Action, romance, and humor: ‘Cymbeline’ has it all

Home Culture Action, romance, and humor: ‘Cymbeline’ has it all

Secret marriages, contemplating suicide, and crossdressing are the stuff of many of William Shakespeare’s plays. They are all found in Shakespeare in the Arb’s production of “Cymbeline.”

Running Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3 at 1 p.m., the three hour show will be performed outdoors unless inclement weather moves it to Mauck’s Solarium. Student players take the audience back in time to the 17th century and the open air Globe Theatre with the convenience of production in the Slayton Arboretum. The play is directed by seniors Maran McLeod and Julie Finke.

“Open-air Shakespeare is classic,” McLeod said. “It really creates a communal experience where the actors and the audience are experiencing it all together, as opposed to here is the audience sitting in these seats and here is the stage. I think it helps bring the audience into the world that Shakespeare is describing.”

Produced as early as 1611, “Cymbeline” is a tragic comedy, also known as a romance, according to Provost David Whalen. The play’s protagonist is Imogen, daughter of the King of Britain, Cymbeline. Imogen marries a man named Posthumus against her father’s wishes, causing him to be sent into exile. While away, Posthumus becomes paranoid his wife will betray him, and between trickery, lies, and suitors, the play tells of the journey the two lovers take to be reunited.

“Many readers consider it one of his more mystifying plays with a large, epic, sweeping plot that contains wildly improbable events and juxtapositions of character,” Whalen said. “It’s easy to enjoy it in light of light and probable fluff, but upon some study, the idea of the grandest and most luminous of Shakespeare’s themes: forgiveness, reconciliation, reunion, loss, suffering, resignation. It’s entertaining, but at a deeper level, there are some profound human meanings being contemplated.”

McLeod and Finke chose “Cymbeline” for Shakespeare in the Arb’s fifteenth year because it breaks the run of comedies from the past several years, but also provides a positive tone during finals weekend.

“It’s difficult to do a tragedy because we spend so much time doing the play, and a Hillsdale semester can be stressful with all the academics you’re involved in,” Finke said. “Doing something that is funny or lighthearted, particularly during finals week, is very nice for the students. We didn’t want to do something that would be dark and depressing, but something that would be fun, but also have some of the deeper elements.”

The play incorporates many of the aspects and themes from Shakespeare’s other works into its plot as well.

“You’ll have a woman dressing up as a man, a woman taking a potion that makes her appear dead like ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ you have some ‘King Lear’ moments, an evil queen, a beheading, a full battle scene,” Finke said. “‘Cymbeline’ is just everything.”

Sophomore Dani Morey, who plays leading lady Imogen, says “Cymbeline” is her favorite Shakespeare play and one of the reasons she chose to attend Hillsdale College.

“I saw a production of it and decided that I had to come here, so when I saw they were doing it, I was elated and had to try out,” Morey said. “It’s like Shakespeare’s greatest hits. It takes all the plot points of Shakespeare’s normal play and condenses them all together, and the female lead is a very strong, compelling character. It’s been a treat to explore her.”

While Shakespeare in the Arb has practically no budget, according to McLeod, the informal production provides the opportunity for all students to enjoy the well-known writer.

“What I love about Shakespeare in the Arb is that it really is a forum where everyone can enjoy Shakespeare,” McLeod said. “It’s not where you have to be an English major studying Shakespeare, and you don’t have to be a theatre major studying theatre formally. Julie is a bio-chem major, and I’m a history major, and yet, everyone can enjoy Shakespeare, and it’s something everyone should study, have fun with, and read aloud. It’s been a pleasure getting the chance to work with it.”

While these directors may not be pursuing theatre in the future, they are no strangers to the world of Shakespeare. Both have participated in Shakespeare in the Arb three of their four years at Hillsdale.

McLeod has a background in dance and acting as well as friends with connections to the Royal Shakespeare Company, which inspired this year’s monologue training.

“Instead of reading these monologues as just a monologue, we’ve been able to apply different workshop techniques,” Finke said.

Additionally, Finke attended Shakespeare summer camp for five years with senior Sean Kunath, who plays Philario.

“Working with Julie on this is a lot of fun,” Kunath said. “She’s a good director, very accommodating. Before, we were working together as actors, so now it’s director-actor relationship, so it’s slightly different.”

McLeod and Finke said they have enjoyed working with all the actors and using their talents, knowledge, and
resources to create the best production it can be.

Junior Daniel Negri has experience in theater combat and became a valuable asset to the show in choreographing battle scenes and leading the warriors.

“I had done Macbeth in high school, and I was the fight captain for that, so I knew a little bit about choreography,” Negri said.

Each pair of actors develops their own routine with directorial advice from movement learned in fight choreography training, Negri said.

“In real life, you fight to win, you don’t fight to look cool, so theatrical combat gives you an opportunity to slip in a bunch of flashy stuff,” Negri said.

From battles with action to romance and a trio providing live music, Shakespeare in the Arb’s “Cymbeline” has it all.

“That’s one of the things that’s beautiful about Shakespeare in the Arb,” Finke said. “It’s so much the Hillsdale and liberal arts experience. You don’t do it to have a purpose from it; it’s not just a means to an end; it’s an end in and of itself. We enjoy it because it is what it is, and that’s a beautiful thing.”