"Servant of Two Masters" opens Shakespeare & Co.'s Bankside Festival

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Sarah Taylor, Catherine Taylor-Willliams, Julie Webster Star in Shakespeare & Company's production of "The Servant of Two Masters"
LENOX-While a trio of wedding bells toll the day's end, confusion reigns in Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, a free comedy of disguise, deception, love, and longing in...Lenox. Directed by long-time Company member Dan McCleary and translated/adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Paolo Emilio Landi, The Servant of Two Masters will be performed in two parts - Part One on Wednesdays and Part Two on Fridays, or see both parts on Saturdays. Performances play on the 200-seat, tented outdoor Rose Footprint Theatre from June 23 - August 26. Part of the Company's Bankside Festival, this free performance of Servant is ticketed and must be reserved through the box office.For tickets, show times, and further information please call the box office at (413) 637-3353 or visit the website, www.shakespeare.org , newly designed by Studio Two of Lenox. McCleary, who has directed Vita & Virginia, The Fiery Rain, and Henry & June at S&Co, is setting Goldoni's classic Commedia dell'arte play in the Berkshires as mischief-making servant Truffaldino (played by Michael Burnet) charges through the Rose audience and stage with a cast of zanies and clowns. Servant features a cast of both seasoned Company actors and newcomers, including Jacquelyn Leanna Antonson, Michael Burnet, Grant Haywood, David Joseph, Jeff Kent, Karen Lee, Lydia Barnett-Mulligan, Jeff Newman, Sam Reiff-Pasarew, Julie Webster, and Catherine Taylor-Williams. "Commedia and the role of Truffaldino, also known as Arlecchino and Harlequin, had been around since Shakespeare's birth (200 years earlier) when Goldoni, a lawyer in 1744, was approached by a well-known Truffaldino actor who asked him to dramatize an outline for his troupe," says McCleary."The actors took the outline and ran with it -- all over Europe, before hundreds of audiences, and for four years, which is when Goldoni first saw his fully fleshed-out work.He was clearly very taken with it. McCleary's version of Servant begins as a traveling troupe of tragedians pitch their tent on the grounds of Shakespeare & Company to play their epic production of Hamlet.Little do they know that Tina Packer and family have already staked their claim to permanent residence at Elsinore Castle.Guess who has to change their programming? With only a few minutes before the play is to begin and in front of their expectant audience at the Rose Footprint, the little company-that-could must step into a 250-year-old comedy titled The Servant of Two Masters.Using whatever costumes they can quickly grasp, their encyclopedic knowledge of vaudevillian stock characters, and a little help from their audience, the story of a threadbare clown in mad search of food, money, and attention comes to wild, improvised life. In one implausible day, Truffaldino ends up with two masters and two jobs. That means twice as much money, twice as much food, but also twice as much work.His masters, meanwhile, are just as busy.Separated lovers on the run, they end up in the same house of ill repute, each unaware that the other is there. Which isn't too much of a challenge since one of them is in drag.But they aren't the only lovers in town as two impatient old fathers attempt to fashion a wedding between children that will bring the highest return on their investment. "In traditional Commedia, the actors wore masks (mostly to protect them from being hit for speaking unpopular truths) and ornate, immediately recognizable costumes," adds McCleary."We are doing neither, but we hope to apprehend the indefatigable mental and physical purity of Commedia by rehearsing and performing in a way that might inspire Goldoni to transcribe. In this production, the actors are giving themselves different parameters for the playing of each scene with the ongoing assistance of a Master of Revels.They then improvise their way through our story using audience input, news of current events, local Berkshire lore, their athleticism, musical prowess, and innate physical awareness of American Commedia, which I believe is vaudeville. "While these lazzis are rooted in the text, more importantly, they are deeply rooted in the body," he continued. "And Commedia being a comedy of the body, we're appreciating the purity of the clown's impulse, of the commitment to the clown's success or failure, and of the courage of a ship of fools who, when they discover themselves slipping on banana peels, make banana splits." AT A GLANCE Production: The Servant of Two Masters Director: Dan McCleary Cast: Jacquelyn Leanna Antonson (ensemble), Michael Burnet (Truffaldino), Grant Haywood (Silvio), David Joseph (Florindo), Jeff Kent (Pantalone), Karen Lee (Brighella), Lydia Barnett-Mulligan (Clarice), Jeff Newman (Revels Master), Sam Reiff-Pasarew (Lombardi), Julie Webster (Smeraldina), and Catherine Taylor-Williams (Beatrice) Costume Designer:Sue Slack
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Marionette Shows At Ventfort Hall for Children

LENOX, Mass. — The puppeteer Carl Sprague will return to Ventfort Hall Gilded Age Mansion and Museum in Lenox with Rapunzel for two holiday vacation week marionette performances. 
 
The dates and times are Saturday, Dec. 27 and Monday, Dec. 29, both at 3:30 pm. The audiences will have the opportunity to meet Sprague after.
 
Sprague, who has appeared annually at Ventfort Hall with his "behind the scenery" mastery, has been a puppeteer since childhood.  He inherited a collection of 60 antique Czech marionettes, each about eight inches tall that were assembled by his great-grandfather, Julius Hybler.  Hybler's legacy also includes two marionette theaters. 
 
Also, Sprague has been a set designer for such motion pictures as "The Royal Tenenbaums" and Scorcese's "The Age of Innocence," as well as for theater productions including those of Shakespeare & Company. 
 
Admission to the show is $20 per person; $10 for children 4-17 and free for age 3 and under. Children must be accompanied by adults.  Ventfort Hall is decorated for the holidays. Reservations are required as seating is limited and can be made on line at https://gildedage.org/pages/calendar or by calling (413) 637-3206. Walk-ins will be accommodated as space allows. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
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