REVIEW: Shakespeare By Any Other Name at Dauntless City Theatre
A rose by any other name may smell as sweet… but would a Shakespeare by any other name have the same legacy?
This is just one of the questions asked in Dauntless City Theatre’s production of Shakespeare By Any Other Name. The play, penned by Bangalore-based theatremaker Vijay Padaki, investigates the impact and legacy of the Bard’s work, from his most popular plays to the role colonialism played in maintaining his status as one of the world’s most celebrated playwrights, even 400 years after his death. But this is no straightforward lecture.
Part history lesson, part joyful romp through Shakespeare’s works, the sixty-minute play in the heart of St. James’ Park attempts to return the playwright to the people: or at least, provide general audiences with context about the Bard’s work. Under the direction of joey o’dael, the production’s two performers, Tallan Alexander and Chi-Chi Onuah, lead the audience through a brief and interactive history of Shakespeare and his legacy. Audience members are invited to participate in readings, share their favourite classical plays, and guess the origins of a number of popular words and phrases you may not have realized that the Bard originated (“bedazzled,” anyone?).
Alexander and Onuah do a good job keeping the audience engaged — Onuah in particular has a wonderful handle on the excerpts of classical text — in the distraction-filled environment of St. James’ Park. The play is quite informal, with a ticketless pay-what-you-can model: audience members have full permission to come and go as they please. (Unsurprisingly, many curious locals wandered through the performance I attended — after all, it’s not every day that you see two costumed people reciting Shakespeare in the middle of a park.) It’s all by design: the placement of the production allows anyone who happens to be in the area to join in the fun.
There is minimal design: the production uses St. James Park’s timber pavilion as its backdrop, with no set and only a handful of props. Costume designer Stevie Baker has created garb that implies the Elizabethan era without weighing the actors down in heavy brocades and stiff collars — a clever move in the summer heat and humidity.
My main concern is that at times I found it difficult to hear the performers, particularly the audience participants who took part in the readings. Working in an open-air theatre, particularly one placed between the bustle of King and Adelaide, requires a certain amount of projection that wasn’t entirely consistent in this production.
Another slight concern: about halfway through the show, the audience is asked to stand and move from the cement centre of the park to a grassy area on the other side of the pavilion, a transition that left several audience members trailing behind. The move didn’t feel entirely necessary, and I noticed that a few patrons struggled in the shift from a bench to sitting on the grass.
These caveats noted, the production is light, accessible, and appropriate for audiences of all ages. Whether you’re new to Shakespeare’s or a fan, Shakespeare By Any Other Name is worth the brief jaunt to St. James’ Park — you may even learn something new!
Shakespeare By Any Other Name plays at St. James’ Park every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through August 27. For more information, click here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Jessica Watson
Jessica is a former associate editor at Intermission, as well as a writer, classically-trained actor, and plant enthusiast. Since graduating from LAMDA in the UK with her MA in acting, you can often find her writing screenplays and short plays in the park, writing extensive lists of plant care tips, or working on stage and screen (though she uses a stage name). Jessica freelances with various companies across Canada, but her passion lies in working with theatre artists and enthusiasts.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Photo by Ian Jackson
REVIEW: In Ronnie Burkett’s darkly intelligent Wonderful Joe, gentrification hits like a meteor
When Siminovitch-winning puppet virtuoso Ronnie Burkett chose the focus of his latest play, was he thinking of TO Live’s $421-million plan to redevelop its St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts?
iPhoto caption: 13 Plays About ADHD All At The Same Time graphic courtesy of Circlesnake Productions.
REVIEW: 13 Plays About ADHD All At The Same Time is true to its title
While the play’s structure may occasionally leave you feeling as scattered as its protagonists, its heart, humour, and raw honesty will keep your thoughts churning well into the night.
iPhoto caption: Goblin:Macbeth production still by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Goblin:Macbeth might just leave you gobsmacked
While most of the entertainment comes from the goblins’ antics whenever the Shakespearean text is paused or subverted for comic effect, the secret sauce to this whole endeavour is that it really is an honest-to-goodness staging of that text, designed to showcase the performers’ near-virtuosic mastery of the material.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: The Thanksgiving Play wriggles in performative wokeness
In 2024, is there a way to produce an engaging, culturally sensitive play about the first American Thanksgiving for elementary schoolers? The Thanksgiving Play, penned by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse and now playing at Mirvish’s CAA Theatre, poses that question in its first five minutes, then throws the query out with the cranberry sauce in its madcap exploration of a devised theatre piece at an unnamed primary school.
iPhoto caption: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine production still by Curtis Perry.
REVIEW: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine simmers just below the surface
While the show certainly induces laughter, some of its strong design elements paint the actors into a corner, at times making the comedy feel a touch manufactured.
iPhoto caption: Samca production still by Barry McCluskey.
REVIEW: Samca is a disturbing, unique production that explores folklore and womanhood
The feminist folklore play, written by and starring Natalia Bushnik and Kathleen Welch, is an engrossing and sometimes frightening experience, perfect to kick off the scary season.
Pakistani-Canadian actor Ahad Raza Mir ‘goes back to basics’ with Brampton production of Hamlet
“The South Asian community in Calgary, and even Toronto, is a whole different story than Brampton in terms of size,” says Mir. “I'm excited to have this show come to a larger group of South Asians: most importantly, young people who maybe want to go into the arts who want to be actors."
iPhoto caption: From top left, clockwise: Nikki Shaffeeullah, Adele Noronha, Michelle Mohammed, Jay Northcott, Anand Rajaram, and Virgilia Griffith.
Tarragon Theatre Announces A Poem for Rabia Cast
Award-winning theatre and film artist Nikki Shaffeeullah’s play A Poem for Rabia will make its debut in a Tarragon Theatre production in association with Nightwood Theatre and Undercurrent Creations.
iPhoto caption: Jeremy Smith and Tom Lillington in Driftwood Theatre's Living With Shakespeare. Original image by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Living With Shakespeare at Driftwood Theatre
Living With Shakespeare is a deeply intimate exploration of Smith’s life and work, using Shakespeare’s words to bring to life some of his most personal, exciting, and challenging experiences.
Guild Festival Theatre’s The Drowning Girls Opens in Scarborough
GFT’s final production is the multi-award-winning play The Drowning Girls, a true crime tale about three women married to and murdered by the same man.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Reveals Their 45th Anniversary Season
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is celebrating with a season that showcases both epic queer stories from history and innovative new works from a diverse roster of artists.
REVIEW: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Dream in High Park
I cannot stress this enough: this show is funny, and the actors know it… not a single performer holds back in the over-the-top physicality.
Comments