Photo: Carrie Farrar
Northwest Classical Theatre Company
September 30, 2007
Into the wild. Of love that is. Fast-paced and compact at two hours, NWCT’s show focuses on the physical action, hot potato turnovers and comedy of the moonlit Athenian woods. Effective use of small space, especially in streaming chase scenes. Play within a play delightfully off. Celebrating the near unseen.
27 comments:
What? Not a single comment yet? It's been up for hours, people! Hours!
This is the NWCTC after all!
Gotta love those free chocolates!
not bad
I have seen two shows here at this theatre and both times I have come away full with my experience. Midsummer was really wonderful and I think that in spite of the limited space and lighting and even seating, this company accomplished more than just an average job. Their delivery of the language is capacious and aware, their economy of dress and set are tasteful, and the free chocolate's really are just great.
Well done everyone. You have a great deal to be proud of. The theatre community in Portland really benefits from your work.
FABULOUS show! The best 'Midsummer' I have EVER seen! BRAVO TO ALL!
This company is amazing. How I love their shows. I have joined the fan club, have YOU?
WOW! What a show! I LOVED it! There were so many high points in the show, I couldn't even name them all! I had the best time at this show that I've had this season so far, and I find it hard to believe that this show will be topped this season, unless, of course, it is by the NWCTC. ;) This is a fantastic company and I am SO impressed!!
Words cannot describe how high-quality this theater company is. Perhaps their space is not quite big enough for some people's tastes, perhaps the costumes are not always all perfect, perhaps there are a few minor difficulties here and there. But the quality of the actors and the plays are so high and so wonderful, I am completely and totally addicted to this company.
Thank you, NWCTC, and Grant Turner, for your vision for Shakespeare in Portland, and for fulfilling it superbly. You are the RSC of Portland, perhaps even of the United States. I applaud you, praise you, love you. You are such a great company, and you have so much to be proud of. Take pride in your accomplishments. You deserve all the awards in the world for your shows. I can tell you that I will be coming to every one of your shows from now on, and I will tell EVERYONE I know to do the same. I want to support you as much as I can, and I shall do so.
For the theater community, I just want to say that if you haven't already noticed the NWCTC, WAKE UP AND SEE THE FABULOUS SHAKESPEARE! Portland Actors Ensemble may try, but they can never compete with NWCTC. I can never say enough good about this company.
Wow. Just wow. That was such a great show. Wow.
Mmm...yummy chocolates! ;)
Didn't Grant Turner as Puck just crack you up? I found him to be just the funniest thing. Kudos, Mr. Turner.
I am so relieved to see that for once, this poor, dear company is not getting blasted and complained about. They deserve only praise and love, and it was very annoying to see all the negativity in comments regarding The Tempest, Henry V, Macbeth, etc. Thank goodness this show was able to prove that NWCTC is a fantabulous company. Hopefully, no more negativity will show up regarding them. They don't deserve that.
My thoughts exactly. Wonderful company and I'm really looking forward to their production of Titus Andronicus (just in time for halloween!)
Enjoyed it...many things that illicit praise...
...but one important thing I haven't read yet. Bibi Walton's delivery was of a different caliber: the clearest, most comprehensible articulation of ideas. Whenever that graceful women opens her mouth, I feel as though I was born 400 years earlier, with no one the wiser.
Thank you NWCTC for bringing the Bard home, as always.
"They deserve only praise and love..."
Really? How does one qualify for that kind of deserving? I'd prefer honest reactions to the work rather than unconditional praise. From what I've seen, the negative responses in the past to NWCTC haven't been any harsher than to other shows on these boards.
Anon 2.48 makes a compelling point...
I agree that almost no one deserves nothing but praise and love; for one thing, in that case there little incentive or direction for growth. And in your rush to praise NWCTC, a casual aside can be thoughtlessly harmful as well as just plain inaccurate. Here, I refer to "Portland Actors Ensemble may try, but they can never compete with NWCTC." Having acted in productions with both companies (as have at least a dozen other actors I know of), I was not aware that there was -- or should be -- any competition between them. Like Lakewood and New Rose, one should not be confused by superficial similarities. PAE and NWCTC do not have identical audiences or missions. Ideally, one should feed the other, as might all theater in this town.
Lakewood and Broadway Rose?
Sorry, meant New Rose.
As one of those who have worked at both companies in recent years (PAE and NWCTC) there is no perceived competition. Granted, they share a love of classical theater, which is something far too many theater companies ignore in my opinion, but they are not competing for the same audience. If you ever have a chance talk with Michael Cook or Jeremy Lillie at PAE, and Grant Turner at NWCTC and ask them about who they play to. Very different.
Both great companies with amazing support from local artists. Hands down, the two best companies in the Portland area in terms of consistent quality theater, if you ask me.
I've actually noticed that both PAE and NWCTC seem to be working in cooperation lately. I remember seeing two of the NWCTC company members in PAE's "Romeo and Juliet" (Tom Walton and that guy who played the Friar).
Actually PAE and NWCTC get along very well, despite a similar focus and sometimes even being in direct competition with each other. Both performed a Shakespeare in the Park production this summer and PAE's Taming of the Shrew ran at the exact same time as NWCTC's As You Like It.
I believe Grant Turner and John Monteverde, who directed PAE's Romeo and Juliet this summer and who has been part of PAE for many years, are actually good friends.
In fact, I believe Monteverde will be directing The Importance of Being Earnest for NWCTC later this season. Should be fun.
I think the two companies set a good example of how Portland theater's can work together and get over a lot of the competitiveness and ego that seems to mar much of the "community". I think we see some bad examples of that here on follow spot sometimes.
I suspect it is exactly that lack of pretentiousness and willingness to work with others that makes NWCTC so special and probably what makes it such a target for jealous theater snobs.
Portland Theater could learn a lot from Grant Turner's example on how to create a healthy and supportive theater community.
Mary:
The guy who played the Friar was Brian Allard. NWCTC's website doesn't list him as a company member, though. He was in A Midsummer Night's Dream, so maybe the website's out of date. I don't know. I do know that there was at least one other NWCTC member in Romeo And Juliet. I just don't remember their name. But I agree that there doesn't really seem to be any rivalry between NWCTC and PAE.
Brian the (former) friar here.
I'm not actually a company member at NWCTC. I just like to hang out there a lot because they are awesome people and do such fantastic work.
Butch Flowers and Kelsey Glasser are both company members at NWCTC who also appeared in Romeo and Juliet, in addition to Tom Walton.
Holy ...!!!
In reading a few of the above comments, I want to bring some of us back down to earth a bit here. While NWCTC has put on wonderfully fantastic shows and will continue to do so; frankly stated, we are NOT the RSC of the United States, nor of Portland. Wow! Who wrote that post?!
We have never stated that nor would we even dare make that assertion. While it may be flattering, that's a bit over the top and embarrassing.
We simply are a company who take our jobs seriously, try to put up quality productions, work hard at our craft and hopefully bring an honesty and commitment to the stage. Simple as that.
Of course, we always appreciate the enthusiasm and support from those that attend our performances and are very happy that we influence discussion, etc. It's great some are giddy about NWCTC but just want to make clear that we're very grounded and clear-headed about who we are!
With that said, please come to Titus Andronicus opening the week of Halloween; a challenging play that will make for a very entertaining, emotional and gritty show!
Other actors who have appeared in both PAE and NWCTC productions include Tim Hill, Kenichi Hillis, David Loftus, David Millstone, Robert Projansky, Richard Reiten, Daniel Shaw, Frank Woodman.
reiten, hillis, and shaw are also listed as company members on the nwctc website. i also noticed on their site that they're producing seven shows this season (i don't know what that birthday bash thing is a show). while i agree that it is going a little overboard to call nwctc the "rsc of portland", they are probably the most active classical theatre company in town. still, i think that portland audiences are lucky to have nwctc, pae, quintessence, and keith scales' classical greek theatre keeping classical theatre alive and well.
Well stated Z. Preston!
Well, gosh, I for one agree with Bob B. NWCTC is pretty much the RSC of our town. If they aren't, who is?
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