wicked - is this nothing?
Why, then the world and all that's in't is nothing;
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;
My is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.”

Leontes, torn by jealousy

Leontes, Camillo and Polixenes

Peyton Lusk as Time

Mark August as Autolycus

Mark August as Autolycus and Ian Gould as Shepherd

Paulina, Hermione and Leontes

John Michalski as Camillo

Mark August as Autolycus