Spring Break
'Lord, what fools these mortals be!'
Husband-and-wife team strives to 'make Shakespeare cool again'
Katie Hannafin
Issue date: 2/13/09 Section: Focus
Pick any Shakespeare play and husband-and-wife team Tyrus Lemerande and Amy McLaughlin Lemerande could have performed it on the spot last night in the Shippee Pit during their "Shakespeare Jukebox" act.
The married couple, co-founders of Knighthorse Theater Company, has made a living touring the world with no design concepts, just a trunk full of props, and one Renaissance costume for each of them.
"The mission of the company is to make Shakespeare cool again, by making him fun," according to Lemerande.
In order to choose which plays were performed, the audience members with the quickest hands got to make their requests. The first three plays chosen were "Titus Andronicus," "Richard III" and "Othello."
Lemerande prefaced each scene with a lengthy premise of the play it came from. The long summaries are what caused the performance to run 30 minutes later than scheduled, but there was little opposition from the audience. The shows were decided completely by the audience, and therefore randomly included McLaughlin Lemerande in only four out of about 10 routines. Lemerande's ability to keep up his boisterous behavior and completely transform his demeanor with every role-change was inspiring. Amy had less of an opportunity to charm the audience, but was as impressive as an actor. Her pronounced baby bump even went unnoticed during her performances as Kate from "The Taming of the Shrew", Helena from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Juliet from "Romeo and Juliet." Both actors had the amazing ability to convincingly play any Shakespeare role, which is no easy feat.
"[The performance] definitely was not what I was expecting, but I thought it was really, really good," said Christian Osorio, a 4th-semester electrical engineering major. "I thought it was cool how he explained everything before the scenes because it made it easier to understand."
So how did the Lemerandes make their way to UConn?
"My mom and I saw them perform last summer when I was on vacation in Cape Cod and I just thought they were fantastic," said Lucy Sweetman, an 8th-semester English and psychology double major and president of UConn's Writing and Literature Club. "I thought it would be great to bring them to UConn, and this has been in the works since last semester."
Sweetman is also a member of Honors Council and said this production was co-sponsored by the council and funded by USG.
"I studied Shakespeare in London and loved it, but there's just something about seeing a live performance of Shakespeare - it makes so much more sense live."
The evening ended with a question and answer session open to all, but not before the company's apt finale, the last line of The Tempest: "As you from crimes would pardon'd be, / Let your indulgence set me free."
The married couple, co-founders of Knighthorse Theater Company, has made a living touring the world with no design concepts, just a trunk full of props, and one Renaissance costume for each of them.
"The mission of the company is to make Shakespeare cool again, by making him fun," according to Lemerande.
In order to choose which plays were performed, the audience members with the quickest hands got to make their requests. The first three plays chosen were "Titus Andronicus," "Richard III" and "Othello."
Lemerande prefaced each scene with a lengthy premise of the play it came from. The long summaries are what caused the performance to run 30 minutes later than scheduled, but there was little opposition from the audience. The shows were decided completely by the audience, and therefore randomly included McLaughlin Lemerande in only four out of about 10 routines. Lemerande's ability to keep up his boisterous behavior and completely transform his demeanor with every role-change was inspiring. Amy had less of an opportunity to charm the audience, but was as impressive as an actor. Her pronounced baby bump even went unnoticed during her performances as Kate from "The Taming of the Shrew", Helena from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Juliet from "Romeo and Juliet." Both actors had the amazing ability to convincingly play any Shakespeare role, which is no easy feat.
"[The performance] definitely was not what I was expecting, but I thought it was really, really good," said Christian Osorio, a 4th-semester electrical engineering major. "I thought it was cool how he explained everything before the scenes because it made it easier to understand."
So how did the Lemerandes make their way to UConn?
"My mom and I saw them perform last summer when I was on vacation in Cape Cod and I just thought they were fantastic," said Lucy Sweetman, an 8th-semester English and psychology double major and president of UConn's Writing and Literature Club. "I thought it would be great to bring them to UConn, and this has been in the works since last semester."
Sweetman is also a member of Honors Council and said this production was co-sponsored by the council and funded by USG.
"I studied Shakespeare in London and loved it, but there's just something about seeing a live performance of Shakespeare - it makes so much more sense live."
The evening ended with a question and answer session open to all, but not before the company's apt finale, the last line of The Tempest: "As you from crimes would pardon'd be, / Let your indulgence set me free."
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