Bolder and still more bold: An ambitious Shakespeare project at the Guthrie Theater
When Guthrie artistic director Joseph Haj was beginning his professional acting career, one of the formative productions he was in was a set of Shakespeare plays.
These were “Richard II,” “Henry IV” and “Henry V,” a collection of linked plays called the Henriad.
“It was absolutely fundamental to the artist that I became, in some ways the person that I became,” Haj recalled of the 1990 Guthrie productions.
Thirty-four years later, Haj is mounting his version of these shows in an ambitious project.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
“I know these plays extremely well and I flatter myself that I understand their needs in production,” Haj said.
The three shows are part of Shakespeare’s History plays, and tell a large, interconnected epic about the British Crown. They will be performed in rotating repertory — a type of theater that sees a single company of actors performing multiple shows during the same production period, sometimes on the same day.
The Guthrie Theater was founded as a rotating repertory company. But not since 1998 has the landmark regional theater produced this style of theater.
“This project, in some ways, calls us back to our own legacy at the Guthrie,” Haj said.
Originally, these shows were intended to be produced in 2020, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the original marathon production of the Henriad. Due to COVID-19, the shows have instead been in development for nearly seven years.
This allowed the theater to spend an enviable amount of time workshopping edits for the script. Without editing, the Henriad can run 12 hours if the plays are performed back-to-back.
These productions will be more manageable, including a decision to combine the two Henry IV plays into one. Haj was intimately involved in the process.
“Usually, when I’m working with Joe Haj, he makes the first pass at the script,” said resident dramaturg Carla Steen, who had a hand in shaping the plays.
The cuts also combine certain characters. This affected casting, which was unusually challenging.
“The biggest difference with this particular project is that it was so big,” casting director Jennifer Liestman said.
“I mean, there’s 21 people in the show, there are four extras, and there are 12 understudies and that is bigger than anything that we’ve done since I’ve been here.”
Give dreadful note of preparation: The lead-up to the shows
Long before actors stepped foot in the rehearsal room, teams of designers, technicians and behind-the-scenes workers started building the world of the Henriad.
“I started on the show, probably about June of ‘23,” costume designer Trevor Bowen said. As a designer on the shows, he collaborates with others on the creative team to determine the ultimate look and feel of the shows.
“The one thing that Joe [Haj] and I were really looking at is sort of how power shifts, and how money and power go together,” Bowen said.
While designers focused on the shows at hand, the pre-production for technicians was a bit more hectic. During the rehearsal process for the Henriad, the Guthrie also presented two other shows, with another that will open during the run of Shakespeare shows.
“It’s a puzzle that is for sure. We have to have really good communication with everybody,” Jess Rau, head of wigs, hair and make-up, said of organizing workflow.
“The stage manager has to constantly be communicating with us. Any little change in the direction affects our outcome, right? So, I have a ton of spreadsheets, keeping track of everybody.”
Hour upon the stage: In rehearsals
Many professional productions have a rehearsal process of four to five weeks. The Henriad at the Guthrie necessarily had a longer time to work with its actors.
“The idea of being in a rehearsal process for some three months allows this company to really, really, really go deep — and to trust one another and to feel that they’re in good company and in good hands,” Haj said of the process.
According to Tyler Michaels King, who plays the title role in Richard II, rotating repertory allows performers more nuance.
“Each of our performances sort of apply to the ones that we’re doing personally,” Michaels King said in a conversation with fellow actors Daniel Jose Molina and Will Sturdivant, who play Henry V and Henry IV, respectively.
“Just seeing how your emotionality in that moment might apply to how I should be playing my character in the earlier play.”
Molina described the setting of these shows as a “real living, breathing world.”
“I was thinking the other day, how many scenes do we have in the same throne room?” Molina added.
A massive production like this also presents challenges for actors. Will Sturdivant said that memorizing lines for the shows before rehearsals officially began was important, but things change once blocking begins.
“Now that you’re in the room in the space with people, not just your imaginary friends and targets, you know, now you have actual living breathing humans who are giving you different intentions,” he said with a chuckle.
“It’s harder for me to unlearn than it is to learn, but you had to learn these lines to be ready to play.”
Some in the cast have experience in rotating repertory, like Melissa Maxwell, who is in this production of the Henriad and began her career doing this kind of theater.
“There is something about it being an event and a destination, that someone will want to stay with you for a week or three days, or whatever it is.”
Expectation fails: Rotating Repertory in decline?
While the Guthrie hasn’t produced shows in rotating repertory since 1998, others have — like the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
“I think there’s a distinction when you say ‘rotating rep,’” said Rosa Joshi, associate artistic director with the festival.
“Places like Seattle Repertory Theatre have the word repertory in there, but they’re not working with a single company in multiple shows necessarily.”
While many theaters, like the Guthrie, began as rotating repertory companies, Joshi thinks the decline in the style is due to the gig-economy nature of theater.
“It’s just the natural way in which the profession has developed, especially for freelance actors. And it’s a commitment to create a company as a producing organization also,” Joshi explained. For example, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s contracts usually run 10 months.
“In a varied world, where actors are trying to make a living also doing TV and film and other things like you know, your agent may not want you to take that 10-month contract.”
John DiAntonio is the artistic director of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and he believes another reason why theaters have shied away from rotating rep, is that a lot of theaters don’t need it to make a profit.
“The reason we’re seeing a decline is because it is so hard, it is so expensive. There’s so many logistical challenges that you only do it if you have to do it to survive — if it’s the only way that your theater will thrive,” DiAntonio said.
Prior to taking the artistic helm in Utah, DiAntonio led Creede Repertory in Colorado, another producer of rotating shows.
“It requires a lot from everybody in the company, but it gives back a lot too.”
The Utah Shakespeare Festival has had an ambitious project with Shakespeare’s history cycle. It has spanned just over a decade. Unlike the Guthrie’s model of doing multiple shows at once, the Utah company has spread them out over many seasons.
“It’s all a win,” DiAntonio said of seeing sagas on stage, “I think for audiences, it’s just a different experience.”
We in it shall be remember’d: Nearing opening day
As opening day draws closer at the Guthrie, people are getting their tickets. Some are traveling from out of state.
Rosa Joshi in Oregon is hoping to make it to one of the marathon days, where all three shows will be performed.
“Often these plays are played separately, in different seasons,” Joshi said.
“You don’t get that connection. So the rarity of the event and the expansiveness of that vision to be able to do that? It’s a treat.”
Reflecting on the last time the Guthrie produced these shows, Joseph Haj seems humbled by the chance to mount them again.
“All these years later to find myself artistic director of the Guthrie and to be able to examine these plays again. Yeah, some of us get much more than we deserve. I feel blessed.”
“Richard II,” “Henry IV” and “Henry V” officially open in rotating repertory April 13.