Brave New World Repertory Theatre
Not quite Shakespeare’s (supposed) birthday, but close. The
Stratford mentioned in the title is Stratford Street in Brooklyn, NY. I have attended
and enjoyed this event in years past. Obviously, pandemic restrictions led to a
rethinking of the event. And lots of it was good.
Nine Shakespeare sonnets were recited—well, one was sung. They
were performed on the front porches of one block of Stratford Street, which was a
plus and a minus. There were four timed showings, where six pods of listeners
moved from point to point. So far, so good—but the pods were so close to each
other that hearing the one you were in front of was intruded upon (no way to
avoid it, unless they could have commandeered two blocks of Shakespeare Street)
by others around you. My pod leader suggested that we snap our fingers instead
of applauding, so as to not intrude on other pods. I opted for soft applause
(it’s a real thing!).
All of the staged sonnets were performed well. I, of course, was
partial to the sung sonnet. In addition to the sonnets there was folk music (vocalists,
guitars, fiddle, banjo—more about that later), madrigals, and traditional
Afro-Haitian dance. Yo! It’s Brooklyn!
Focusing on the music, “The Cuckoo” was performed by the
above-mentioned musicians. I liked it a lot. “Summer-Is-A-Coming-In” was also
nicely sung by some of the sonneteers and others. I was really impressed by “One
Minute Madrigal”, written by Donald Moore. I couldn’t find out much about when
it was composed, but the composer was/is on staff at Kent State University,
where my brother-in-law was/is on staff. The madrigal itself is terrifically
clever—I suggest that you do an internet search for it.
The Afro-Haitian dances pulled us back into the ‘street performer’
situation that may very well have been prevalent in Shakespeare’s day. Can we
really know?
I stuck around for “The Cuckoo” redux at the end of my timed
entry, only because I wanted to ask one of the musicians what he was playing.
The answer was a gourd banjo—five strings (that looked like plastic to me)
above a fretless neck, with a belly that was crafted from a hollowed out, hardened
squash shell. It’s great to learn new things while experiencing old things.
Kudos to the organizers. Not realizing that I was supposed to
have registered ahead of time, I was afforded registration even though I didn’t
have the required electronics for going to the website … yada-yada-yada.
Old-fashioned client service rules!
ConcertMeister
