Promoters present Shakespeare
Theatre plans
By RICHARD WEIZEL
STRATFORD — Perhaps only flamboyant impresario
Louis Burke could overshadow a noted Shakespearean
producer who traveled from England to present
a proposal to revive the long-shuttered Shakespeare
Theatre.
Burke has for nearly two decades professed his
devotion to the Shakespeare Theatre and his
determination to make a second effort to revive
the showcase after a failed attempt during the
late 1990s. Now, as part of a new plan to re-open
the theater, Burke is vowing to bring a replica
of the renowned Globe Theater in London, used
in the Academy Award-winning film "Shakespeare
in Love," to the theater's Elm Street grounds
for use as a second stage.
Burke, with theatrical flair,
on Wednesday night was the last of the applicants
to make a presentation to the council on his
concept for reopening the theater. Over three
nights in the last several weeks, council members
listened to seven others make a pitch for their
ideas on reopening the theater.
"The only way reviving the
theater is going to work is to make it a multi-use
site to create a tourist destination that will
draw people here for days," Burke said.
Burke, the artistic director of
Stratford Festival Theater Inc., presented a
letter from famed British actress Judi Dench,
who says she would donate the Rose replica for
permanent use on the grounds of the Shakespeare
Theatre in Stratford.
"I have always known you
were interested in the Rose Theater set that
I was given from the film 'Shakespeare in Love,'
" the Oscar-winning actress wrote to Burke
in an Oct. 9, 2007, letter. "I have now
decided that the future of the Rose [replica]
is in your hands. I believe what you are trying
to accomplish in Stratford, Ct., is truly praiseworthy,"
the letter states.
Burke also recounted the long, complex history
of how his former group failed in 2000 to reopen
the theater, claiming that a "reverter"
clause that eventually returned the theater's
ownership to the state caused financial backing
to dry up just as his group was about to complete
renovations and start productions. Burke vowed
this time would be different.
"We have solid financial
backing and would pay the town $10 million a
year for a very long-term lease to operate the
theater and its development as a site of destination,"
he said.
But Burke also said his financial
backers insist on the property and theater being
used as collateral in the event the plan fails
— something both Miron and Henrick said
would not happen.
"We cannot and would not
put the town in that kind of risky situation,"
Miron said.
Meanwhile, British Shakespearean
director and producer Paige Newmark, who traveled
from Oxford, England, to make his presentation,
outlined for the council perhaps the most ambitious
of all eight development plans.
He suggested the theater could
become an international Shakespearean destination
and that he would be willing to move to America
to lead the effort.
"This can be a world-class
theater, but one that will take time to evolve,"
said Newmark, artistic director of Shakespeare
South Africa, who also presented a resume of
directing and producing Shakespeare and creating
Bard festivals.
"This city has in its possession
the crown jewel of Shakespearean theaters in
American," he said. But Newmark said renovating
the theater would cost at least $10 million,
and that it would take two years to have it
ready for a regular season of productions.
Finally, the managing director
of Shakesperience Productions, Inc. in Waterbury,
Jeffrey Lapham, proposed that he serve as both
consultant and operator of a revived Shakespeare
Theatre. "My experience in founding, incorporating
and managing this company to the position it
enjoys today is what qualifies me for the position
with the Town of Stratford in this effort,"
Lapham told the council. "The success of
Shakerience can be attributed, in large part,
to management's ability to thrive equally in
the arts and business worlds."
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Article
courtesy of the Connecticut
Post
Town
of Stratford
