Review: Experience Shakespeare on a Whole New Level with Shakespeare on the Stairs at Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida.

Set to a backdrop of great men and women throughout history, the audience is immersed in a brief moment of history while seated looking at a grand staircase as the focal point for the room. As a usual theatre endeavor guest were checked in at the door, and some made their way to the concession area. Offered amidst the array of beer, wine and coffee was what seemed to be a delightful offering of chicken salad or house made chips. Opting for the Pinot Noir I made my way forth to the room adjacent which housed the grand staircase in which tonight's performance would be taking place.

Amidst the audience and patrons whom were clearly familiar with the normal décor, upon seeing the program cover and the wall in front of us, someone had commented that the pictures adorning the wall had changed or been moved. The place where Shakespeare normally was placed was adorned with a different picture. Hard to tell if this was a directing choice or venue choice, but kept me wondering where the Bard had been placed, and if this was a directing choice, well then kudos to the company for allowing the portrayal on stage to be the aforementioned point where Shakespeare was presented on the stairs as opposed to a picture conveniently placed on the wall in front of us.

The Director of tonight's endeavor, Matthew Belopavlovich came out and met the audiences' eyes at the bottom of the stairs. In the opening monologue the audience understood that the pieces performed would be ascending and descending through the turbulence of love as if the journey of finding and embracing love is like climbing stairs; every step another hurdle and another barrier to overcome. However the ascension or descension though hard would be worth it in the end.

Tonight's performance would be love letters and prose set to Shakespeare's work. The director stated the love letters were written to, "Awaken our emotion," and with that the first act began. Sonnet 98 was delivered by Matt Frankel whom beautifully captured the words and the meaning behind the prose in a way that was very engaging to the audience. His King Ferdinand monologue which began the act also had the vocal prowess of someone very well versed in the text. Shakespeare is not an easy forte for most so kudos to Matt on his beautiful recitant work. The Mistress Page monologue delivered to full comedic timing by Suzanne Livesay was a beautiful segue from Sonnet 98, and it seemed as though Matt's character Man 1 and Suzanne's character Woman were merely writing love letters to one another. Towards the middle of her piece she ripped her letter up, which conviently gave the audience a moment of laughter. One problem I had with this scene however small was the choice to have the actor in heels. While Sonnet 98 is being delivered and the beautiful words are being spoken, you have what seemed like a rushed actor clambering down the stairs. While comedic, pulled me out of focus with the beautiful sonnet being recited and therefore took me out of the moment.

Continuing on in the act we see a forlorn and wounded Julia in her recitant from Two Gentleman of Verona when she states, "love wounds spirits" and as an audience we felt her wounds. Commendable job by the very talented Emily Stephens, who then we see pick up a Guitar. Now with any musical moment in a show, I hold my breath wondering about what is about to happen and with the program stating Sonnet 18 musical interlude I was wondering how this will fit. I commend Emily for taking the chance and performing this very well-known sonnet as a spoken and sung piece. Her voice is beautiful and is perfect as if a court minstrel were telling the story; however, I look back on this moment and wonder could someone else have accompanied her on the guitar. I like the idea of the singing minstrel, but to have her playing while singing the sonnet pulled me completely out of the moment. Harking back to moments in which the late, Heath Ledger in "10 Things I Hate About You," which is a modern re-telling of Taming of the Shrew sang with a band accompanying him, I wonder in a moment such as this could this have been more effective?

Sonnet 86 was delivered with much vocal prowess by Peter Lynch that I truly saw a Leading Man arch-type in his character, I was invested and I wanted more. Reminiscent of Kenneth Branagh I truly commend this young actor's delivery. Act one comes to a close with a powerful deliverance of Sonnet 15 where true iambic pentameter was truly witnessed within the delivery. The Director/Narrator re-emerged to again bare witness that, "love letters express our deepest emotion; Act two will show us how we dare to act on such a notion."

After a short break in which audience was encouraged to purchase more beverages, and mingle, the opening narration began with stating that Shakespeare is often quoted at weddings. This being the perfect segue into the Shakespeare snippets portion which was a recitation of familiar pieces from the Bard himself, which as an audience we've all heard at weddings and in Hallmark movies so kudos to the director to include a piece of familiarity for those less versed in Shakespeare's work.

The Benedict monologue from Much Ado About Nothing was perfect segue and great comedic timing coming directly out of the narration about love and marriage, almost a sarcastic view on true love. The Narrator was all ready to dive into love, Benedict however felt otherwise; kudos to the company for this beautifully placed piece. Lady Capulet was beautifully delivered by Suzanne Livesay, and it was almost a lesson of what to do and not to do for Juliet. Which moved beautifully into the Juliet monologue from Romeo and Juliet, however, a head-scratching moment occurred with the recitation of a monologue from King Henry. It left me wondering for a minute if there was a misprint in the program. Upon the closure of act two I looked and saw a reprise of Sonnet 18, and wondered if the troubled guitar was going to make an appearance again. Beautifully placed in this moment, was a comedic sequence in which Juliet said, "I wrote something for you." This perfectly bookended my thoughts with the moment in act one in which she first recited the sonnet. The act one delivery seemed like lyrics written to a loved one, and the delivery was almost a stream of consciousness so I was glad to see this bookend nicely. The reprise took on new meaning when the entire company recited the last few lines in unison while descending the stairs which added a nice touch.

All in all, this was a beautiful evening, and a very enjoyable "dip your toes in the water" so to speak effort from Oxford Exchange. Simple blocking, simple setting, and simply everything it needed to be, and all that was simply Shakespeare. A perfect pre-Valentines event for everyone that experienced a whole new Level of Shakespeare, and bravo to all involved.

Photo credit: Wren Livesay

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