For more than a decade now, the Tennessee Shakespeare Company has brought the Bard into Memphis’ living spaces. We have seen performances on the campus of Germantown High School (A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2009), the University of Memphis (Henry V in 2016), Shelby Farms (The Tempest in 2012), and the grounds of The Dixon Gallery and Gardens (Romeo and Juliet in 2011), to name only a few.
TSC finally has its own living space (the former headquarters of Ballet Memphis in Cordova) and will soon present one of Shakespeare’s most acclaimed and discussed productions — Julius Caesar — on the new Tabor Stage, in a setting creative director and TSC founder Dan McCleary now calls home.
“Physical environment has always heavily influenced our choice of plays and then how we have directed them,” says McCleary. “Environment also influenced and inspired Shakespeare: whether the stage was outdoors or indoors, the proximity to the audience, natural sounds, the lack or availability of props or natural lighting. And of course, the ‘scenic design’ was as is. The experience was focused on the actor-audience relationship and the actor’s relationship to the text — which was alarming and modern.”
“With the help of this environment, we hope to bring the Roman story and Shakespeare’s need to tell it into 2019 America.” — Tennessee Shakespeare Company founder Dan McCleary
TSC productions have an intimacy that’s intentional, the idea being that Shakespeare is more experience than show. “We are working with an intimate thrust configuration that puts our audiences on stage with the actors,” notes McCleary, “and provides for an Elizabethan in-or-above scenic structure that is fixed. We can design and dress the structure in many ways, but it is practical for most everything we produce.”
As for this particular production, McCleary finds himself in the role of historian, and from a modern vantage point where political leaders — like Caesar — are under a hotter spotlight than ever. “This Roman history is not pretty or polished like the exhibits [that will appear on stage]. It is human and bloody, both of the mind and hand. With the help of this environment, we hope to bring the Roman story and Shakespeare’s need to tell it into 2019 America.”
McCleary has held Julius Caesar close for a quarter-century, as an actor, director, and producer. He relishes the chance to share its impact with the TSC touch. “I have been struck by the play’s bonds of love and what is done in the name of love on a national level,” he says. “Now, today, I am hearing and experiencing the play differently. I find we are tending to its spirituality, multiple philosophies, and events and language that presage, even quote, today’s national headlines. It is frightening. And it is enlightening.”
Performance schedule:
• September 25 and 26 (previews): 7:30 p.m.
• September 27: 7:30 p.m. (opening, with post-show reception with actors)
• September 28, October 3-5: 7:30 p.m.
• September 29 and October 6 (matinees): 3:00 p.m.
All performances will be at 7950 Trinity Road.
For tickets, call 901-759-0604 or visit tnshakespeare.org
