Duluth Shakespeare Project: The local theatre group bringing classics to bars and pubs
Melvolio (Antony Ferguson) shows off his tearaway yellow stockings. Photo credits: Reyna Fleck-Perez
Generosity. Velocity. Clarity. Actuality. Authenticity. Courage. These are the core values of the Duluth Shakespeare Project, the theatre company bringing organically performed Shakespeare to local breweries and bars. In seven weeks, the actors are assembled and organize their show together from the ground up, all without a director and only meeting for one rehearsal.
The idea takes inspiration from the way Shakespeare’s plays were authentically performed in his time: to a group of rowdy people from all walks of life who were eating, drinking and reacting to what was going on on stage out loud.
A tense moment between characters in the midst of the very crowded Ursa Minor Brewing. Photo credits: Reyna Fleck-Perez
“It's about helping people connect to the audience more, so we kind of remove the artifice of what theater sometimes can feel like, where the lights go off and it's dark and everyone just kind of waits,” Actor and UMD Professor Matthew Olsen says, “It's more interactive, more immediate.”
Project founder and actor Luke Hiland says, “It is beautiful, like poetry and heartfelt performances and wonderful moments. It's like it's all of it. We want people to understand that it's different when it's performed than when most people probably read it in high school.”
The actors feed off of the audience and each other, and in a space where improv is encouraged and mistakes or calling for line is celebrated, this form of theatre becomes an authentic experience where neither the audience nor the actors can hide from each other. The show takes place within the crowd — with no backstage, and all present are encouraged to interact with one another.
“I made two people from the audience become my assistant officers. I gave them costume pieces and just said, you just have to come with me. I made them repeat words whenever I said words,” Olsen said about his favorite audience moment from the group’s first performance.
Luke Hiland in Twelfth Night, the project’s first production. Photo credits: Reyna Fleck-Perez
"There's a really great reveal and it's written in Shakespeare's play this way, Melvolio comes out in yellow stockings,” Olsen says about another favorite moment. “He made his own tearaway pants so he could rip them off and reveal thigh high yellow stockings!”
In this theatre form, the actors have freedom to take ideas and run with them, leading to moments that might not have come out otherwise. Unlike traditional theatre, the actors are the production.
“If people want to do it, that's going to take people so much farther than whether or not you're right for any particular part or whatever — It's having the passion and drive for it,” Hiland said.
With UMD as its homebase, the group is currently composed entirely of UMD students, faculty and alumni. Not all of them are theatre majors, which breaks some of the barriers that traditional theatre puts up and allows the project to be accessible.
The project began as a way for actors who were currently not working on a show to get back into that space. Performing Shakespeare like this is not a new idea, though. Olsen has his own background in a company similar to the Duluth Shakespeare Project and uses that knowledge to guide the team through workshops.
“You have to already know what it is to be able to do it. We don't have a company like that. So we did a workshop and kind of tried to give people some tools for kind of what it could be like,” Olsen said.
Untraditionally, the actors are the cast, crew, and production team. They are in charge of their own props, costume pieces, instruments, lines and fight calls. On top of that, the actors are also assigned duties at the beginning of the process to take charge of all the behind the scenes tasks such as venue, donations or social media.
A core value of the project is the actors' readiness to accept change and be open to failure and trust that the audience is receptive to mistakes. The project allows for a healthy amount of improv to let the energy of the show carry itself.
“There's always a pressure of ‘will it go well?’ but, you have to release that. You can't control it, it comes down to a refusal to give up.” Olsen said.
“The majority of the show is about how well Shakespeare can be performed under such weird circumstances,” Hiland said, “So it's more about success than it is about failure.”
The project relies on a generous audience to keep itself afloat, it is all about the audience and how they perceive and how into it they are, and that is what carries the energy.
“Shakespeare's for everybody,” Olsen said, "You can feel like it belongs to you, as an audience member or as an actor. So, come and enjoy.”
To keep up with the project’s future endeavors, follow @duluthshakespeareproject on Instagram or email duluthshakespeareproject@gmail.com with any questions.