NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, July 22.
PORT ANGELES — During tonight’s production of William Shakespeare’s, “The Tempest,” the stage is not inside an auditorium but atop grass surrounded by forest and topped with an open sky.
The production, part of the second annual Shakespeare in Webster’s Woods, begins at 5:30 p.m. with additional performances running through Aug. 7. All performances are at a clearing in Webster’s Woods at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
“There isn’t a bad seat in the house because you are all around,” said Ben Heintz, 19, of Sequim. Heintz will portray the lead character, Prospero, during the performances.
“It is different” than performing on a traditional stage, Heintz said.
“You can see your audience a lot better so you know who you are speaking too. It is almost more engaging because you feel as if you are actually there. I am not surrounded by cardboard sets and peoples’ faces but by nature. It makes it more real.”
The setting, he added, “is absolutely gorgeous. This is one of the coolest places for theater I have ever seen.”
The play revolves around Prospero, a sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan who for 12 years has been stranded on an island after his brother Antonio — aided by Alonso, the King of Naples — deposed him and set him adrift with his 3-year-old daughter, Miranda, according to pafac.org.
A great storm shipwrecks the king, the usurping duke and their courtiers on Prospero’s island. Safe, but each grieving the loss of those who were separated, the castaways are unaware that powerful magic is behind their troubles.
Prospero is determined to right the wrongs he suffered, and restore the birthright of his now teenage daughter.
Aided by the magical inhabitants of the island, Prospero leads his victims through miserable misadventures.
Surprise ending
The performance is traditional Shakespeare, “but certainly is a different concept than anything I have ever heard of before,” said Director Anna Andersen, 42, of Port Angeles.
“I have a very different take on the main character,” Andersen said.
“It is not what Shakespeare intended, but I think it goes really well with the story. The only change is what happens to Prospero at the end — a magical twist.”
Shakespeare fans “will definitely see something new,” Andersen continued.
“I don’t think it will ruin the story at all.”
There also is a change to a scene in which shadow spirits put on a performance, Andersen said.
“I have never really liked that part much so I took it out,” she said.
With her guidance, a group of high school students “put together a piece with lines from various Shakespeare sonnets, plays and songs and they created a performance piece,” Andersen said.
“They got a chance to do a little play within a play.”
Altogether, the cast includes about 19 actors accompanied by live music performed by Zorina Wolf and Rosie Sharpe, Andersen said.
Picking a lead
Andersen said she did not commit to directing this play until Heintz agreed to take on the role of Prospero.
“He agreed to do it before I agreed to do it,” she said.
“He is a very talented young man,” well suited to play the role of Prospero, she said, who is in his 60s.
“There is a reason why I have a young man playing Prospero,” she said.
“He is going to start old and get younger and eventually something magical will happen.”
The artistic vision of the show “really drew me,” Heintz said.
“When Anna presented the idea it was an exciting one. I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity both to learn and to act.”
First time
This will be Heintz’s first time participating in a Shakespeare in Webster’s Woods production, he said.
Not yet in his 20s, Heintz must transform his voice and body into that of an elderly man.
He said he has “always been typecast as an older man.”
“I guess it is because I have a low voice and not many people my age have as low a voice.”
To prepare for the role, Heintz joked he stays “up late” and watches “a lot of old television.”
In reality, Heintz said he studies elderly folks to learn their characteristics and behaviors.
“I will sit and I will just adopt the mannerisms,” he said.
He said he also studies the performances of other actors.
“My character always derives from the people around me and from people I have seen in shows,” he said.
“It kind of comes naturally.”
Making play accessible
This production of, “The Tempest,” is for everyone, including those with no Shakespeare background, Heintz said.
“I feel a lot of people shy away from Shakespeare because it is hard to approach and it is difficult to understand, but the nature through which this show has been directed and the way it has been put together is such that the common man can understand it,” he said.
The audience can take cues from the body language of the actors, Heintz said.
“The way in which the speech is spoken, and the fact the actors understand what they are saying, very much” illustrates the message behind the spoken word, he said.
Performances
Pending good weather, performances will commence at 5:30 tonight, Saturday and Sunday, and each Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Aug. 7
The grounds open to the public at 4:30 p.m.
Entry is free, although event organizers encourage donations to offset expenses.
“It is not free to put on and we are hoping to build a program where we pay more people” to perform, Andersen said.
“We are really hoping for support.”
For more information, call 360-457-3532 or visit http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Shakespeare-Outdoors.
