Thursday, October 18, 2007 12:27 AM CDT
Shakespeare, with a twist, this weekend
Production trades doublets and hose for leather and fishnets
By LISA BARTELT, Staff Writer
lbartelt@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Shakespeare, meet professional wrestling.
Instead of doublets and hose, think leather and fishnets.
That’s the spin Eastern Illinois University is taking for its performance of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” opening Friday at the Village Theatre, 960 18th St., Charleston.
Although the language will be typically Shakespearan, the costumes will look more appropriate for World Wrestling Entertainment events (formerly World Wrestling Federation).
“The script we didn’t touch,” said director Jean Wolski. “This is a timeless piece. But rather than doublets and hose, we took the image of battles — and a wrestling match in the script — and took a wrestling motif.”
The set resembles a wrestling ring with a padded floor, and the forest setting contains elements of a wrestling ring: ropes and belts hanging from the ceiling and trees made from spandex, Wolski said.
Costume designer Karen Eisenhour researched professional wrestling characters and matched them with the characters in “As You Like It.”
“We’re achieving a WWE-kind of feel and look to them,” she said. “We’re trying to show the difference between the two different courts. One is violent, a sort of ‘legion of doom’ with reds, blacks and dark colors for the ‘bad guys. The other is more natural colors, the ‘nicer’ wrestlers.”
A character based on the professional wrestler “The Undertaker” has generated the most interest from the cast, Eisenhour said. His 6-foot, 4-inch height coupled with a mohawk and long black leather coat make the character “evil, evil, evil,” she said.
Dressing the 20 cast members — who range in age from freshmen to seniors, some who are theater majors, some who aren’t, and all of whom haven’t performed Shakespeare in an EIU production — in contemporary costumes aids character development, the women said.
“It enhances the character,” Eisenhour said. “They can relate and make it more tangible.”
“If they see spikes and black clothing, they think ‘bad,’” Wolski said. “It makes it more accessible. It’s fun to do it this way.”
“As You Like It” performances are at 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Sunday, the show will go on at 2 p.m.
The University Theatre Ticket Office is open from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and one hour prior to each performance in the Village Theatre.
Tickets are $10, adult; $8, faculty, staff and senior citizens; and $5, students. Reservations can be made by calling 581-3110 Monday through Friday between 2 and 6 p.m.
Contact Lisa Bartelt at lbartelt@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.
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