The Shakespeare Project pays tribute to the Bard's words
tejpal swatch, the peak

William Shakespeare became big business in the 1990's. In the last year alone, three new film adaptations were given wide release -and these efforts were not restricted to the Bard's well-known plays. For example, Julie Taymor's excellent Titus is a bold interpretation of one of Shakespeare's earlier, lesser-known plays. It is in this atmosphere of sudden interest in all-things-Shakespearean that Savage God, a small theatre group in Vancouver, has taken on an enormous venture. Over the next two years, they will stage dramatic readings of Shakespeare's complete works - thirty-seven plays and three readings of his poetry. This ambitious undertaking is known as 'The Shakespeare Project.'

What inspired such an undertaking? "I think it was something I ate," jokes John Juliani, Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Project. He spoke with me after a lively rehearsal of Julius Caesar, noting that the project "presents the most enormous challenges and the most gratifying rewards."

In last year's Bard on the Beach Juliani did a production of Macbeth, and he has also hosted many poetry programs. He always wanted to do a production of Romeo and Juliet with Savage God, but kept putting it off. "Then I got up one morning and I just said 'Let's do the entire canon,'" Juliani recalls. "It was preposterous, but Donna (Wong-Juliani, Sine Qua Non of Savage God) is used to hearing that from me, and said 'sure'."

In staging every Shakespearean play, Juliani is allowing the theatre-going public a chance to see plays that would not normally be staged. He notes that "there are Shakespeare festivals, but often they do the well-known plays. [There are] an awful lot of plays you never get the chance to see."

The plays are staged dramatic readings, and do not include elaborate sets and costumes. The readings take place at Christ Church Cathedral, an old stone church on the corner of Georgia and Burrard, in the heart of downtown Vancouver. "We don't just stand there and read the lines," explains Juliani. "A staged dramatic reading means there is movement, there's blocking, there's emotion, there's characterization. It's a little bit like what you would see in a rehearsal when the actors, after two weeks of rehearsing, are about ready to put their books down. It's not just sitting there, droning on in iambic pentameter. There is an attempt to bring it alive."

The actors themselves are local television and film professionals. In fact, the project's production of King Lear included William B. Davis (aka 'Cancer Man' of the X-Files) as the dour Cornwall. The best part for the audience is when the actors fight and flee down the aisles, are lead off in shackles and plot amongst themselves. The stone facades and the low, warm lighting of the church enhance the production, by adding an atmosphere which is not available in a traditional theatre.

The effect of all this is startling. Stripped of all props and sets, the audience is left with its imagination, and is able to better focus on Shakespeare's words. The experience is altogether different than a typical play in a theatre, but it is certainly not a lesser one. Juliani notes that "many audiences have told us that they come to these shows and [find] that they heard passages of text that they have never heard before, even though they've seen the play produced several times."

It is this focus that Juliani wishes to emphasize. Shakespeare is best understood when read aloud. According to Juliani, it is Shakespeare's words that make him the icon that he is today: "He's ubiquitous because he is universal. And he is universal because he comes from a particular sense of place. He is a wonderful storyteller. He manages to blend the poetry and the prose with the characters. The twentieth century just caught on."

In October, The Shakespeare Project will perform the Roman plays: Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Titus Andronicus, and Anthonie and Cleopatra. Visit http://www.savagegod.com/theshakespeareproject for details or call the Hotline at 921-7144.

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