“Perchance to Dream” brings Shakespeare to SCAD
Written by Abby Thomas
Photo by Katherine Rountree
SCAD performing arts group 3rd Act will host the premiere of their fall show, “Perchance to Dream,” tonight at the Mondanaro Theater in Crites Hall. The production, directed by SCAD student Amaya Murphy, is a montage of Shakespeare scenes that explore five different themes: magic, loss, conflict, forgiveness and love.
Right from the get-go, audiences can tell the play has a creative and entertaining setup. A single light illuminates the set while a heavy use of sound design opens in the show. It’s a simple stage for a simple play. “Perchance” lacks a central plot; instead it shows short, Shakespearean scenes that portray Murphy’s five selected themes and invite the spirits of theater to shake your soul. Even if you don’t like Shakespeare, you should still go see this play.
The play opens with “Double Double Toil and Trouble,” from “Macbeth,” inviting the spirits and magic to enter the space. It continues on to scenes from “The Tempest” where Prospero captures your attention with his strong sense of characterization. This scene leads to a beautifully choreographed storm at sea using the actors as scenery. The dance movements here add power to the production in ways you don’t usually see.
“Perchance to Dream” of course included Shakespearean plays that are very popular — “Hamlet,” “Macbeth” and “Twelfth Night” — but it also included scenes from some of the playwright’s less-famous plays. “Taming of the Shrew” and “Pericles” were two of these.
“I wanted to focus on using big plays as well as ones people don’t know,” said Murphy, the director.
The actors, all of whom fit well into their roles, were a big part of Murphy’s directing strategy. “I’m an actor’s director and direct based on them,” said Murphy.
This was evident in many scenes. One from the “Taming of the Shrew” where Petruchio practically kidnaps Kate to be his fiancé showed a coordination between director and actors that was incredible. The clever blocking, performed by Samantha Cormier and Tyler Linke, showed a perfect understanding of the characters.
“I’m very comfortable with transitions and worked a lot with movement,” said Murphy. It was a fight for power through sex and actual fighting, with fight choreography that added to the humor of the scene. It was simply hilarious, and beautiful in its conflict.”
Another scene that took my breath away was the scene from “Richard II,” starring Emily Tomlinson. With Tomlinson’s performance, the audience could really see the pain and struggle of giving up the crown. She was trying to cover it up, but we could still see the hurt underneath. She commanded the scene, being the only one moving around while the whole cast stood on stage. At other times, too, she commanded the scene with no movement other than her facial expressions.
Tomlinson had an understanding of the role beyond what a professor could teach, which could be said about most of the actors in “Perchance.” The cast added a new take on Shakespeare’s works, helping the audience understand what Shakespeare was saying. At times I forgot the words were written hundreds of years ago, because the actors found ways to deliver their lines as a person from our society would. This, combined with the many different ways of arranging Shakespeare’s scenes, created a new, fresh take on old tales.
You can still see “Perchance to Dream” this Saturday night at 8 p.m. in SCAD’s Mondanaro Theatre.
