Much ado about something

Southern Living, Feb 1996 by Butler, Wanda

I sat in a theater seat, waiting for that magic moment when the houselights dim and the curtain goes up onstage. The play was The Tempest, performed by professional actors with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery.

And for a good 15 minutes I was lost. The clipped accents of the Queen's English and grammar of several hundred years ago fell as an unfamiliar melody on my ears. But then the rhythms began to take hold; the words turned to music in a key I could understand. And for the next two hours I was lost in a most wonderful way, just as theatergoers have been for the past 400 years.

Meanwhile in Texas, cicadas add their own Southwestern music to As You Like It, being performed at The Globe of the Great Southwest in Odessa. I discovered that barbecue and the Bard harmonize well together by dining first, then entering the octagonal reproduction of the original Globe Theatre in London. Shakespeare is alive and well and living all over the South. And for those who remember unfortunate experiences with the Bard in high school English, fear not. He is as understandable and current today as he was to the British everyman of so long ago.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE...IN ALABAMA

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) is the fifth largest in the world, welcoming more than 250,000 visitors annually. The complex is set in a 250-acre park that includes the Montgomery Museum of Art.

The complex itself contains two theaters--the 750-seat Festival Stage and the 225-seat Octagon. Along with three Shakespearean plays performed each season, ASF also produces plays by such authors as Moliere, George Bernard Shaw, Anton Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, and August Wilson.

The Children's Theatre and "SchoolFest," ASF's student matinee programs, entertain more than 50,000 schoolchildren each season. On Saturdays during the season, the festival offers "Theatre in the Mind," a free adult humanities program with lectures and author and actor discussions.

"I believe part of our success is directly related to the Southern love of good stories and our fascination with the language of talking," says artistic director Kent Thompson. "After all, what better storyteller is there than Shakespeare?"

To get a closer look at the theater, take a backstage tour (arranged through the box office) on Saturday or Sunday at 11 a.m. for $3 per person. On the tour you'll see both theaters, the scenery and prop shops, and the costume shop. There's a terrific gift shop too.

This season's offerings include the following.

* Androcles and the Lion by Aurand Harris (Children's Theatre Production), through February 17

* Five Guys Named Moe, a musical by Clarke Peters, through February 18

* The Ladies of the Camellias by Lillian Garrett-Groag, February 27-July 20

* Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, March 5-July 20

* The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, March 26-July 21

* To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee,April 2-July 21

* Ain't Got Long To Stay Here by Barry Scott (SouthernWriters' Project), May 21-July 19

* The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare, May 28-July 19

* Lizard by Dennis Covington (Southern Writers' Project), July 13-16 at the Olympic Arts Festival in Atlanta and July 24-August 18 at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Ticket prices range from $15 to $25. Season tickets are also available. Call the ASF box office at (334) 271-5353 or 1-800-841-4273.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE...IN TEXAS

Out in Odessa, Texas, Tne Globe of the Great Southwest is an amazing sight. An authentic reproduction of the original Globe Theatre in London, the building began full-time activity in 1968.

Octagonal in design, the theater seats 410, and because of its shape and building materials, it features remarkable acoustics. The 1,800-square-foot stage is thrust into the audience, just as it was in Shakespeare's day when peasants paid a penny to stand in a semicircle at the actors' feet. The interior carries on the Globe's theme, with its rich British-red carpeting and upholstered seats, complete with London dock lanterns.

"I love to watch a repertory company like the National Shakespeare Theatre when they come in here to The Globe," says Clay Francell, director of The Globe of the Great Southwest. "They're used to touring the country and playing in cafeterias and school auditoriums. They walk in here, and their mouths drop open. They start realizing the possibilities and they immediately start re-blocking the whole show."

A high school English teacher brought the world of Shakespeare to Odessa. Marjorie Morris started a Shakespeare club with high school students, studying Shakespeare after school. One student turned in a model of the original Globe Theatre and mentioned it would be unique if a Globe were built in Odessa.

Marjorie, later an English teacher at Odessa College, started her research (her master's thesis was "The Proposed Globe Theatre at Odessa, Texas"), and in 1968 The Globe of the Great Southwest opened. The seats were not installed for the first performance, so people sat on butcher paper in their evening clothes.