
{"id":3467,"date":"2008-09-18T08:21:25","date_gmt":"2008-09-18T16:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=3467"},"modified":"2008-09-18T08:27:31","modified_gmt":"2008-09-18T16:27:31","slug":"3467","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/09\/18\/3467\/","title":{"rendered":"Playmakers Rep presents: Pericles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href='http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/playmakers3.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/playmakers3.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Kirk Ross. Composer Jack Herrick confers with Playmakers director Joseph Haj and trumpeter Marianne Miller about a tune in Pericles. The play opens next week.\" title=\"playmakers3\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3468\" \/><\/a><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As in many of Shakespeare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plays, over the course of Pericles the protagonist loses everything \u00e2\u20ac\u201c family, love, fortune and friends. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But unlike other plays, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything wrong to lose everything,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Joe Haj, producing artistic director of PlayMakers Repertory Theater and director of the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s production of Pericles.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nMoreover, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He gets it all back, and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything right to get it back.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Pericles is one of Shakespeare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lesser-known works, which some consider to be a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153problem play,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but Haj wanted to bring it to the stage of the Paul Green Theater to hopefully share his love and understanding of the play with a larger audience. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it really is much more the way life actually goes, where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just the very good people who get the good things,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where the play is profound and successful.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>PlayMakers has produced Pericles once before, during the 1991-92 season at the theater, but this production is different, featuring the original music of Jack Herrick of the Red Clay Ramblers. <\/p>\n<p>While not a musical, the production places a heavy emphasis on Herrick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s music, which he performs with 14 cast members throughout the production. Both Haj and Herrick felt the music should play an important part in the play, which begins, after all, with the words of Gower, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To sing a song that old was sung&#8230;\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Herrick said he used some of the text of the play in the song lyrics he wrote for the production, as many of the words seemed to flow into song. Building on the text, Herrick wrote songs to help tell the tale of Pericles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 adventures across foreign lands and oceans. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wanted to find a style that would be appropriate for the piece and the production, so the first job was to figure out a musical style that would fit with the text,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Herrick said, describing the music he wrote for the play as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a cross between old-timey and middle eastern.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Herrick isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t new to creating music for theatrical productions. He and the Red Clay Ramblers have produced music for a number of plays, and when the Ramblers couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit Pericles into their schedule, Herrick decided to do it on his own. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I really enjoy writing songs to go along with Shakespeare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s text,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Herrick said, adding that he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t turn down an opportunity to work with a local production. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Usually I have to travel to some distant city or country,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. The last play he produced music for was rehearsed and produced in Wales. <\/p>\n<p>Haj said the production benefited from having Herrick involved at every step along the way. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jack was able to build the music going along with the talents of the cast,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. While some cast members sing, others play the guitar, flute or other instruments throughout the production.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an incredibly talented cast musically,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Haj said. <\/p>\n<p>The production also features a unique set, with an ocean built into the stage. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We thought that getting water into the set was a really, really important element,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Haj said. Pericles spends much of the play traveling across oceans. <\/p>\n<p>Although Pericles is known by few, Haj said he hopes that people will come to see the play and understand why it was one of Shakespeare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most popular during his lifetime. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our theater has a long history of producing Shakespeare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plays,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Haj said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spend all your time in the middle of the hit parade.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Performances will run Sept. 24 to Oct. 12, with shows at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4; and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets range from $10 to $40. Free post-show discussions will be held Oct. 1 and Oct. 5. In addition, on Oct. 7 PlayMakers will offer an all-access performance with sign-language interpretation and audio description for attendees with special needs.<\/p>\n<p>For a schedule or to purchase tickets, call 962-PLAY or visit www.playmakersrep.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan Dickson Staff Writer As in many of Shakespeare\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plays, over the course of Pericles the protagonist loses everything \u00e2\u20ac\u201c family, love, fortune and friends. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But unlike other plays, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything wrong to lose everything,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Joe Haj, producing artistic director of PlayMakers Repertory Theater and director of the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s production of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}