The Rude Grooms bring Shakespeare to life in Queens
The audience and I, tipsy on craft beer and a little out of breath from the jog over, have arrived at an orchard. Well, in reality, it’s an art gallery, with a few statues of trees. But with a few audience members selected to stand stock still holding apples, who’s to tell the difference? Malvolio (played by Teddy Yudain) has just arrived, and Sir Toby Belch (clutching my arm, and hiding behind one of the aforementioned human trees) is trying to suppress his cackles, excited for the mischief about to unfold. With a few simple gestures, we are transported out of Long Island City and smack in the middle of Illyria.
Twelfth Night (or Epiphany) marks the end of the famous Twelve Days of Christmas. No longer widely celebrated, the holiday used to be the culmination of the wild Christmas festivities, known for cakes and ale and all manner of mischief. In fact, in Shakespeare’s time, the festivities were presided over by a “Lord of Misrule,” a sort of ringmaster to the evening’s entertainment. The Rude Grooms, a New York City-based experimental theatre company dedicated to the revival of Elizabethan tradition, has managed the delicate balancing act of bringing that revelry into the modern age while also maintaining its historical weight and significance.
Guests with VIP tickets arrive early for craft beer and musical performances, ranging from deeply enjoyable traditional Irish tunes to a series of rapped Sonnets that seem like a desperate English teacher trying to convince their students that Shakespeare is cool. As I sip my beer and chat with the crowd, the cast emerges, chanting and cajoling us to a banquet table for the evening’s gimmick: the cake. A traditional Elizabethan holiday cake, it contains both a black eyed pea and a bean, and when divided three ways among the three principal players, each one (or the absence of one) would determine who plays which roles for the evening.
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With this initial anarchy aside, what followed was a faithful and inventive production of Twelfth Night that made full use of its immersive staging. Running with Viola (Laura Piccoli, having found the pea) around the three wings of the art gallery where the show took place gave the story a sense of motion, with the blurring of strict scenes and entrance/exit gags giving the show the feel of a French bedroom farce. The transitions from room to room within the venue allowed for some amazing off script improv, pulling audience members in as co-conspirators, confidants, and sources of comfort to the characters. The characters of Toby Belch (gamely played by company founder Montgomery Sutton, who had drawn neither the pea nor bean) and Malovolio were particularly adept at incorporating the audience into the performance, with Toby encouraging their drinking, singing, and cheering and Malvolio being constantly irritated and shushing the crowd.
The first time I ever felt Shakespeare could be funny and modern and relevant was when I was performing in a production of Twelfth Night. When I played Toby Belch, I was able to follow not only trail of mischief apparent in the character, but the cruelty and mystery and overwhelming desire that defines the world of the show. And what the Rude Grooms have done with their version is to give everyone that same opportunity: to play along and become a part of Twelfth Night. After the show, Sutton told me how he hoped to make this an annual production, bringing holiday cheer into the early January doldrums. I hope the Rude Grooms succeed, if only selfishly so that I can see their Twelfth Night again. To twist a phrase from the text: the show is indeed virtuous, and so there shall be more cakes and ale.
Stay up to date with what the Rude Grooms do next via their web site.
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