Shakespeare in the park at Garfield site

Jul 04, 2010

By: News-Herald Staff

By Cassandra Shofar
CShofar@News-Herald.com

Little did James A. Garflield know, two Shakespeare plays, one of which he quoted in his diary, would be performed more than a century later on his land.
For the first time, the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival brought the early Shakespeare tragedy, “Titus Andronicus,” to the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor on Saturday night as part of a free, outdoor weekend event.
Tonight at 6, the tragedy will be contrasted by the Shakespeare comedy, “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”
“This is the first that has been done here,” said Todd Arrington, chief of interpretation and education at the National Historic Site.
“We’ve had discussions here in the past about doing a theater-in-the-park type of thing. We have so many quotes from James’ diaries where he mentions Shakespeare plays he’s read or gone to. It’s great for us because of the connection and great for (The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival) because they need a Lake County venue … and it exposes the public to something they probably wouldn’t get to see at other parks.”
The tragedy, directed by Allan Byrne, was set in Rome and alternates from rituals, crude jokes, shocking violence and beautiful poetry, Byrne said.
“Titus Andronicus” and “The  Merry Wives of Windsor” are lesser known plays, and Arrington said he was happy to bring something to the public they may not have seen before.
“Frankly, I think these are two of the lesser known plays and I like that, especially with ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ because that is one of the one’s James A. Garfield specifically mentioned in his diary, how he read it to his wife,” Arrington said. “This explores a side of Garfield that people probably don’t know much about … and this is pretty unique because it’s a park site. You don’t normally go to a park site and see Shakespeare.”
Throughout his diaries, Garfield has mentioned reading Shakespeare’s sonnets as well as 17 of his plays, according to Park Ranger Alan Gephardt.
“He writes of the plays he is reading to himself, to his wife and to his children,” Gephardt said. “As congressman, he mentions attending stage productions in Washington with his family and friends. He offers his opinions about particular plays and mentions what others have to say about William Shakespeare.”
As these facts were presented to the public Saturday evening, many of the people in the audience hunkered down with blankets and lawn chairs to watch the first act of “Titus Andronicus.”
“Anything that’s free and Shakespeare is great to me,” said Dolores Pinchot of Euclid. “A long time ago I read (Titus Andronicus). I read it when I was in school. This is a nice way to re-learn something and it’s outside. Most of his plays were written for outdoor venues.”
Learning about the event on the Historic Site’s website, Karen VanDeMotter of Mentor was excited to have something different to do on a Saturday night.
“We didn’t have plans tonight. I think this is wonderful. It’s outside. It’s a beautiful night. It’s nothing I’ve ever done before so it’s something very different for me,” VanDeMotter said, adding she’s also not familiar with the tragedy.
Arriving among the projected screams just as Titus slays his son, Mutius, Gina and Sean Blake of Mentor spread out their blanket before flipping through their programs to get caught up.
“In college, I had read almost all the Shakespeare plays and it’s just great to be able to see this performed outside on such a nice night,” Sean said. “I’ve never read (this one). It’s one of his lesser known ones, which is why I thought it was a good one to see. It’s not one that is produced that often.”
Gina was impressed with the skill level of the actors as well as their voice control.
“They seem to be very professional and the sound is very good,” she said, adding she, along with her husband, has always had a soft spot for theater.
“I was a stage-hand in high school. I tried out for the part, but didn’t get it,” she added with a chuckle.
Arrington said he hopes The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival will come back again next year.
“We’re going to do everything we can do to make it successful for them, not only to be a good host, but because we’d hope they’d come back,” he said.

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