Richard III and Twelfth Night
It was famous opening line day for me when I tucked in for a double-header of Shakespeare. Mark Rylance and the Shakespeare’s Globe Company are on Broadway with all-male repertory productions of Richard III and Twelfth Night . You know how Aaron Sorkin’s characters like to say, “If you haven’t seen ‘X’ then you haven’t seen Shakespeare the way it’s meant to be played”? Well, check out these productions and you’ll see the real thing. Striving for authenticity, the company is made up entirely of male actors, just as when the plays were originally performed. And that's not all. Designer Jenny Tiramani explains in the program notes the materials used for the scenic and costumes designs, and the process of construction and application of the latter. She notes that the “set” is modeled after the great halls in which Shakespeare’s plays were performed before he and his players called a space at the Blackfriars home. (And it is lit, to a great extent, by candles; lighting desig...