London Stage lights up Logan theatre
It’s a quiet Tuesday evening when professional actors of the London Stage give a workshop for students and the public interested in Shakespeare and acting. Nearly 60 are in attendance at the Morgan Theatre. The professional actors go through warm-ups with the participants and demonstrated how to get the energy necessary in acting flowing among performers.
As they split into smaller groups, one actor leads each group in exercises and reading of scenes from a variety of Shakespeare plays. Each group recieves instruction and guidance from the professional actor on performing a scene from a Shakespeare play. At the end of the night, the groups then perform the scene they rehearsed for the other participants.
“It’s a lot of fun working one-on-one with professionals who are doing what I want to do,” said Lance Rasmussen, a theater major. “They are living what I dream of doing someday.”
Five professional actors make up the group known as the London Stage and will be performing Shakespeare’s The Tempest this weekend at the Morgan Theatre inside the Chase Fine Arts Building on the Utah State campus.
“These are world class, highly trained Shakespearean actors,” said Phebe Jensen, co-coordinator and English professor at Utah State
The week-long visit of the professional actors is hosted by the English and theater departments. USU is the last stop of their tour for the fall. The company tours twice a year for six to eight weeks at a time. They go on tour with minimal props and equipment, and the five individuals play all the roles.
“One of the unusual things about the company is they don’t have an assigned director, they actually direct it themselves,” said co-coordinator and associate theater arts professor at Utah State, Adrianne Moore.
In the performance of The Tempest each actor plays three to four different roles. “Each of them is deeply invested in the performance,” Jensen said.
“It really calls on superior acting skills to be able to have the amazing transformation as you move from one character to another,” Moore said.
Moore strongly encouraged students to take advantage of this opportunity.
“You can get a great education at Utah State, but one drawback is because it’s a small town the students don’t get a lot of opportunities to see a wide range of professional theater,” she said.
The Tempest takes place on a remote island where Prospero, the Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda, were left stranded by Prospero’s brother and the King of Naples. After years of being alone on the island, the King of Naples, his son, and Prospero’s brother among others return to the island. The Duke uses magic and illusion to eventually get off the island and reclaim his rightful throne.
“It’s a romance,” Jensen said. “There’s singing and dancing. It’s funny and serious. It has everything.”
Five actors from the show have spent the week on campus in English and Theatre departments, as well as in Humanities and Literature classes. They have gone into these classes to offer their expertise as performers as well as their knowledge of Shakespeare, Jensen said.
They visited Moore’s theater and voice classes to help the students with specific skills that are a part of acting and singing in the theater arena.
“They are just fabulous, dynamic, charismatic people and actors,” Jensen said.
Moore said the five actors are well trained and extremely experienced. They have been working as professional actors for years, have performed many different plays, and gone all over the country performing.
“These actors have very established careers, and have worked in very prestigious places,” Moore said. “You don’t often get the chance to have actors of this caliber performing Shakespeare.”
The Tempest will be preformed Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30. Students can purchase tickets for just $5 with their student ID at the Caine College of the Arts Box Office. Tickets for the general public are $15 and $10 for seniors and youth. Tickets are also available online at arts.usu.edu.
– kristi.ottley@aggiemail.usu.edu