What you Will: Judith and Twelfth Night at THT Rep
Who is Shakespeare in the eyes of THT Rep?
Putting together a cohesive dramatic season is one thing; putting together a season in which productions are in active conversation with each other is a gift. This spring, The Hanover Theatre Repertory converses about Shakespeare via a refreshing twist on a classic comedy (Twelfth Night) and a one-person deep dive on identity, love, art, history, and dramatic form (Judith.)
From the jump, the overlap between productions is deeply intentional. Both pieces boast direction by Brendon Fox and a lead played by Livy Scanlon, who conceived Judith with playwright Katie Bender. While her performance as Shakespeare’s hypothetical sister occasionally veers too close to cloying, she is saved by two things: the ease at which she shifts between characters, and the passion she has for the piece. Nobody else could have played this role, because Scanlon’s identity is integral to the narrative—Judith is Shakespeare, and Scanlon is Judith. They are all one, and they are all both.
Meanwhile, a 1920s Illyria calls. Far too often stories set in the Jazz Age care only for aesthetics, and spend no time considering what the time period means for the context of the plot. Twelfth Night is not one of these stories. It succeeds by seizing upon aspects of the text which were all prominent fixtures in the Jazz Age zeitgeist: Depictions of excess, queer overtones, entertainment, performance, and expression of gender. The set by Baron Pugh is a suggestion of art deco populated with costumes by Chelsea Kerl, who has done an excellent job at outfitting actors with authenticity.
The thru-line between productions also manifests via physical bodies and direction. Scanlon and Fox’s gifts with blocking are planted in Judith, and pay off in Twelfth Night with some of the best physical comedy I have ever seen anywhere. Particular standouts include Meri Stypinski (Feste), MaConnia Chesser (Sir Toby), John Tracey (Sir Andrew), and Janis Greim Hudson (Malvolia). The phrase “comedy gold” feels somewhat undercutting; “comedy platinum” is more like it.
Part of the reason why Shakespeare continues to prevail is because Shakespeare himself barely exists. The basic facts of his life were recorded, but the details of his person—what he did for fun, what music he liked, who he wrote about—have been lost to time. Putting on his plays allows us to fill in the space around his words, and in so doing meet the man. We produce Shakespeare so we may meet Will. This is what THT Rep is doing this spring: introducing us to their own Will, a man who is inventive, funny, and deeply human.
Final performances of Judith take place on April 28th & May 3rd 2024, at the Jean McDonough Arts Center. Twelfth Night runs until May 5th, also at the JMAC.