Ten Thousand Things' new Artistic Director Caitlin Lowans is making their directorial debut with the company, and I'm happy to report that TTT is in good hands that will continue the tradition of making theater for everyone. I'm not surprised; Caitlin has been with TTT for a little while and delivered charming and endearing pre-show speeches, but it's a thrill to see their work on stage. Or rather, in a square on the floor surrounded by a few rows of chairs in a room with
All the Lights On where TTT performs, replicating their community performances in treatment facilities, shelters, prisons, and other spaces that don't have regular access to theater. As Caitlin notes in the program,
Two Gentleman of Verona, affectionately called
Two Gents here, is an appropriate choice for this first - it's believed to be the first play that Shakespeare ever wrote, and it's the first time TTT is doing it in their 30+ year history. I've seen this play a couple of times before, but there's no one I'd rather see do any Shakespeare play than TTT, and this production continues in making these 400+ year old plays clear and understandable, modern and relatable.
Two Gents is an effervescent romcom that's also about friendship, loyalty, and accountability, with an impossibly talented cast of just five actors playing all of the roles in the play. It continues at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church through the 26th (across from the Walker with a large free parking lot), with one performance at the Capri Theater in North Minneapolis, and concludes the run at 825 Arts in St. Paul on University.
You can find the full schedule and ticketing details here.
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Julia (Sara Richardson) and Proteus (Kurt Kwan)
(photo by Tom Wallace) |
Two Gents contains many of the common Shakespearean tropes we see in his later plays: a misunderstanding comes between young lovers, the clownish servants get the smartest and best lines, someone is banished, and a woman puts on pants and a hat and is instantly unrecognizable. To get more specific,
Two Gents is about two buddies who go off to the big city of Milan, one finding love, one forgetting the love he left behind. Valentine falls in love with Sylvia, as does his friend Proteus, despite the fact that in the last scene he was in love with Julia. Proteus sabotages his friend, Valentine is banished and falls in with a band of outlaws in the forest, Sylvia goes looking for him, Proteus follows after her, and our couples are reunited. Except that in this version, the ending is slightly altered to give more agency to the scorned woman, and focus more on the friendship of Sylvia and Julia.*
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Sylvia (Michelle de Joya) and her dad (Kimberly Richardson)
(photo by Tom Wallace) |
Much credit goes to Caitlin for the logistics of dividing the many characters amongst the five actors (including having four actors play the same character at different times in the play, identified by their backwards cap with mullet and bro attitude), and for infusing the whole affair with a sense of lightness, joy, and play. Kamani Graham (a recent Guthrie/U of M BFA grad making his TTT debut) and Kurt Kwan are both charming as the titular gents; Kamani the more free-spirited Valentine, Kurt with a bit more darkness as Proteus - he knows he's betraying his love, but does it anyway. It's to Kurt's credit that we almost feel sorry for Proteus despite his bad actions. Almost. It's surprising that Sara Richardson is making her TTT debut, her playful style fits right in with the company, playing the blissfully in-love Julia, the hurt Julia, and others. Michelle de Joya is a fireball as the joyful and confident Sylvia, a stooped servant, and more. Last but not least, in fact most in terms of number of characters, is the incomparable Kimberly Richardson. She plays no less than eight characters, each one a delight, and in one scene plays three different characters in quick succession. I'm not sure anyone embodies the playful spirit of Ten Thousand Things more than Kimberly in this her 16th production with the company.
Another artist making their TTT debut is Ryan Lee as the Music Director, playing multiple instruments live in what he aptly describes as "creating a musical landscape in service of storytelling." The music notes, blips, or runs perfectly accentuate the comic or dramatic moments. And he joins the cast in singing an ode to Sylvia that would fit in any '80s romcom. Speaking of the '80s, costume designer Ash Kaun has created a super fun and colorful wardrobe for our characters, from Proteus' lavender suit with green trim that perfectly matches his kicks, to Kimberly's orange jumpsuit with a myriad of pieces to define her characters, to Julia's rad neon workout/bomber jacket (that I think I had in high school, or I wished I did) paired with a green skirt as Julia and pants in her boy disguise, with a matching hat. As always TTT performs with minimal props and set pieces to make travel light, just a ladder with a bulletin board of Sylvia's memorabilia, an array of adorable notes with flowery writing, stickers, and fun shapes, and of course scene stealer Crab the dog (props design by Abbee Warmboe).
For Shakespeare newbies or experts, Ten Thousand Things' Two Gents is an all around delight.
