Local Lads Land Pivotal Role in Upcoming RSC Production
(l-r) Michael Barnett and Thomas Churchill will play the part of Prince Mamillius in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "The Winter's Tale."
|
12/13/2006
Contact: Bill Giduz 704/894-2244 or bigiduz@davidson.edu
Recollections of their long childhood friendship for two Davidson boys will include memories of a unique experience – acting on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).
Ten-year-old Thomas Churchill and eleven-year-old Michael Barnett were in the same class at Davidson elementary school, and have spent many hours playing together in their homes. Now they’ve each been chosen to play the role of the young Prince Mamillius in the RSC’s upcoming production of The Winter’s Tale during the company’s Davidson residency. (The RSC is also presenting two other plays at Davidson, Shakespeare’s Pericles and a new play by Roy Williams entitled Days of Significance.)
Rather than bringing a child from England to play the role, the RSC chose to hold auditions in Davidson last month to find the character locally. Fourteen boys answered the audition call, and RSC assistant director Russell Bolam chose Churchill and Barnett from among them. Bethany Prestigiacomo, director at Davidson of the RSC residency, said, “The RSC was looking for young boys who possesses an innate vulnerability and fragility, and who are witty and charming.”
Each boy will perform in three of the six performances of The Winter’s Tale between February 6-17, and serve as understudy for the other in case of illness. They will be appearing as the son of company members Anton Lesser as King Leontes, and Kate Fleetwood as Queen Hermione.
Churchill, a fifth-grader at Davidson Elementary School and son of Davidson College Associate Professor of English Suzanne Churchill and her spouse, Matt, has limited acting experience. “I was on stage once or twice,” he said. “One time I was singing with a group, and the other time I introduced someone.”
But he’s eager. “I like being on stage, and I’ve always liked memorizing things. I thought it would be great experience to perform with the RSC.”
Barnett, a sixth grader at Woodlawn School and the son of 1986 Davidson alumni Bill and Katherine Barnett, appeared as Benjamin in a Children’s Theatre production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and recently as Nick Bottom in a Woodlawn School production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. He’s even familiar with the RSC, having seen its production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in London during his family’s two-year residence there six years ago. “It was really good,” he said. “To think that I can perform with them now is really amazing.”
Barnett even says he wants to be an actor when he grows up. Churchill, an avid reader who competes in Quiz Bowl and serves on the school safety patrol, wants to be an architect or veterinarian.
The character of Mamillius appears during the first twenty minutes of The Winter’s Tale, then dies of grief and disappears when Leontes accuses Hermione of infidelity, and thereby questions Mamillius’s paternity.
Dana Professor of English Cynthia Lewis, a Shakespeare scholar, explained that Prince Mamillius is a pivotal character in the play in his limited stage time. “The young prince is the great hope of Sicilia,” she said. “Everyone is happy about King Leontes having a son to inherit the legacy. When Mamillius dies it’s all the more painful because it isn’t just a familial disaster of the highest order, it’s robbing the country of its future hopes and dreams.”
Lewis will present a lecture during the residency about “Children in Shakespeare” that explores the role of Mamillius and other young characters.
Following their selection, Churchill and Barnett had a ninety-minute workshop with the RSC’s Bolam. Three Davidson student dramatists, Steve Foglia ' 09, Kelsey Formost '' 09 and Briana Hunter ' 08served as readers in the audition process. Both boys are now busy memorizing their lines, because they will only have three rehearsals with the company. They will participate in a quick rehearsal on February 4, a technical rehearsal on February 5, and a dress rehearsal open to an invited audience of high school students on the afternoon of February 6, with the first of the six performance of The Winter’s Tale that evening.
Parents of the boys are playing a role as well. In addition to helping run lines, each boy’s mother is sending his measurements to the RSC costume-makers in England, and the parents must abide by the RSC’s insistence that neither boy have his hair cut before the residency. Finally, the RSC wants a parent for each child, referred to in theatre lingo as a “wrangler,” to be in the dressing room with the children at all times during rehearsals and performance.
Tickets will go on sale to the public January 3, 2007. Call the Davidson College Ticket Office at 704-894-2135 from 10–4 weekdays (beginning January 3). Tickets may also be purchased online beginning that day at www.davidson.edu/tickets (additional fees apply to Web purchases). Tickets are $68 for traditional seating, and $50 for promenade spaces.
The residency also features many lectures and events that are open to the public at no charge. For the complete schedule, visit www.davidson.edu/Shakespeare.
This project received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,700 students. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine.
# # #
|
