`Season of Power' ready to roll at the Redlands Bowl - SGVTribune.com

`Season of Power' ready to roll at the Redlands Bowl - SGVTribune.com

Michel Nolan, Staff Writer

The Bard's back at the Bowl, thanks to Steven Sabel and his troupe of talented actors.

For Sabel, artistic director of the Redlands Shakespeare Festival, the oft-quoted line from "As You Like It" rings true:

"All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players." It's especially true this month when the annual Redlands Shakespeare Festival stages its "Season of Power," a trio of classic plays in repertory focusing on bare, brazen ambition.

Comic cross-dressing, mystical witchcraft and a great love story all will come to life on stage May 8-25 at the Redlands Bowl.

The 2008 "Season of Power" follows the previous three seasons, which also had themes - "Passion" in 2005, "Jealousy" in 2006 and "Conspiracy" in 2007.

Next is the "Season of Vengeance," and in 2010, the "Season of Remembrance," revisiting shows from previous seasons, Sabel said.

"There are two ultimate tests of a theatrical actor," Sabel said. "Can you do Shakespeare? Can you do repertory? We combine them, and our members are very capable of handling both. The shows in repertory test the mettle of the cast and crew, but it's also extremely rewarding."

On a recent breezy evening at the Redlands Bowl, legendary characters mingled during dress rehearsals. There was an armor-suited Antony, an exotic Cleopatra, and a philosophical Macbeth and his poetic but extremely ambitious wife. Viola, from "Twelfth Night," sat nearby, laughingly admitting to "cross-dressing" in her navy velvet doublet.

The season's company of 40 Inland Empire actors includes festival veterans, exciting newcomers and Inland Theatre League award-winners.

Founding company member Christian Marler, a USC theater graduate who earned an ITL award for his role in the 2006 season's "Comedy of Errors," returns for the plum role of Macbeth - his 10th show in the festival's 11-play history.

"Macbeth is full of a lot of brooding self-analysis and fear," Marler said. "Lord and Lady Macbeth seduce each other into their crime, and it drives them mad."

Starring opposite Marler is founding company member Etha Sabel as Lady Macbeth.

Steven Sabel, who directs his wife in "Macbeth," says it was fun and challenging.

"This is one of the most coveted roles for women in Shakespeare - it's a role I've always wanted to play. There are different levels of insanity here," Etha Sabel said, adding that the Macbeths really are Shakespeare's happiest couple.

"They're twisted and demented but happy," she said, laughing. She's a veteran actress who also serves as the company's costumer.

Antony and his Egyptian queen, however, experience considerably more angst.

John Leon, who returns to the festival after last year's acclaimed performance as Marc Antony in "Julius Caesar," takes the character into the Bard's famous sequel and most powerful love story, "Antony and Cleopatra."

Starring opposite him is his real-life wife, Rosalyn Leon, who beguiles and bewilders as the Queen of the Nile.
"The love scenes are easy to do - it's nice not to hold back. We bring all that baggage to this play," John Leon said.

"We work together really well," said his wife, who revealed she also plays a "sexy but disturbing witch in `Macbeth."'

New to the festival is Jamie Sowers, who comes to Redlands from the theater department at Chapman University.

"This play is high physical comedy - I crack myself up," Sowers said of "Twelfth Night," the comedic tale of mistaken identity in the mysterious land of Illyria.

She will join veteran character actor Bill Greeley, who portrays Sir Toby Belch.
Sowers also stirs up a mean cauldron as one of the "double double, toil and trouble" witches in "Macbeth."

Productions will be presented in classical style, using the directorial talents of Rhesa Richards for "Twelfth Night," Steven Sabel for "Macbeth," and Eric Tucker for "Antony and Cleopatra."

Set designs will transform the Greco-Roman facade of the Bowl into the coastal country of Illyria, a Scottish castle and the exotic realms of Egypt and Rome.

The special effects, major props and specialty lighting will be amazing, Steven Sabel said, while the large cast will fill the stage in all three full-scale productions.

He said the community has embraced the Redlands Shakespeare Festival and supports it wholeheartedly.

"We're thrilled with the growth of the festival in four years and the support of businesses, organizations and the community in general," Sabel said. "I'm very happy to say the festival is presented by the Redlands Cultural Arts Commission and sponsored by California Heart and Surgical Hospital."

"Live performance is the only art form in which the audience and artists have a mutual experience at the same time - that's what makes it so special," he said. "They're in the moment together - that's what art really is."

michel.nolan@
inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 386-3859

AT A GLANCE PERCHANCE

What: Fourth annual Redlands Shakespeare Festival, "Season of Power," featuring productions of "Twelfth Night," "Macbeth" and "Antony and Cleopatra." Also a university lecture series and educational workshops.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, May 8-25; "Twelfth Night," May 8, 11, 17, 23; "Macbeth," May 9, 15, 18, 24; "Antony and Cleopatra," May 10, 16, 22, 25.

Where: Redlands Bowl, between Grant and Eureka streets, south of Brookside Avenue, Redlands; pre-show lectures are at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays. Educational workshops will be held at 2 and 3:30 p.m.
Saturday and May 24 in the Assembly Room of the A.K. Smiley Public Library.

Cost: Free