The Bard's Carnival

Shakespeare returns to Crystal Bridges

To draw the audience into Shakespeare’s world before “Twelfth Night” even begins, there will be 30 minutes of music and pre-show fun with the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre actors, “just like you’ve stepped into a carnival,” director Chad Bradford says.
To draw the audience into Shakespeare’s world before “Twelfth Night” even begins, there will be 30 minutes of music and pre-show fun with the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre actors, “just like you’ve stepped into a carnival,” director Chad Bradford says.

How have the 400-year-old works of one playwright continued to be relevant for four centuries, leading him to be considered one of the greatest playwrights in history? Chad Bradford, a director with the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre in Conway, thinks it is because the Bard's works reveal themes people still deal with in everyday life.

"In examining Shakespeare's plays, we can kind of hold the mirror up to society and say these things are still happening," Bradford says. "Now more than ever, we need to accept one another. That's universal and in almost all of Shakespeare's plays."

FAQ

‘Twelfth Night’

WHEN — 7 p.m. Thursday

WHERE — Walker Landing at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville

COST — Free

INFO — 657-2335 or crystalbridges.org

Celebrating their 10th season this year, the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre is producing "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Romeo and Juliet," "West Side Story" and "Twelfth Night" for the summer, with "Twelfth Night" touring across the state. The company will perform at its final tour stop -- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville -- at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The touring production is always an abbreviated, family-friendly version of the show, so all are welcome.

"We've gone to great lengths to distill the plot to its absolute nuts and bolts," Bradford says. "Feste, the fool, is kind of our narrator, and he's always there to keep the connective tissue of the story. So even our youngest audience member won't get lost."

The old English of the Bard's plays can sometimes scare audiences away, but Bradford is confident everyone will be able to appreciate this production. By abbreviating the language, adding original songs and music that move the story forward and with the help of beautiful costume work -- done by Matt Peoples, a teacher at Bentonville High School -- that helps the audience connect to the characters, Bradford says the whole family can enjoy "Twelfth Night."

"When you see good Shakespeare, you're going to understand it," he says. "This traveling carnival of 'Twelfth Night' is going to be fun, fast and as engaging as possible."

-- Jocelyn Murphy

jmurphy@nwadg.com

NAN What's Up on 07/01/2016

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