While some of William Shakespeare’s most popular works have been tragedies, USC’s rendition of “Shakespeare in Love” aims to display the playwright’s life through romance and comedy.
Directed by Andrew Schwartz, the play chronicles the life of Will Shakespeare as he writes the beloved play, “Romeo and Juliet”. Shakespeare faces some difficulties such as writer’s block, but soon overcomes them when he finds his muse, Viola de Lesseps.
“It’s really charming,” Schwartz said. “It has great comedic moment but there’s also a beautiful love story underneath.”
This is Schwartz’s first time directing a play at USC, and while “Shakespeare in Love” is a challenging show, Schwartz explains that Carolina has made it easy.
“It’s quite involved but the facilities, the students, the design team have really made it easy,” Schwartz said. “Even though it is a really challenging production I’ve enjoyed the experience and I’m very grateful for the opportunity.”
Shakespeare will be played by fourth-year broadcast journalism student John Romanski, while Viola will be played by second-year theatre student Olivia Hensley.
“Viola is very romantic,” Hensley said. “She’s very independent, very determined, outgoing, not afraid for standing up for herself in a society where women weren’t allowed to do that.”
The actors meet and rehearse about 26 hours a week during the fall semester to prepare for the show. The hours are long, but the actors enjoy the work.
“It is quite a lot of hours but we know that going into it and we enjoy being there. It really doesn’t feel like a burden or extra work,” Romanski said.
The time will soon pay off. Actors, such as Hensley, say they’re excited to perform the show with their peers later this week.
“It’s a huge show and it’s all undergrad,” Hensley said. “Having a full undergrad cast is a new experience.”
Schwartz also expressed his excitement regarding putting the “beautiful love story” on the stage in front of an audience.
“I am very excited for next week,” Schwartz said. “The missing piece of any piece of theatre is the audience. It doesn’t really become theater until there’s somebody watching it.”
However, the show which premieres on Oct. 5, has not been without it’s challenges. Not only does it have to live up to its film predecessor, but it also includes a trained dog and forces actors to step outside of their comfort zone. Hensley, for example, dresses up and acts like a boy for some of the play.
“It’s incredibly challenging,” Hensley said. “There are certain scenes that are more intimate or more serious and to counteract the seriousness of some of those scenes, you have to play the comedy of the whole show and sometimes it’s really, really hard because you want to play to mood of every scene.”
The actors, however, are very passionate about their roles. Romanski talked wonders about how excited he was to become William Shakespeare.
“It’s a beautiful role, a great character to play. A dream role really,” Romanski said. “The best part about it is to be in that room with all the people there and tell this story all together: bring it to life.”
While the play focuses on Will Shakespeare and Viola, Hensley says that telling the story is more of a group effort.
“There’s not one star,” Hensley said. “There’s two people who the plot is surrounded by, but every single person in the play is so vital to the whole story. It’s a very collaborative kind of situation.”
The play will run at Drayton Hall Theatre from Oct. 5-13. Tickets can be purchased online or in person at Longstreet Theatre.