Texas Shakespeare Festival

Van Cliburn Auditorium

June 27 – July 27, 2019

Directed by:  Matthew Simpson

Scenic Designer:  Jason Jamerson

Costume Designer:  Angelina Herin

Lighting Designer:  Alice Trent

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As You Like It tells us the comedic story of Rosalind, the niece of a great duke, and her love for Orlando, a young lad who challenges the Duke's best fighter to a wrestling match.  Victorious, he is gifted of a chain from her.  Shortly thereafter, both Orlando and Rosalind must flee to the Forest of Arden.  Rosalind disguises herself as a man and ends up trying to coach Orlando in the ways of love.  Rosalind is joined by her cousin and the fool, while Orlando brings his faithful servant.  At the end of the play, secrets are revealed and several people are married.

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The director set this production in the Antebellum south in the mid 1800s, finding that the world of the piece suited this time period, which was marked by growth and prosperity.  It gave us a pretty clear visual picture to work with, which was well represented in the scenic and lighting designs.

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My research for this approach started with the music and instruments of the time period.  The soundscape for the music would use the banjo, guitar, a bit of flute and accordion, and bones.  Some of these were instruments I had not worked with in composition, and they proved to be very interesting challenges.  The music I composed served to transition between sections, add punctuation to the ends of acts, and underscore some moments.

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A big challenge that a composer faces when doing Shakespeare is creating workable songs to the sung lyrics of the play.  The folk music influences that have been driving the rest of the music would need to remain intact for these songs.  What was incredibly gratifying was creating the composition and a guide for the performers to follow, and then having it evolve through the rehearsal process into the finished product.  The Blow, Blow song was a great example of this.  The celebratory dance to "A Lover and His Lass" at the end of the play was so much fun to write and to hear performed by the cast.