Shakespeare’s Will. Perhaps the two-word title of Quantum Theatre’s autumn 2019 production sums up what many people think they know about the playwright’s wife. That very document and what he specifically bequeathed to Anne Hathaway Shakespeare–“the second best bed with the furniture”–have defined Anne Hathaway for many indifferent observers over the past four centuries.
Sheila McKenna
Sheila McKenna, one of this region’s leading classical artists, takes on Anne Shakespeare’s sea of troubles at Quantum.
Vern Theissen’s intriguing and poetic solo play runs for in the intimate West Homestead United Methodist Church, Nov. 8-Dec. 1. McKenna’s 20 performances marks the Western Pennsylvania premiere of Shakespeare’s Will, which debuted in Canada in 2005 and later performed at the Stratford Festival. Melanie Dreyer, chair of the University of Alberta’s Department of Drama and past faculty member in Theatre Arts at the University of Pittsburgh, directs McKenna here.
McKenna finds it “appealing to shine the light on someone invisible, to rethink what you know about Shakespeare. It informs his plays. He chose to marry, to have children, to buy the big house.”
A farmer’s daughter, Anne is often misunderstood as the spouse of the writer who may have done more for the English language than any other. McKenna is most intrigued by Shakespeare’s three children and life in a rural Elizabethan market town and Anne’s eventual residence in one of its finest homes, New Place.
“What surprised me was rethinking how Anne was a single mother,” says McKenna of when she was introduced to Vern Theiseen’s imaginative take.
Anne gets a clean slate upon which an actor like McKenna can draw her own version of the wife left behind in Stratford-Upon-Avon during William’s career in London. McKenna applies her own artistic and academic strengths to this historical character that is frequently dismissed in early literary scholarship.
The real Anne was indeed a solo act during 23 years of the Shakespeares’ marriage. She weathered not only the challenging work of keeping their home and local business, but the
Simon Nigam
loss of their 11-year-old son Hamnet, cause of death unknown. Theissen delves into some dramatic possibilities about Hamnet’s demise and Anne’s journey to the sea.
The most recent scholarship infers that the “second-best bed” Shakespeare designates for Anne in his will may have indeed been their marriage bed. Experts imply that the “first bed” would have been considered part of New Place, bequeathed as the residence where Anne would live with daughter Susannah and her husband. Rather than debate whether Shakespeare’s specific bequest to his wife was intended affectionately or as an insult, the play’s action anticipates her first look at her husband’s will after his funeral and and focuses on Anne.
As teacher, actor and director, McKenna has enjoyed digging into fresh approaches by exploring Shakespeare’s sources, plots, and characters ones in which “the psychology of humans is being revealed.” Most recently, she was seen in Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s all-female production of The Tempest, adding to her other classical roles.
Before rehearsals for Shakespeare’s Will began, PITR chatted with McKenna about her role as Anne.
“I was struck by the language and structure of the play–those appealed to me a lot,” says McKenna of Shakespeare’s Will. “There’s not a whole lot that we actually know. It’s an imagined experience of a woman we think we know, perhaps through the lens of Shakespeare’s writing.
Water metaphors abound in the script, McKenna says:“It’s fun and moving to imagine all the blanks that Vern Theiseen has filled in. He’s a poet in his own right. The flow of the language drew me into his storytelling.”
Sheila McKenna
The Renaissance era, when the four elemental “humours” (earth, air, water, and fire) defined the physical and spiritual aspects of life in that turbulent era. That lifestyle informs the script, says McKenna. “It’s Interesting to see how people dealt with the everyday—childbirth, marriage, even plague.”
Like many others, McKenna first encountered Shakespeare in high school: “A friend and I went to see Macbeth at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. It was very significant that my ears could not process the language, but I was mesmerized by the storytelling. It was not about spectacle but about the metaphor, the heart of the play,” she muses, recalling scenes that have stayed with her since.
“What I love about teaching is sharing the tools to understand this humanistic or profoundly moving plays. I have always loved the deeply human aspects of the plays written in highly evolved poetry. The thought and the heart and guts of it are so real and honest,” she observes.
“I love to teach my students that sometimes acting in Shakespeare plays is easier. Everything we try to teach in acting is contained in that language. I think they are some of the easiest roles to act.”
As for memorizing a 90-minute solo script, McKenna says she finds the task “informed by the flow of the action and your motivation. This is a bit of a memory play and very present in that Anne’s coming to a decision.”
Sheila McKenna
Does she find some of Shakespeare’s female characters—Rosalind, Portia, Kate—in Anne? McKenna says, “The women in his plays were not wallflowers. I am delighted that Anne is so clearly a whole person here, because they both had dreams about what their lives would be like.”
McKenna invites audiences to experience Anne: “However few and slender your expectations, be prepared to have then be shaken and stirred. Meet her. See what strong woman was at home in Stratford while Shakespeare was creating the work we know in London.”
Joining McKenna is violinist Dawn Posey who performs a live score. Quantum’s production features design by Stephanie Mayer-Staley, Joe Seamans, C. Todd Brown, Steve Shapiro, and Bonnie Siefers. Hank Bullington manages multiple technical elements Quantum’s director of production.
More about Sheila McKenna
Professor and head of the bachelor’s program at Point Park University’s Conservatory, Sheila McKenna was Lear’s Fool opposite Ralph Waite (of television’s The Waltons fame) at PPU’s professional company, The REP. Her impressive array of representative roles range from classics spanning several centuries to contemporary comedies and cabaret in companies ranging from City Theatre and PICT Classic Theatre regionally to Quantum in which she’s appeared in Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, among others.
Shakespeare’s Will Video Trailer.
Pre-show events during Shakespeare’s Will include:
Social Q – Wed., Nov. 13, 6:30- 7:30pm, Happy Hour at Voodoo Brewery, Homestead. Homestead favorite, Craft beers (first round is on Quantum!) with pinball contests. At 7 pm Pittsburgh’s resident Anne Hathaway expert, Yvonne Hudson (known for her own solo show, Mrs Shakespeare, Will’s first & last love), leads a toast to the Bard’s wife before patrons move over for the 8 pm performance.
Quantum Quaff – Thurs., Nov. 14, 6:30 pm, wine tasting at the venue.
Visit Quantum online for all events, tickets, discounts, and details in addition to more discussion about Anne Shakespeare via Quantum on Facebook.
Photography Credit: Jason Snyder (Image Treatment by BOOM Creative)
Yvonne Hudson, a Pittsburgh-based writer, publicist, actor, and singer, joined PITR as a writer and adviser in February 2016. She began performing and writing during high school in Indiana, PA. The Point Park journalism grad credits her Globe editor for first assigning her to review a play. Yvonne is grateful to Dr. Attilio Favorini for master’s studies at Pitt Theatre Arts, work at Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival, and believing in her Shakespearean journey. When not working with nonprofits, this lifelong chorister sings with Calvary UM Church’s annual Messiah choir. Having played Juliet’s Nurse for Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks, Yvonne is now seen in her solo shows, Mrs Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson: The Poet Lights the Lamp. Goals: See all of Shakespeare’s plays in production and memorize more Sonnets. Fave quotes: “Good deed in a naughty world,” “Attention must be paid,” and “A handbag?” Twitter @msshakespeare Facebook: PoetsCornerPittsburgh LinkedIn