A Wither’s Tale, produced by the Troubadour Theatre Company, presented by the Falcon Theatre, opens Aug. 20; plays Wed.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 4 pm; through Sept. 26. Tickets: $27-$42. Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Dr., Burbank; 818.955.8101 or falcontheatre.com.
The Troubadour Theatre Company, or the Troubies as fans have come to know them, has been around for 15 years now. Best known for their loose adaptations of the classics mixed with commedia, clowning, improvisation and music, they’ve cultivated quite the following and reputation.
Their latest installment is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale. They’ve matched the play with the music of Bill Withers, thus creating A Wither’s Tale. Artistic Director Matt Walker says they hope to eventually perform Shakespeare’s entire canon.
Matt Walker
“I think this will be our 13th Shakespeare,” says Walker. It’s “part comedy, part tragedy, part psychological drama, part wrenching your guts out and stomping on them and then, hey, happy ending everybody.”
The play has a lot of drama and depth, says Walker. A stark contrast to their last show CHiPS The Musical which parodied the popular 1970s TV show.
How did they pair A Winter’s Tale with Bill Withers? It “was sort of just born out of the idea of if we’re going to do all of Shakespeare at some point then let’s attach a pop music band or artist to each title and see what we can come up with. Probably a year ago I think A Wither’s Tale was spun as well as I think an Edgar Winter’s Tale - which we thought would be too short a show with not having too many Edgar Winter hits.
“But then the pairing for title’s sake sort of gave way to wow - the soul music of Bill Withers, which really does embody the themes of the play: jealousy, betrayal, love, lost love, redemption - all of those things are in A Winter’s Tale too so we really chose to follow that thread. We use the music to enhance and really help set the tone for the play.”
Over the past 15 years, the Troubies has built a diverse and multi-talented ensemble comprised of clowns, improvisers and comedians, musical theatre performers, classically trained actors, etc. Walker hopes audiences recognize the breadth of talent the Troubies employ - and that they have a unique experience.
“You don’t get to see a lot of people wearing Shakespearian garb and speaking the speech trippingly on the tongue. It’s nice to be able to show off that color as well.”
He adds, “Pulling off A Winter’s Tale in the middle of August in a California summer is going to be interesting. You know, transporting the audience, taking them on a journey, the escapism of it, the being able to transform a theatre into a Shakespearean castle. Just the sense of make-believe is really alive and well in this production - as much as any Troubie show. Although, we are trying to mature in a way.”
People might not be that familiar with Bill Withers’ music but there are definitely a few songs that everyone is sure to recognize. Walker sings snippets of songs - “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone,” “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Days” and “Grandma’s Hands.”
Mike Sulprizio, Lisa Valenzuela, and Brandon Breault. Photo by Chelsea Sutton.
He touches on the fact both Bill Withers and A Winter’s Tale are a bit more obscure to general audiences. “That combination is unique in a way that Hamlet: The Artist Formerly Known as the Prince of Denmark isn’t. People have associations to the play and to that music. They remember if they conceived their son or daughter listening to Prince in the back of a car,” he laughs.
“But Bill Withers doesn’t necessarily have those associations so to be able to use both of those that people don’t necessarily know well and to combine and give our own spin to it, means we have a little more license to be creative. And not worry about the audience’s expectations.
“The music of Bill Withers people don’t know - songs like “Who Is He?” which is a jealous anthem and “I Wish You Well” which is a celebratory song - those songs serve the play well. And they’re beautiful.”
One of the musicians walks on stage and tunes his instruments, prompting Walker to talk about the band. “We have just a kick-ass band we call the Troubadourchestra.”
He continues on about the complex simplicity in Withers’ music. “A lot of Bill Withers’ music uses just three chords over and over again. Some songs don’t even have a chorus, it’s just the verse repeated. The complexity of the themes and what the songs say - how they say it - I felt like that needed to be given the best possible incubator. We’re finding a nice synergy between the actors and the musicians.
“When the Shakespeare is flowing out of your mouth and then all of a sudden you’re underscored by a cello, you feel that reverberation in your core while you’re saying these 400 year old lines that have stood the test of time. It’s moving in a lot of ways.”
The original play takes place in the fictional Sicilia and Bohemia. “For our purposes, we’ve bastardized into Toluca and NoHo. The play is very seasonal, very temporal. It deals a lot with time. The two different places, I would say, attach themselves to the two sides of Bill’s music. ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ and ‘Lean on Me,’ those kinds of ballads are Toluca where the emotional crux of the play happens. As time passes and the seasons change to late summer, early fall, we move to NoHo - Bohemia. And we hear ‘Use Me,’ which embodies the funky, sexy, harvest, land of plenty.” Although the settings have been changed they are keeping it in Elizabethan era - asking, “What would NoHo and Toluca Lake be like in the 1600s?”
There is some debate whether A Winter’s Tale was completely written by Shakespeare because of the stark contrast between the places in the play. “There’s this psychological play; then there’s this buffoonish, comedic play with the clown and overblown, ridiculous rube characters.” For creating A Wither’s Tale the company read the play in its entirety. Then they hashed out the identifiable storyline and themes.
Joseph Keane and Matt Walker. Photo by Chelsea Sutton.
“Once we have the script cut down, we bring it into rehearsal and that’s where the dog pile happens and people start to suggest ideas. Normally, like with CHiPS, it’s 10 percent script and what can we do to the script and attach ourselves to it. This has really been the opposite - it’s 90 percent what’s here and adding layers.”
Walker says his process as a director is all about getting the right people together. “Everybody kind of shares disciplines and I think that’s what makes the company so vital. We’re all learning and growing from each other. The sense of play or the sense of safety we have in front of an audience - actors know they’re going to be supported. Even if they’re working in a way they haven’t worked before.”
There are four new actors for this show. “We like to constantly bring in new people and keep our blood fresh - new ideas and youthful points of view. Mixed with that are the veterans, people who have been around for 15 years - that the audiences know - and they know the style in which we play. That shared vocabulary takes you a long way before ever getting to the first rehearsal because everyone is looking at the script the same way.”
Over the years the audience’s expectations of a Troubie show have certainly grown. Known for calling out late comers and phones going off he says, “People do get here on time so they can see late comers. Some even leave their phones on and tell their friends to call them in the middle of the show - that’s actually happened,” he smiles.
Clowning is a staple for any Troubie show. In the late ’90s Walker went to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Clown College. After completion he performed as a clown for The Greatest Show on Earth. This training informs the way he approaches any Troubie show. Clowning is also evident in his impish grin, which offsets his soft-spoken demeanor.
“Most of it with clowning is the willingness to fail good-naturedly. That’s what we apply to the work as a whole. If we fall and are able to brush ourselves off and laugh about it, I think that’s what endears us to people. That’s the spirit we try to play in. Really no matter what you do, if you hit the wrong note, we’re going to call you on it in the moment. The audience knows you didn’t hit it and we know and the band knows - and maybe you didn’t mean to hit it and the two minutes of spontaneous dialogue that followed you not hitting the right note were really scripted because we found that in rehearsal one day. In those ways, clowning is applied.”
He admits clowning is also about showing off skills. “The craftsmanship of it, what I teach my students, the technique and perfection of the skills that a clown has. Whether it’s hat tricks or juggling or stilt walking. That’s really part of the clown too - that practice, that work ethic. That need to perfect something. All good clowns have that. The willingness to be open as the clown. That’s the biggest thing about the Troubies; to not let anything go by.”
Brandon Breault and Katherine Malak. Photo by Chelsea Sutton.
That openness to address whatever happens in the moment is really what makes a Troubie show so exciting. “The audience knows there is accessibility there; there’s a truth happening right there in front of them - and that’s what theatre is to me. Not just the illusion of the first time but the first time. So they can see something that’s been rehearsed for eight weeks but also spontaneously happening in front of them with the actors feeling that as well. That shared exhilaration is as palpable as a sporting event when you see someone kick a goal or make a basket and you know that’s happening right there.”
Last year the Troubies were honored for “Best Season” at the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards with Alice in One Hit Wonderland 2 - Through the Looking Glass, As U2 Like It and It’s a Stevie Wonderful Life. Walker also garnered an Ovation for “Best Director” for As U2 Like It.
Walker says being a part of the theatre community that night was more gratifying than the actual awards. “We sort of had our head down in the sand for so long working on the product that we lost sight of the community around us. And that’s what I appreciate about Los Angeles, having created theatre here for over 20 years, 15 with the Troubies.”
He commends the Ovations and LA Stage Alliance for the effort to “consolidate and coalesce the theatre to give us an identity, give us a community of artists and shared experience and challenging each other with our work.”
He continues, “It was exciting and exhilarating to be recognized that way. And to share in everybody else’s work. Reconnecting with people. I look forward to that night and the participation. Just being a part of the community.”
For A Wither’s Tale what does Walker hope audiences take away? “A t-shirt,” he laughs. “And a CHiPS CD because we ordered a thousand of them and I think we’ve sold a hundred so far.”
Actually answering the question he says, “If they saw CHiPS then I hope they take away the breadth and depth of the company. The ability to pull off anything. If this is their first [Troubie] experience, then I hope they take away something they’ve never seen before; by a company, the likes of which, they have never seen before. The uniqueness of it, the freshness of it.”
Feature image of Mike Sulprizio, Matt Walker and Beth Kennedy by Chelsea Sutton.
Article by Ashley Steed.
