by Kyle Smith
The Compass Shakespeare Ensemble began the school year with an invitation to attend a Lecture on Classical Latin, given by renowned scholar Master Holofernes. The lecture was held on Sunday Sept 4 and Monday Sept 5 in Masonic Blue. Attendees had to provide a photo ID to gain entry. In addition, they had to sign a contract and were issued a tie before beginning the lesson. Attendees soon learned that the lecture was a front for a 1920s style speakeasy (complete with bar service), where Compass Shakespeare performed a series of vignettes based on their upcoming season: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors, Troilus and Cressida, and Macbeth. Love’s Labour’s Lost provided the inspiration for the framing device.
The speakeasy idea came about because of the group’s collective physicality and musicality. “I think the aesthetic was less important than the need for secrecy,” said company member Melinda Marks. “We realized early in the preparation that we are not a very wordy group, we’re very physical. We all reached the consensus the second week or so that we didn’t want to use a lot of words.” The venue of Masonic Blue, which has a secretive history, also inspired the choice according to faculty member Doreen Bechtol. “We wanted to find a framework that would contain performance that felt intimate and maybe where people could be vulnerable or open or daring or risky,” Bechtol said. To this end, a tent was erected in the space that made it feel even more intimate, which then inspired the conceit of the Princess of France from Love’s Labour’s Lost hosting the event, which then inspired the front. Historical speakeasies always had a legitimate business front that it could hide behind. “Rather than creating a business, what would be a structure that would also make sense in our program?” company member Catie Osborn said. “We decided that the legitimate business would be Holofernes teaching a Latin lesson,” Bechtol said. “It’s not trying to cast a wide net on an unsuspecting audience member who doesn’t know these plays. It would still be entertaining, but it’s really for our program and our community.”
Compass Shakespeare Ensemble Logo
Bechtol was in charge of helping the company put the devised show together. Since it would be their first show as a company, it had several goals to meet. “One goal of the devised show is to help build an ensemble” Bechtol said. “We do training practices that are mostly physical. Along the way, talking about ways of collaboration that are maybe not so useful in the rehearsal room. There’s a component of physical training that helps build this foundation for how the company works together and speaks together.” The next goal was to help the company find its corporate identity. The company’s mission statement was deliberated over a period of weeks. The company presented Bechtol with the idea of creating theatre for and with the community. “I kind of held on to that throughout the summer— the incubation period and decided to turn it back on the company,” Bechtol said. “I wanted them to think about making theatre for and with each other first.” The process of assembling the devised show began during last May Term, when roughly 55 plays were pitched to Bechtol. Bechtol took bits and pieces of each of the proposals to try to determine a through line for the company’s season. “There was a lot of overlap in physical intimacy and vulnerability, and women in an interior world and men in an exterior world, tense was also something that was repeated,” Bechtol said. In addition to her usual teaching tools of viewpoints and the Suzuki method, Bechtol also turned to exercises from UK theatre company Frantic Assembly to develop the company’s physicality.
The process of developing the show itself began in August. “I think breaking up and actually starting to make the specific decisions about who was going to do what was difficult,” said Marks. “That seemed to be the moment the process started to shift gears. It certainly made it easier going forward, but there were a few days that were very difficult.” The process continued almost until opening night. Three days before the show opened, choreographing was finalized, allowing for only two full runs during rehearsal.
For Osborn, the most valuable thing to come of the show was learning what everyone in Compass Shakespeare is capable of. “We don’t really have a weak link,” Osborn said. “Everyone brings something to the table. We got to go through that together and find a way to showcase each individual member.” Osborn also said that the vignettes were able to give her and other company members ideas on what to do differently when the shows themselves will be performed. The authorities may have discovered the speakeasy behind the lecture, but Compass Shakespeare Ensemble managed to give us a glimpse at what to expect for the coming year.
