“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.
First appearing as Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet) in community theatre in 1954 – to being a founder member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, England in 1961 – to wowing Pittsburgh audiences as Capulet (R and J again) in 2002, Roger maintains that the Bard of Avon is the nonpareil of dramatists.
This show is an exploration of Illusion and Reality. Roger sees constant themes in Shakespeare’s 38 plays with theatre as a metaphor for life and the frequent use of apparent behavior not being the reality that the audience is aware of. This is the key nature of theatre – DRAMATIC IRONY.
Roger presents, for 12 yr.olds or older, a variety of speeches from the plays in which the truth is concealed in various theatrical ways:
Lying/Hypocrisy – Iago (Othello) and Richard lll.
Disguise – Edgar (King Lear).
Hallucination – Macbeth.
Trickery – Malvolio (Twelfth Night).
Dreams – Bottom (M.N.Dream).
Magic potions – Friar Lawrence (R and J).
Blindness – Gloucester and Edgar (King Lear).
Theatrical presentation – Hamlet.
8 audience members are briefed beforehand to wear masks (covering their true faces) and are later involved throughout the show in lighthearted improvs, which illustrate Shakespeare’s situations in a modern way. The quietest person can surprise us with their adlib skills.
The first performance was at a large high school in Cincinnati Ohio in 1998.
ROGER JEROME
