Shakespeare in the Arb
Written by Katrin Surkan
Shakespeare in the Arb, or “Arbspeare,” started years ago as a project between undergraduate students who sought directing experience, actors rejoicing in theatre for fun, and the Shakespeare Society on campus. It used to be fully run by the Shakespeare Society, but recent years have brought collaboration between the theatre students and the Society itself. All actors and directors volunteer their time to bring the production together over the course of the spring semester, hopefully culminating in an outdoor production, weather permitting, of a Shakespeare comedy. Last year, Ollie Blockhus, ’23, and Maureen Martin, ’23, directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream with great success. This year, I had the chance to assist Ollie in directing Twelfth Night, a comedy encompassing mistaken twins, a pirate captain, courtly love, and yellow, cross-gartered stockings.
December 7, 2022
I sat down with Ollie at a table in the dining hall, nudging audition slips aside to settle into dinner. Every student who auditioned submitted a slip citing preferences, special skills, and conflicts, and Ollie and I spent the next hour-and-a-half sorting through them to select our cast of 13. We considered skill, personality, and chemistry for each character. Our cast list included seniors and freshmen, veterans and the uninitiated into theatre.
Christmas/Winter Break
Ollie and I trimmed the script and re-cast a few roles as next semester’s schedule and events grew clearer. We confirmed everyone’s participation, shifting around some roles to adjust to the actors’ and our own availabilities. By the time classes began, Ollie and I had performance dates, the cast list, a tentative schedule, and the completed script.
January 26 – February 1, 2023
Character meetings and read-through! Ollie and I met with each actor for 15 minutes to convalesce our ideas of their character with their own. We left every meeting with questions for the actors to ponder and with food for thought on the direction we sought to take this play. Saturday’s meetings were followed by a read-through of the script. By the end of these few days, we had established a basic connection and sense of community between everyone involved. Laughter abounded!
February 10 – 11, 2023
Our first rehearsals focused on ensemble-building and creating a sense of camaraderie and fun amongst the cast members. Especially in a comedy, the comfort level of the cast translates to humor and success of the play. Rehearsals were filled with games where actors played with hierarchy and order/disorder, character relationships, and teamwork. Every rehearsal led to new ideas, whether it be a macarena in the mirroring game (one actor tries to copy another’s movements like in a mirror) or the improvisation of a frozen scene. Actors and actresses had epiphanies about their characters, even when walking around in different gaits or letting the nose lead in a Pinocchio-esque strut. We all had fun playing with ideas together.
Weekly rehearsals
We called rehearsals by scene, each one focused on blocking or solidifying a certain group of recurring characters. We started rehearsals by building connection with an acting exercise, followed by a read-through of a scene. Then actors would run the scene naturally, and we directors observed where they stood, their “blocking,” and how they interacted. Another run-through of the scene would give us time and space to adjust their blocking and give notes. Finally, we ran the scene from start to finish to solidify the changes. Then we discussed the connection with the next scene, setting up context, and ran it.
One hitch jumped into the process. About four weeks out from the show, we still hadn’t blocked the entire play. The actors started to get antsy and ask us about rehearsals and scheduling, and none of them knew about off-book yet—the date by which all actors needed to have their lines fully memorized.
I really enjoyed this process! It was great fun to watch each scene come to life as the actors brought personality to Shakespeare’s words. Whether it was one of Olivia’s servants popping up like a prairie dog only to be dragged down by Fabian, or Antonia recounting her great misdeeds on the seas to Sebastian (who takes it worse than expected), each actor brought something to the script that I had missed in reading it.
Off-book begins
In order to help our actors prepare, we set off-book for April 8, just three weeks out from the show! We left the first week after spring break free and open for line rehearsal and memorization, and rehearsal began in earnest on March 28, three times a week for a total of five hours. The adventure began!
And oh, how it did. One of our actors got sick for the first few regular rehearsals, so I acted and set the blocking while she read the lines from the back of the room. I missed the rehearsal for which I had sent out a very highlighted, clear note regarding the time change. Then Easter weekend jumped right into the midst of our plans, covering our two longer rehearsal days during the week. Ah, theatre: the place where everything happens in a backwards order and ends up looking like something planned.
April 16 – 20, 2023
SHOW WEEK! It’s what those involved call “hell week,” when cast and crew scramble to finish rehearsing and getting everything in order while keeping up with school (usually). The show is run through from beginning to end. Costumes make an appearance. Blocking sets in stone. This week is the most fun and the most stressful, as everyone spends three to four hours every day together to brush up the play.
April 21 – 22, 2023
Show time! Performances are always chaotic, yet everyone works together to keep appearances smooth. Of course someone trips over something, and actors bring in improvisation never seen in rehearsals. Some prop is left onstage for too long or forgotten upon entrance. Someone forgets to move and throws off the blocking, and someone else will forget their line. And yet, the audience can barely tell, for actors work together to cover up forgotten lines, rearrange the set in character, and make the laughter and distress seem real to the actors themselves. The teamwork is almost magical.
All this comes out for the audience. Few feelings compare to that of playing off the raucous laughter of the audience. But what can compare to watching the Duke Orsino bop along to a cheesy love song, while Feste the Jester shows off for Cesario/Viola who is serenading her lover in disguise? For those two hours of performance, the cast and crew are united in their determination to make everything appear smooth and keep the audience in rapture.
Katrin Surkan, ’25, has roots on the east coast but can almost always be found traveling. When not writing, reading, or chatting with someone new, she’s likely looking for a dog to pet or singing at the top of her lungs between classes with a cappuccino in hand.
Published in August 2023