History Comes Alive...in a Basement

"Can no man tell me of my unthrifty son?" Henry IV asks of Hal at the beginning of Henry IV Part I. These days, it's a juggling act in the rehearsal room. What scene are we doing? Which act? Who am I playing this time? Wait...what PLAY is this?

Yes, what play indeed. We are rehearsing Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2 simultaneously. What a great amount of theatre ASP is generating with this production; and what a fitting way to usher in the fall and kick off their seventh season.

As always, Shakespeare's words are the guiding light in the room, only to be matched by the intelligent and probing minds of the actors taking the story on. Fifteen big talents meander in and out of the coveted basement in Harvard Square six days a week to analyze and bring to life the text. "How can you make what you want ok to get?" one actor asks during an early table work session.

Henry IV takes the crown from his cousin, Richard II. Hal rebels against his future as king by fraternizing with drunks and prostitutes. If nothing else, the chemistry between Hotspur (Allyn Burrows) and Lady Percy (Sarah Newhouse) is so precious, that as an observer sometimes I think love can conquer all. Then we start work on the next scene, and I remember Henry IV is primarily wrought with familial turmoil and the waging of wars instead.

I go in the next room to get a five foot sword for someone to hold. Douglass kills Blunt in under two minutes. We go on dinner break. We come back and Hotspur is about to demolish Hal at the end of Part One. Who's going to win? Only you can cheer on the opponents when history comes alive Sept 29.

Melanie Garber
AD

Right. This text is immediate and we're thick in it. A massive story, and a feast. If we do it justice, and we're throwing ourselves that direction, there'll be every reason to see both.