Actors Bring Hamlet from London to USU

The Actors From the London Stage experience Logan’s fall season during a week-long residency and a three-night performance of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The group includes five actors from England who travel to universities throughout the United States to expose students and community members alike to Shakespeare, trimmed to the essentials — language and emotion.

Public performances of “Hamlet” at Utah State University are Nov. 2, 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center on campus. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased by calling (435) 797-0305. Prices range from $5 to $9.

 

English and literature classes and theater students will have a chance to ask the professional Shakespeare experts questions about the Bard and his writing, as well as the process of staging Shakespeare’s scripts.

 

“The highlight of the week will, of course, be the three performances of ‘Hamlet,’” said Utah State theatre professor Kevin Doyle, the liaison for the group and residency grant coordinator. “The stripped down version of this amazing piece will bring the language into focus. We can really see why Shakespeare is so timeless.”

 

The public is invited to several additional activities taking place during the residency by the Actors from the London Stage. These events are free and open to all.

 

“The Pilgrim’s Progress,” a one-man show presenting John Bunyan’s powerful 17th century allegory of Christian’s spiritual journey, will be presented Tuesday, Oct. 31, from 5-6 p.m. in the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center at Utah State University. It will be performed by AFTLS member Geoffrey Beevers.

 

Also scheduled is the one-man show “Ithaka,” to be presented Wednesday, Nov. 1, from 5-6 p.m. in the Morgan Theatre. The piece was written by Glyn Morrow, inspired by Homer, and presents a slightly mad account of the return of Ulysses to Penelope and his island home. It will be performed by company member Terence Wilton.

 

Now in its 13th year, Actors From The London Stage is one of the oldest established touring Shakespeare theater companies in the world. Housed and work shopped in England with academic tours booked through the auspices of the Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Notre Dame, the program is like no other. Offering spring and fall tours, the company visits approximately 16 to 20 universities in a year, giving students and faculty around the country a chance to experience its dynamic and enriching performing arts program.

 

Base camp for the tour is the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., while the group travels through Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Texas and Ohio, by way of Wellesley College, Lawrence University, the University of Texas, Kansas State and Sinclair Community College, before beginning its residency at Utah State.

 

Coming from prestigious companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the company’s classically trained actors devote a large part of their time to student interaction. Be it in classroom workshops, on stage demonstrations, reading select texts or having informal meetings with students who want to know more, AFTLS actors are committed to teaching and making themselves accessible to students during their stay on campus.

 

The USU visit by Actors From the London Stage is made possible through the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation, with assistance from the Caine School of the Arts, the College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah State, the department of theatre arts and the department of English at USU.

 

For information on the Actors from the London Stage residency, contact the theatre arts department public relations office at (435) 797-1500.

 

More information on the actors in the company is available in the full press release located in the Utah State Today archives.