The Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts 2011

If The Thespian were a member of the Academy this is how I'd rank the five nominees.

5.  Na Wewe - Belgian - in French, subtitled.    A story set in during the Rwandan massacres.    A white man and his driver are picked up by a van.    Stopped at a checkpoint the Hutu soldiers demand that they separate into Hutus and Tutsis for possible execution.    The white man is ignored.   All of the others try to convince the leader that they are Hutu, of mixed race or foreign born.    A young schoolboy is singled out for interrogation.

There's always at least one with a social commentary theme.   This is it.   While a taut drama, The Thespian felt that it was just a bit too predictable for my tastes..

4.  The Confession - UK - Two boys face their first confession.   One of the boys can't figure out what he's done bad that he can confess.  His troublemaking friend suggests that they steal a scarecrow.  This theft leads to a deeper tragedy.   Ultimately will the boy truthfully confess his role in the ensuing tragic events?

Heavy Catholic symbolism (we get it a scarecrow resembles Christ on the Cross).   The tale was a bit heavy handed for The Thespian's personal taste.

3.  God of Love - USA - the only American entry this year and the only film in black and white.    A comedy involving a nightclub crooner and dart champion and his wish that his prayers would be answered and the drummer in his band would fall in love with him.  He receives a gift of love darts.   What will he learn about love?   

It's a student film from NYU.  The lead actor, writer and director are one and the same.   While The Thespian liked the film, felt it was a bit of a vanity project.

2.  The Crush - Ireland - An 8 year old boy has a crush on his schoolteacher and gives her a toy ring.   After deciding that he will marry her when he's old enough he is crushed to find out she just got engaged to a man that the boy doesn't think deserves her.   What does he do?  Challenges the fiancee to a duel.

This was a clever little film.  A bit of a black comedy, it does make you a bit uneasy during the duel.   But it has a very satisfactory conclusion.

1.  Wish 143 - UK - a terminally ill teenage boy is offered a Wish from the UK version of the Make A Wish Foundation.   However they can't grant him what he really wants - to lose his virginity.    Through a friendship with a sympathetic priest (Downton Abbey's Mr. Carson) - he gets the chance to fulfill his dream.

This could have been maudlin.  Instead its a delightful dramedy with a few unexpected twists to the tale.  It does not turn out the way that you expect.  If The Thespian were a voter this would get my vote.

The Oscar Nominated Animation Shorts 2011

This program always adds a few that just missed being nominated.   The Thespian really felt that one of the two shown should have replaced my ranked number 5 of the nominees.

"Highly Commended" The Cow That Wanted to be a Hamburger - USA - traditional hand-drawn 2D    A calf sees a billboard for Happy Hamburger and desires to become one.   Then he gets his wish and discovers to his horror what his dream really means.   

It's funnier than it sounds.    It was a cute story, but the 2D animation style was very primitive.

"Highly Commended" URS - Germany - computer animation.   A man, URS, desires to take his elderly mother over a perilous mountain range to give her a better life.  

Beautiful animation.   Very stylized characters and the contrast between the golden mountains and the grey/blue impoverished farm is stunning.    Sad story - ending a bit predictable.   Should have been nominated over the number 5.

5.  Let's Pollute - USA - traditional hand-drawn 2D.    In the style of the patriotic campaigns of the 1940's and 1950's this is a satire of man destroying the environment.    

Cute for about 1 minute, shame it lasts 6.

4.  Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (the travel journal) - France - French with subtitles - a mishmash of styles including hand-drawn, stop motion, computer animation, rotoscoping and some live action.   

It's exactly what the title says - a journey through a man's visit to Madagascar and a focus on his invitation to a funeral ritual and party.   

Great animation showing off great technique.   That's about it.

3.  The Gruffalo - UK - computer animation - was shown on ABC Family during the 25 Days of Christmas this past December.   A squirrel tells her children a cautionary tale of a mouse who tricks three predators into not eating him and then discovers a new problem when the imaginary creature he created in his mind appears.   Based on the book.

A very gentle fable with some well known British voices.    A bit slow in its paces, but a nice film.

2.  The Lost Thing - Australia - computer animation.   A man reflects on the day he found a lost thing and how he helped it find a new home.

A surrealist piece, very Dali in style on the lost things.    Appears to be a commentary on how mankind conforms to a set way of life, missing the hidden beauty in the world.     Liked it a lot...but

1.  Day & Night - USA - hand-drawn and computer animation originally released in 3D.   Disney/Pixar collaboration cleverly using day and night imagery to tell the tale of two rivals, jealous of what the other has and how they become friends.

Disney/Pixar hasn't won this category since For The Birds.   It's a great little film.   Liked it better in 3D, which it is not being shown in with these shorts or on the Toy Story 3 DVD/Blu-Ray.    Just won the Anime award.    Should win.

The Malcontent by John Marston at the American Shakespeare Center

Revenge.

Revenge is a popular topic upon the stage, and it was very popular in Renaissance theater.   Revenge plays fall into two types.   The "bloody" with many deaths, such as Hamlet and Titus Andronicus and the "redemptive" in such plays as The Tempest.    The Malcontent is a rich blend of both.   There is the threat of deaths, deserved and undeserved, yet there is a unexpectedly rewarding ending for the plotters in this tale.

Duke Altofronto (Benjamin Curns) has been overthrown in a plot contrived by Mendoza (John Harrell), a minion of Aurelia (Sarah Fallon).   Pietro Jacomo (Jeremy West) has been appointed Duke of Genoa in Altofronto's place and married Aurelia.   Altofronto's wife, Maria (Miriam Donald) is thrown in prison.  Aurelia is cuckolding Pietro with Mendoza.  Altofronto disguises himself as Malevole, the Malcontent and plots the downfall of them all, but especially Mendoza.    Mendoza, however, is his equal in wit and contrivance and manages to weave a plot in which he gets himself named the heir of Pietro.   There is corruption everywhere throughout Pietro's court and Malevole comments on it to the Duke's face and in deliciously juicy soliloquies to the audience.    Malevole plots against Mendoza.  Mendoza eludes entrapment and manipulates Aurelia and Pietro.   The plot weaves and flows to a grand masque in which all is revealed and those who have wronged Altofronto and Maria are punished.

Benjamin Curns is a forceful Altofronto/Malevole.  Mr. Curns commands the audience's attention and makes us wonder where his revenge will take us next.   He is equally matched by the slithering John Harrell's Mendoza.  As with Mr. Curns, Mr. Harrell's Mendoza is so good at turning the tables that the audience wonders what his outrageous audacity will lead to as well.   Jeremy West balances his Pietro's uneasiness upon the throne and his jealous streak when it comes to his wife.   Sarah Fallon plays a sensuous, oh let's be real here, slut, but revels in Aurelia's insecurities.   As the pandress, Maquerelle, Alison Glenzer is outrageously bold and brassy.   As the ladies of the court she encourages in their infidelities, Miriam Donald is a ditzy confection and Jeremiah Davis is a flirtatious plum. Paul Jannise is a perfect fop as  Bilioso,  as he flits between the courtly factions as they wax and wane in influence.  Tyler Moss, as the plainspoken fool Passarello comments on the court with biting wit.

The version of The Malcontent's script being performed at the Blackfriars contains an Induction.   It is a commentary by and on the leading actors and wonderfully transitions the play from the American Shakespeare Center's traditional curtain speech into the play itself.

This is a deliciously rich script and the actors of the American Shakespeare Center's Actors Renaissance Season have embraced its complexities producing a spellbinding production on the Blackfriars stage.   During the Actors Renaissance Season the productions are rehearsed in a matter of days.   There are no directors or designers and costumes and props are taken from existing stock.    Yet, this is a cohesive marvel.   The costuming looks like it was planned by a designer with most of it a recreation of an late 17th or 18th century court.   (there is one anachronism in Patrick Midgley's costuming for Ferneze - but it works for the character and creates some nice "eye candy" for the ladies in the audience).   Dancing and stage combat appear choreographed with weeks of rehearsal rather than a matter of days. Without a director, the actors have come together with a unity that rivals productions directed by the acclaimed masters of stagecraft today.     The Thespian would put The Malcontent against any million dollar designed production on an classical theater company stage today and it would surpass them in quality.

The Malcontent by John Marston, will be presented as part of the Actors Renaissance Season at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia in repertoire with William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors and Henry VI, Part 3, Look About You, author unknown and Thomas Middleton's A Trick to Catch the Old One through April 2, 2011.   For tickets and performance information please visit www.americanshakespearecenter.com.

Look About You at the American Shakespeare Center

"Don't you worry, never fear.   Robin Hood will soon be here."  - Little John, Rabbit Hood, Warners Bros.

There are many, many interpretations of the folk character, Robin Hood in literature, film and upon the stage.    He has been portrayed as the dashing hero, a sexy man in tights, a world weary crusader and a klutzy duck trying to impress a pig friar. (Robin Hood Daffy).  The American Shakespeare Center has revived a play, author unknown, that was written around 1595, in which the character of Robin Hood is prominently a part of the story.    Yet it is a very different Robin Hood that greets the audience at the Blackfriars Playhouse.    He's handsome, brave and loyal...and looks just lovely in a dress.

Look About You shares a lot of elements with William Shakespeare's history plays.    It is set during the reign of King Henry II (Paul Jannise).   Henry has crowned his eldest son, Henry the Young King (Jeremy West) , as joint ruler of England.   Out of jealousy, Henry II's queen, Elinor of Aquitaine (Allison Glenzer) has ordered Henry II's mistress, the fair Rosamund murdered.   This has been carried out with the blessing of the Young King, by Robin Hood's servant, Skink (John Harrell).   Robin Hood (Patrick Midgley) is good friends with Prince Richard, the future Lionheart (Gregory Jon Phelps).   Prince Richard desires to fight in the Holy Land.   His younger brother, Prince John (Jeremiah Davis) craves titles.    The courtier, Robert, Duke of Gloucester(Benjamin Curns) plainly speaks his mind to the two Kings and for his truthfulness in warning Henry II not to trust his sons is imprisoned as a traitor.    Meanwhile, Skink, who will prove a master of disguise, eludes capture.

That is the extent of the history part of the plot.    In truth, Look About You is a roaringly funny comedy in which almost every character at one point dons a disguise.    Some of the disguises are absurd, yet the talented company at the Blackfriars gamely embraces each one making the impossibility of how anyone could not figure out who the person really is work for a very entertained audience.   The master of this is John Harrell's wily Skink.   If you keep a scorecard, Skink dons no less than eight separate disguises, and Mr. Harrell takes on some mannerism of the actor portraying the character he is pretending to be which adds to his deliciously rich performance.

Benjamin Curns, as the wronged Gloucester carries a strong presence in his more serious role as the punished for being honest courtier.     As Redcap, a stuttering messenger, Chris Johnston plays a very high energy fool and his mastery of the speech impediment is a marvel to behold.  

The romantic subplot involves Prince Richard's attempts to woo and win as his mistress, Lady Marian (Miriam Donald), the sister of Gloucester and the wife of the elderly Sir Richard Fauconbridge(Tyler Moss).   Mr. Moss is physically very flexible and he creates a comedic gem in his rubbery yet enthusiastic Fauconbridge.    Prince Richard sends his faithful Robin Hood, here the noble Earl of Huntingdon, to prepare Lady Marian for his suit of love.   Lady Marian turns the tables, by having Robin impersonate her as she dons a disguise in the hopes of winning her brother's freedom.  

Of the wooing of Robin as Marian by Prince Richard, the less revealed.   It is simply hilarious.   And Mr. Midgley is absolutely adorable.

Being a comedy, every thing ends happily.    And so to, will your visit to the Blackfriars Playhouse after two hours of merry mirth upon the stage.    This is a rare opportunity to see a play that has not been revived in 400 years.   Please don't miss it.

Look About You, author unknown, will be presented as part of the Actors Renaissance Season at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia in repertoire with William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors and Henry VI, Part 3, John Marston's The Malcontent and Thomas Middleton's A Trick to Catch the Old One through April 3, 2011.   For tickets and performance information please visit www.americanshakespearecenter.com.

The Thespian's Extra Note: During the winter Actors Renaissance Season, there are no directors or designers.   The American Shakespeare Center recreates what extensive research believes were the conditions that Shakespeare's acting company would have used to stage a play.The actors receive only cue scripts containing their lines and a short "cue", the last few words of the preceding actor's line.   They are responsible for acquiring their own costumes and props from the stock available at the theater.   There is a prompter on the side of the stage in case someone forgets a line.  The rehearsal period is a matter of days.

An Actor in Search of a Character: Jane Parker, Viscountess Rochford

One of the more fascinating aspects of performing as part of the cast of a Renaissance festival, particularly one in which royal court story lines get performed on a regular basis, such as at my home festival, the Maryland Renaissance Festival, is the challenge to develop information when portraying an actual historical person. Actors who do historical interpretation at such venues as Colonial Williamsburg and Mount Vernon are equally aware of this challenge.  It is easier to find information if you portraying a prominent person, such as King Henry VIII or his wives. However, if you are given the role of a courtier or a courtier's wife it is much more difficult to find contemporary information.    Birth dates are largely unknown in the first half of the sixteenth century. Unless you are of royal birth your early life and rudimentary education will not be recorded.   There may be brief glimpses of you in the historical record, but for women of the sixteenth century, unless you came to prominence on your own accord, there is little to go on for an actor to develop insight into the personality of the historical figure.  

I have had has had the priveledge of portraying three historical women from the court of King Henry VIII,  Jane Guildford, the wife of John Dudley, Gertrude Blount, the Marchioness of Exeter, and Jane Parker, known to history as the infamous Lady Rochford.  Today, being February 13th, is the anniversary of the executions for treason of Queen Katherine Howard and Jane Parker Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford.  So, today, I honor this vilified woman with sharing what I have researched into her life.

Lady Rochford is forever entwined with the deaths of two queens,  her sister-in-law, Anne Boleyn, and Katherine Howard. She has gone down in history as "that bawd, Lady Rochford" who accused her husband of incest with his sister and with having procured for and encouraged the teenaged Katherine in her adulterous behavior.  First, when playing a woman with that reputation you must be prepared for  a lot of "you're gonna lose your head" and "you're a bad person" type comments from the patrons of the festival.  I have my own viewpoint on Jane Parker Boleyn's guilt in these matters, but as an actor you have to investigate the person's entire life, find her motivation as you will, to figure out how the person became the woman on that scaffold on a cold February in 1542.

No one knows when Jane Parker was born. It is speculated that it was probably around 1505.   Victorians who dug up the altar space in the Chapel of St. Peter-ad-Vincula in 1877 believed her to be around 40 years old. She was the daughter of a Baron. Henry Parker, Lord Morley was a member of the household of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII and acted as her cupbearer at the coronation feast of King Henry VIII.  He was educated at Oxford and was known for his intellectual abilities being used as a literary translator in Henry VIII's reign. He also served as an ambassador being one of a party who delivered the Order of the Garter to the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Jane's mother, Alice St. John was the daughter of Sir John St. John a prosperous landowner in Bedfordshire.  Jane had at least four siblings, Henry, Francis, Margaret and Elizabeth. She probably grew up mostly in Great Hallingbury, located in Essex, although there were other manors in the family estate.  The Morley family was buried in the local church, but their gravestones were removed in the 1870's during a renovation.

Jane Parker first appears in the court records as Mistress Parker in attendance upon Queen Katherine of Aragon at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Next she appeared as one of the eight ladies in the famous Chateau Vert Masque on March 4, 1522. Playing the courtly virtues the ladies were a who's who of some of the prominent women of King Henry VIII's reign.  Mary Tudor Brandon, Dowager Queen of France and King Henry VIII's younger sister played Beauty.  Gertrude Blount Courtenay, then Countess of Devonshire played Honor.  Mistress Browne was Bounty, Mistress Dannet was Mercy and we do not know who played Pity. The final trio were Mary Boleyn Carey as Kindness, Anne Boleyn as Perseverance and Jane Parker as Constancy.

In 1524 marriage negotiations began for Jane Parker to wed George Boleyn, the only son and heir of Sir Thomas Boleyn. The Parkers and Boleyns knew each other well. The legal contract was drawn up on October 4, 1524 which settled a widow's jointure on Jane of 100 marks (about 66 pounds) a year in the case that George died before her. Jane brought a marriage jointure of 2000 marks (1300 pounds).    King Henry VIII doubled Jane's widow's jointure, possibly as a wedding gift, to 200 marks. George and Jane were given the manors of Aylesbury, Bierton and West Laxham.

Jane's fortunes at court rose with her sister-in-law Anne's rise in King Henry VIII's favor. Her husband became a privy councilor and an Ambassador. George and Jane did not have any children and there is nothing in the record of any births or miscarriages.  There was a George Boleyn who became Dean of Lichfield in the reign of Elizabeth I. A few posit that he was George and Jane's son or that he was the illegitimate son of George, but there is no evidence of either assertion.

We don't know what George and Jane's marriage was like. George inherited his father's title of Viscount Rochford in 1529, when Thomas Boleyn was raised to Earl of Wiltshire.  Unlike how he was portrayed in the recent television series The Tudors, there is no evidence that George Boleyn was homosexual.  However there is contemporary evidence that he was a womanizer. Jane became a lady-in-waiting to her sister-in-law Anne Boleyn and participated in Anne's coronation and banquet and was probably in attendance at Princess Elizabeth's birth. She also was the patroness of a scholar, William Foster.

In 1534, King Henry VIII banished Jane from court. Why? According to Ambassadors' reports, Henry showed interest in an unknown lady at court.  Anne Boleyn used Jane to get rid of her, so Henry had Jane dismissed in the fall of 1534. We don't know how long she was kept from court, but it was probably only a few months.   In 1535 there was a demonstration by a large group of women in favor of the Princess Mary at Greenwich Palace in which Jane was listed as one of the participants in a marginal note of the contemporary account of the demonstration.   Her biographer, Julia Fox, does not believe that Jane took part, but it is original source material.

When Anne Boleyn was arrested, one of the five men who would be condemned to death on her behalf was George Boleyn.   The interviews and interrogations do not survive, yet history has assumed that the incest charge between Anne and George Boleyn came from Jane. It is also very possible that the accusation that George claimed that Henry VIII suffered from impotency and which he boldly read out in court came from Jane.  Adding to the puzzle of Lady Rochford is that her husband, during his confinement in the Tower of London thanked Jane for her promises to plead on his behalf.  This information comes from a report by William Kingston, Lieutenant of the Tower in one of his many reports of the time period.  Unfortunately, it was part of the Cotton Manuscripts that were badly damaged in a fire, but the few lines are clear.

"After your departing yesterday, Greneway gentleman usher came to me and ........M. Caro and Master Bryan commanded him in the King's name to my .........Ratchfort from my lady his wife, and the message was now more .....se how he did, and also she would humbly suit unto the King's Hy........for her husband; and so he gave thanks,"  

From the missing parts it can be conjecture that the blank before Ratchfort (Rochford) is my Lord or my Lord of and that the Hy is short for highness.

There is little known about Jane's life in between the execution of her husband and her end as Katherine Howard's panderer.   For that we should be grateful to Jane's biographer, Julia Fox, as she uncovered the story of what happens to the wife after the husband is executed.

Jane lost everything. As the wife of a convicted traitor her goods down to her silk stockings were inventoried and forfeited to the crown. She was still entitled to her widow's jointure and she had to legally fight her father-in-law Thomas Boleyn to receive its entirety. For that she turned to Thomas Cromwell for help and wrote him at least one letter.

"Master Secretary,

as a poor desolate widow without comfort, as to my special trust under God and my Prince, I have me most humbly recommended unto you; praying you, after your accustomed gentle manner to all them that be in such lamentable case as I am in, to be mean to the King's gracious Highness for me for such poor stuff and plate as my husband had, whom God pardon; that of his gracious and mere liberality I may have it to help my poor living, which to his Highness is nothing to be regarded, and to me should be a most high help and succor.  And further more, where that the King's Highness and my Lord my father paid great sums of money for my Jointure to the Earl of Wiltshire to the sum of two thousand marks, and I not assured of no more during the said Earl's natural life than one hundred marks; which is very hard for me to shift the world with all.  That you will so specially tender me in this behalf as to inform the King's highness of these promises, whereby I may the more tenderly be regarded of his gracious person, your World in this shall be to me a sure help: and God shall be to you therefore a sure reward, which doth promise good to them that doth help poor forsaken Widows.  And both my prayer and service shall help to this during my natural life, as most bounden so to do, God my witness; whoever more preserve you.

Jane Rocheford"

She did receive her income eventually yet was involved in legal disputes with her father-in-law over property until his death in 1539

Jane becomes an interesting figure as the only wife of a convicted traitor to be received back at court in the lifetime of Henry VIII. The Marchioness of Exeter also returned to court, but not until the reign of Queen Mary I.  Lady Rochford served Queen Jane Seymour receiving a New Year's gift from the queen in 1537.  Along with her father and brother she participated in Queen Jane's funeral.  And she was appointed one of the ladies of the bedchamber for Queen Anna of Cleves, giving testimony of Anna's alleged naivety in the matters of sex and signing the annulment papers as one of the witnesses.

Why did Jane return to court?  She could have settled into the country and lived very comfortably on her widow's income. I liken it to how a celebrity past their prime tries to stay in the public eye by doing humiliating reality programs. The court was the Hollywood of its day. Who wouldn't want to be at the center of the cultural and political universe?

From here we get to her familiar role, that of bawd to Queen Katherine Howard. According to Jane's testimony she assisted Katherine in her assignations with Thomas Culpepper on the northern progress of 1541. Once the arrests happened no one in that situation behaved well.  Francis Dereham, guilty of being the Queen's lover before her marriage to King Henry VIII accused Culpepper of taking his place after the marriage. Thomas Culpepper stupidly kept a letter from the Queen, the only letter that exists in Katherine Howard's handwriting. That letter was how Lady Rochford was implicated. And they all blamed each other for the affair.

"Master Culpeper,

I heartily recommend me unto you, praying you to send me word how that you do.  It was showed me that you was sick, the which thing troubled me very much till such time that I hear from you praying you to send me word how that you do, for I never longed so much for thing as I do to see you and to speak with you, the which I trust shall be shortly now.  The which doth comfortly me very much when I think of it, and when I think again that you shall depart from me again it makes my heart to die to think what fortune I have that I cannot be always in your company.  It my trust is always in you that you will be as you have promised me, and in that hope I trust upon still, praying you that you will come when my Lady  Rochford is here for then I shall be best at leisure to be at your commandment, thanking you for that you have promised me to be so good unto that poor fellow my man which is one of the griefs that I do feel to depart from him for then I do know no one that I dare trust to send to you, and therefore I pray you take him to be with you that I may sometime hear from you one thing.  I pray you to give me a horse for my man for I had much ado to get one and therefore I pray send one by him and in so doing I am as I said afore, and thus I take my leave of you, trusting to see you shortly again and I would you was with me now that you might see what pain I take in writing to you.

Yours as long as live endures,  Katheryn

One thing I had forgotten and that is to instruct my man to tarry here with me still for he says whatsomever you bid him he will do it."

We don't know why Jane helped Katherine Howard. It could have been as simple as obeying her Queen or pitying a young girl married to a man at least 30 years her senior who was unhealthy. But, Lady Rochford lost her protector when Thomas Cromwell was executed in 1540. No one would save her. And then she lost her mind.

Jane was taken to the Tower of London in late November 1541.  Three days later she "went mad," probably a mental collapse. What is interesting is that she was removed from the Tower to the care of Sir John Russell and his wife, Anne. The King provided his own physicians to cure her of her affliction. Katherine and Jane were condemned using an Act of Attainder passed in early February 1542 and signed with Henry VIII's dry stamp. Jane was returned to the Tower on February 9. Otwell Johnson, who provides the only eyewitness account of the executions states that she died well. There is no record of either her or Katherine's scaffold speeches. It is a myth that she confessed to falsely accusing Anne and George.

John Fox in a 1570's edition of his Acts and Monuments added a marginal note about Jane, the French Ambassador in 1542 referred to her as that bawd, Lady Rochford. Most fictional portrayals are unsympathetic. Yet, on this day, the anniversary of her execution upon Tower Green (not where the memorial is located),  I am reminded of a woman who served five queens of England, who participated in the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Chateau Vert, Anne Boleyn's coronation and Jane Seymour's funeral.  A woman who fought for her widow's rights, and did her part loyally when asked to get a King out of a marriage he hated to Anna of Cleves. She is a complex woman with a lot of faults and was a fascinating character to portray at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.

The following is list of some of the material that I used to research Jane Parker Boleyn, the Viscountess Rochford.

Burke's Peerage
The Rutland Papers
www.essexinfo.net/great-hallingbury-parish-council/history/
Letters of the Queens of England 1100-1547 edited by Anne Crawford
Original Letters Illustrative of English History; volume II edited by Henry Ellis
Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford by Julia Fox
The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric W. Ives
Lady Margaret Beaufort, Mother of the Tudor Dynasty by Elizabeth Norton
A Tudor Tragedy by Lacey Baldwin Smith
Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey
The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

The Comedy of Errors at The Folger Theatre

A tale of mistaken identity, rife with opportunity for broad comedy and slapstick, William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors is a delightfully silly two hours traffic upon the stage.  The popular director Aaron Posner brings his talents to this early work of Shakespeare and for the most part it is a fun evening of theater.

This is the tale of  two sets of brothers separated as children by a shipwreck and when one set arrives in the other sets' town allows much hilarity to ensue over very silly circumstances.  The Thespian is pleased to say that the actual Shakespeare upon the Folger Theatre's stage is quite an entertaining evening of merriment.

Not so much the "framing" device chosen to set the stage.   When you arrive at the Folger you are greeted in the lobby by a card announcing the Worcestershire Mask and Wig Society's commemorative tour of the USA celebrating their 250th anniversary with a production of The Comedy of Errors.   The head of the company introduces himself, gives a bit of background on the company and introduces their noble patron who is part of the company.   Then we are forced to sit through a ten minute video on the WMWS, its history, and the relationships between the various company members.    It was fun in the beginning, but The Thespian thought that the film was tedious and was watching it wondering when we were going to get to the Shakespeare.

Now, it is true that the audience was laughing at the pre-show, and for The Thespian if the film were cut, she wouldn't have had a problem with the concept.   But, to be honest, none of it was needed.   The play itself completely stands on its own.    Once the play begins there is no attempt to make the twins look alike in height or weight and there is extensive use of masks for the male characters.   Personally, The Thespian thought the use of masks was brilliant.   You got the essence of the characters without having to notice the glaring "hey, he doesn't look like the other one's twin."    The Thespian wonders why the masks were not extended to the female characters as well.   The production works fine without them, but it might have added another interesting dimension to their performances.

The scenic design by Tony Cisek is quite clever involving a series of doors, an excellent device for the mania that ensues.   A nice touch is providing doors in front of the permanent pillars which allows for some very funny moments.  Kate Turner-Walker has created a mishmash of costume pieces that provide an easy way to tell the status of each of the characters.

All of the cast perform their roles well.   Outstanding performances are given by Darius Pierce, Dromio of Ephesus and Nathan Keepers, Dromio of Syracuse.   Both are capable and physical performers.   Mr. Keepers in particular does a marvelous job describing his encounter with a spherical kitchen maid, which in The Thespian's opinion is one of the funniest speeches Shakespeare ever wrote.   The four ladies, Catherine Flye as the Abbess, Suzanne O'Donnell, the shrewish Adriana, Erin Weaver, Luciana and Rachel Zampelli as a completely ditz Courtesan are equal matches to the men upon the stage.  Bruce Nelson does well with the lesser seen Antipholus of Ephesus, but occasionally swallows his consonants.    Darragh Kennan as Antipholus of Syracuse navigates well his character's bafflement and delight in his screwball day.

All in all it is a wonderful evening of theater.    Do enjoy.   The Comedy of Errors will be performed at the Folger Theatre through March 6, 2011.   For tickets and other performance information please visit www.folger.edu.

Mariinsky Ballet Giselle at The Kennedy Center

Giselle is a well known story ballet having first been performed in 1841.   Why it remains popular to this day has a lot to do with the poignant tragic story and the stunningly beautiful dancing in the famous white second act.    While The Thespian has seen many productions of Giselle, from the traditional to the Creole version performed by the late, lamented Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Thespian can truly say that upon Tuesday last, she saw the definitive performance of the title role.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Giselle, it is a tale of Count Albrecht, engaged to a Princess who decides to dally a while in a local village.   He falls in love with Giselle, a young peasant girl who happens to have a potentially fatal heart condition and is warned by her mother not to dance or over excite herself. Convinced he is going to marry her she joyfully ignores the warnings of her jilted suitor, Hans, who does not believe Albrecht is who he claims to be.   The Princess arrives with a hunting party and Giselle charms her with her dancing.   Hans discovers Albrecht's sword and cape and calls back the hunting party.  When Giselle learns the truth she goes mad and dies of a broken heart.    Both young men visit Giselle's grave by moonlight and encounter the Willis, the spirits of young women who died on the eve of their wedding.   Their Queen, Myrtha initiates Giselle into their group.   The Willis force Hans to dance to his death and they throw his body in the nearby lake.   Catching Albrecht he is condemned to the same fate.   Giselle pleads with Myrtha having forgiven the man she loves, but mercy is refused.   Giselle dances with Albrecht giving him the strength to last until dawn when the Willis spell is broken.   As they vanish, Albrecht collapses in gratitude on Giselle's grave.

The dancing of the Mariinsky Ballet is simply amongst the world's best.   The Corps de Ballet, particular the unison work of the Willis is beyond compare.  Maria Shirinkina and Alexey Timofeyev were charming in the Peasant Pas de Deux.  Yuri Smekalov danced a bitter and passionate Hans.  Ekaterina Kondaurova's height added a level of pure majesty to her Myrtha and she danced the role in complete command of the stage.  Andrian Fadeyev was almost overshadowed in Act One, yet grew in his leaps of desperation as he struggled to survive in Act Two.

The most astonishing performance of the evening was given by the great Diana Vishneva as Giselle.   No one can embody a role so completely as Vishneva.   Here was a Giselle who wore her emotions so openly and displayed a complete physical vulnerability.   Many Giselles show very little why we should be afraid that she will drop dead upon the stage, but Vishneva made it very clear that every movement was a struggle for this very ill girl.   Her mad scene was riveting.   There was not a sound in the Opera House as Vishneva became unhinged, replayed her love for Albrecht, tried to kill herself with his sword and then simply collapsed as her weak heart gave out under the stress.   In Act Two Vishneva was ethereal, at first as cool and detached as the rest of the Willis, but then permitting a remembrance of human love to break through and allow Giselle to save Albrecht's life.   It was Vishneva who embodied the strength in Giselle and Albrecht's dancing in Act Two.   Fadeyev ably danced Albrecht's exhaustion and waning hold on life, allowing Vishneva to support him through his ordeal.    A masterful performance.

The Mariinsky Ballet will perform Giselle at The Kennedy Center Opera House through February 13, 2011.   For tickets and other performance information please visit www.kennedy-center.org.