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Kate Phillips (Jane Seymour), Will Keen (Archbishop Cranmer), Damian Lewis (King Henry VIII)
Credit: Nick Briggs; © Playground Television (UK) Ltd
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From Wolf Hall To William Shakespeare: A Peek Into The Atlanta Shakespeare Company
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Scandal. Betrayal. Social climbing. And not one, but two new wives?
On March 23, MASTERPIECE’s Wolf Hall returns for the second and final season, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light! Covering the final book of Dame Hilary Mantel’s incredible trilogy and adapted for television by Academy Award winner Peter Straughan, the last chapter of Thomas Cromwell’s life chronicles his epic rise to Lord Great Chamberlain and Lord Privy Seal in the court of Henry VIII as well as his equally incredible fall as he fails to please his King. This in turn encourages the rest of the Privy Council to finally turn on the blacksmith’s son from Putney who devoted his life to raising his station while being haunted by the regrets of his past (namely Cardinal Wolsey and Anne Boleyn, who frequently appear as figments of Cromwell’s memories).
I had the pleasure of being able to enjoy the screeners for this follow-up to a gripping Season 1 that ended on a cliffhanger (or perhaps a head roller?). Looking into Mantel’s novels, I was fascinated by how she elaborated on Cromwell’s life as a work of fiction, embellishing upon the life of one of the most criticized members of Tudor History.
And she’s not the only one: she’s in good company when it comes to elaborating upon English history. Centuries earlier, William Shakespeare took his own stab at telling the story of his country’s monarchs, filling in the blanks of the pre-Tudor era for audiences of all backgrounds, from the groundlings to the aristocracy who visited the playhouses of Elizabethan England.
And those themes of betrayal, scandal, and social climbing? They’re prevalent there too, and I wanted to consult some local experts about the appeal of Shakespeare’s histories while sharing how Georgians can enjoy some local theater for themselves (maybe after you’ve finished bingeing Wolf Hall on GPB Passport, perhaps?). That’s when I reached out to Jeanette Meierhofer, Marketing Manager from The Atlanta Shakespeare Company, who was happy to answer my questions.
Georgia Public Broadcasting: Could you share a little bit about the origins of the Atlanta Shakespeare Company? How did the Company get started? What were the first productions the Atlanta Shakespeare Company produced, and what projects and productions does the Company perform beyond Shakespeare?
Jeanette Meierhofer, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company: The Atlanta Shakespeare Company started as a book club in the early 1980’s. It eventually morphed into a performance group which Jeffrey Watkins (our current Artistic Director) was asked to lead. In the early days before purchasing the current performance space, the company performed at Manuel’s Tavern and Excelsior Mill (the old Masquerade building on North Ave). There were a few experimental plays, but the main focus was performing Shakespeare. The first few shows we produced were The Tempest, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing.
Since the opening of The Shakespeare Tavern® Playhouse on Peachtree Street in 1990, ASC has produced Shakespeare's entire 39 play canon twice, plus over 20 period classics by the likes of Aristophanes, G.B Shaw, Mrs. Aphra Behn, Jean Racine, Christopher Marlowe, Jean Anouilh, Ryunosuke Akutagwa, Niccolo Machiavelli, Albert Camus, Jean Genet, Tennessee Williams, Moliere, Bertolt Brecht, Jean Cocteau, and Thornton Wilder and a handful of fun musicals such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Cabaret, and Hamlet, The Musical!
We like to say we perform Shakespeare and the classics in a casual tavern atmosphere.
Bonus fact: In 1995 ASC was honored to be the first American company to perform on the stage of Shakespeare’s Globe in London, England.
GPB: Both Wolf Hall and the Atlanta Shakespeare company take Tudor history, through Hilary Mantel's books, the MASTERPIECE adaptation, and William Shakespeare's plays, and make it come alive for new audiences. Why do you think Georgians are so drawn to the various productions performed by the Atlanta Shakespeare Company, from more traditional retellings to Shakespeare Out of a Hat?
JM: It comes down to authenticity. We are unlike any theatre company around, and we are good at what we do.
We believe that the most important part of our job is to make the words of the playwright come alive and to explore that message with you rather than merely reciting it “at” you. We use live sound effects created by the acting company, perform period music live and on appropriate instruments. We use Elizabethan style costumes on our Globe-inspired (Shakespeare’s original theatre) stage and talk directly to you, the audience, in much the same way we believe Shakespeare and his acting company would have directly addressed Elizabethan audience members.
Shakespeare was a visionary who had a deeper understanding of and ability to communicate our humanity back to us in a very real and powerful way. The truth always wins, humans are drawn to it. If it’s given to them by performers who are trained in how best to express it, even better.
All of this happens in a unique tavern/Globe-like environment with food and drinks available before every show.
GPB: In Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell's story both shows him in a more favorable light than other pieces of historical fiction from the Tudor Era and includes events that have only been theorized to have happened in order to give the audience a new perspective. Similarly, the Atlanta Shakespeare Company offers new perspectives and narratives based on Shakespeare's popular plays, including examining historical events influenced by Shakespeare's works. Could you share with us a bit about your upcoming production of Carlyle Brown's The African Company Presents Richard III?
JM: Going back to the idea that Shakespeare “communicated our humanity back to us in a very real and powerful way,” we also believe that Shakespeare is and can be for everyone. The African Company Presents Richard III tells the true story of William Henry Brown’s African Theatre Company and their 1821 performances of Shakespeare’s Richard III, and how they were shut down and arrested at the behest of Stephen Price, a white theatre producer who was mounting his own production of Richard III. This story reinforces for us the idea that no one person or culture can claim exclusive dominion over Shakespeare’s plays. His work belongs to all of us, and we are all allowed to interpret his words through our own personal and cultural lenses.
GPB: Through MASTERPIECE dramas, PBS performances and documentaries, and The Atlanta Shakespeare Company, Tudor history and the arts are for everyone. How can people of all ages get involved in visiting and supporting you and the Shakespeare Tavern, from the most devoted Shakespeare fan to someone who has never seen a Shakespeare play before? How does The Atlanta Shakespeare Company inspire young people in particular to take an interest in Shakespeare and the theater, and reject the idea that Shakespeare is difficult to understand, outdated, or boring?
JM: It goes back to being authentic. It starts with the fact that Shakespeare had a deep grasp of what it means to be human and he expressed that in such beautiful language. Again, truth wins and people are drawn to it at every age. Shakespeare was fun, naughty, and real. He created characters in which we see ourselves. He put them in situations we have experienced (or wouldn’t want to experience). We teach our actors and apprentices to be in the room, with their own emotional landscape when speaking Shakespeare. Their ability to do so helps audiences find the truth inside them with ease. We teach students of all ages how to do that, as well. We remind them that Shakespeare was meant to be seen and heard, they are plays. We want people to play and have fun and we make every encounter with his works fun and easy to understand. If we can get students to be engaged, through playshops, student matinees, and summer camps, we have got them for life. Hooray for teachers who bring them to us! Hooray for parents who bring young people in!
Whether it’s Wolf Hall or the works of William Shakespeare, audiences have been pulled into political and social intrigue for centuries with new fans finding a love of history and theatre every day. Wolf Hall premieres on Sunday, March 23 at 9 p.m. as part of MASTERPIECE and will air and stream on GPB-TV, online, and on GPB Passport, with new episodes premiering Sundays this spring.
You can see Carlyle Brown’s The African Company Presents Richard III with The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at Atlanta’s Shakespeare Tavern now through March 30. Later this season, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company will be performing William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night beginning April 5 and, what I’m most excited for, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice presented by ASC and Belle Esprit, premiering May 3. It’s the perfect accompaniment to the new MASTERPIECE series Miss Austen, debuting on GPB-TV and streaming on GPB Passport on Sunday, May 4 at 9 p.m.
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