ELY- The Northern Lakes Arts Association’s Great Nordic Shakespeare Festival opens on Friday, Jan. 10 with “Romeo and Juliet” at the Vermilion Fine Arts Theater.
NLAA Executive Artistic Director Ian Francis Lah described the production as, “A fresh, 75-minute adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy … perfect for newcomers and longtime fans alike.”
Like most modern performances, the NLAA version by Lah uses a trimmed-down script of the three-hour play, like the current Broadway and Chicago adaptations. The NLAA version cuts many long speeches and tangential scenes, like Romeo’s slaying of Count Paris, while keeping all the major plot beats like the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt and the famous balcony scene. In adapting the script, Lah told the Timberjay that he wanted “to highlight key scenes while preserving Shakespeare’s majestic language.”
The NLAA staging uses the premise that the performance is a rehearsal. The actors are in street clothes on a mostly bare stage with chairs, a table, and a ladder as set pieces. Reminiscent of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” the balcony scene is convincingly played using a ladder to connect the two lovers.
The actors not involved in the action do all the things actors usually do at a rehearsal - they sit on the side and back of the stage drinking coffee and tea, watching the current scene, or studying their scripts. The cast is smaller than the number of characters in the play so several actors play multiple roles.
Several actors from the 2023 and 2024 Broadway in the Boundary Waters theater seasons are in the production. The chemistry between Toby Davis and Mallory Wintz seen in the NLAA production of “Bright Star” is back as these two performers play Romeo and Juliet. Molly Hill Fuller returns to the Ely stage as Lady Montague and Juliet’s nurse. Noah Warner, who plays both Friar Laurence and Peter the Servant, will leave the audience convinced that a tea bag should be an essential prop in any Shakespeare play, and Eric Fredrickson’s antics as Mercutio are alone worth the price of admission.
The Bard’s immortal play of star-crossed lovers will have evening performances at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 10, 11, 24, and 25 and two 2 p.m. matinees on Jan. 12 and 26. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $22 for veterans and seniors, $20 for NLAA members, $10 for college students, and free for students K-12.
Shakespeare workshops
“Romeo and Juliet” is only the beginning of the Great Nordic Shakespeare Festival. Next up on the festival schedule are four workshops appropriate for beginning actors and experienced thespians alike. The first workshop on Shakespeare’s characters is this Saturday, Jan. 11, at noon, followed by a workshop on how to create dynamic Shakespeare scenes at 2 p.m. The remaining two workshops, on making Shakespeare relevant to 21st-century audiences and spontaneous Shakespeare scenes, are on Saturday, Jan. 25. Tickets are on a tiered structure: $30 for supporters, $20 for a standard ticket, and $10 for an assisted ticket. Tickets for students in grades 7 through 12 are free.
Staged readings
The festival includes two evenings of staged readings of new works by emerging playwrights, on Jan. 20 and Jan. 27, starting at 6:30 p.m. Attendees will be the first to see the new plays. Each performance lasts two hours. All tickets are $10.
“Every Brilliant Thing”
The Great Nordic Shakespeare Festival will present the award-winning one-man show “Every Brilliant Thing” by acclaimed British playwright Duncan Macmillan and comedian Johnny Donahue. The show is a drama, a comedy, a coming-of-age story, and a reflection on all the things that make life worth living. The action follows the narrator’s life, starting with the list of all the things worth living for which the narrator made when he was six to cheer up his suicidal mother.
“Every Brilliant Thing” is an uplifting emotional and intimate work where the narrator interacts with the audience, bringing them into the play’s action. Toby Davis (“Bright Star,” “Romeo and Juliet”) is the narrator. Because of the intimate nature of the work and the role the audience plays, the audience size is limited to 40 tickets for each performance. “Every Brilliant Thing” will be at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 16, 17, 18, 30, 31, and Feb. 1; and at 2 p.m. on Jan. 19, and Feb. 2. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $22 for veterans and seniors, $20 for NLAA members, $5 for college students, and free for students aged 18 and younger.
Tickets
Tickets are available online at northernlakesarts.org/the-great-nordic-shakespeare-festival. Students should use the “More prices” link on the tickets page to access student pricing and free tickets. All Great Nordic Shakespeare Festival events are at the Vermilion Fine Arts Theater.