{"id":12160,"date":"2016-06-30T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=12160"},"modified":"2016-07-08T22:07:27","modified_gmt":"2016-07-09T05:07:27","slug":"greater-victoria-shakespeare-festival-returns-to-camosun-grounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2016\/06\/30\/greater-victoria-shakespeare-festival-returns-to-camosun-grounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival returns to Camosun grounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been hanging around the Wilna Thomas building on Camosun\u2019s Lansdowne campus, you might have noticed actors and actresses rehearsing a play nearby. Director Barbara Poggemiller is working on Shakespeare\u2019s The Winter\u2019s Tale <\/em>\u201cby the huge beautiful oak trees\u201d at Lansdowne for the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival.<\/p>\n

Some critics regard The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em> as one of Shakespeare\u2019s more problematic plays because the first half is \u201ca terrible tragedy,\u201d according to Poggemiller, and the second half is a comedy, but Poggemiller says she loves it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last four plays of Shakespeare are all very fantastical in a sense,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is one of his last plays that he wrote; the last four plays all have some element of fantasy, of magic, of spiritual magic to bring a world together, ultimately, for forgiveness, and that\u2019s why I love the play. I love the play that everyone doesn\u2019t end up dead on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Amber<\/a>
Amber Landry as Perdita in The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em> (photo by David Bukach).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poggemiller says the play is one of timeless truths, heartbreak, and comedy. In The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/em>, the first half is a tragedy, then main character Leontes \u201crecognizes what he\u2019s done, and is willing to repent and grieve for as long as it takes,\u201d says Poggemiller.<\/p>\n

The second half is a comedy, which brings us back to the point about some critics finding it problematic. Not Poggemiller.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, that\u2019s not a problem; it\u2019s magical,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it also deals with a lot of reality, like the power of jealousy. Our world is dealing with that all the time in tragic ways, right? So it\u2019s not an old theme. It\u2019s very relevant in that sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

As someone who has been in the business almost 40 years as both a director and an actress, Poggemiller says that being involved in a play comes down to understanding the motives and emotions of the characters. Through that, she says, the audience will understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur process is really to honour and discover what the play is. And then to tell the story in the most dynamic way we can, the most truthful and dynamic way we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poggemiller says that by opening night, she will have put in about 200 hours of preparation and rehearsals.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou find a way to actually get to the heart of what\u2019s being said,\u201d she says. \u201cThe more we understand it, the more the actors understand it, the more the audience will understand it, because the intentions will be clear and strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poggemiller says she has a very hands-on approach to her work and has a hard time feeling like her job is ever truly done, even on opening night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a hard time just sitting and watching,\u201d she says, \u201cunless I\u2019m finally at the place where the actors are there doing what they\u2019re doing. If we\u2019re working on a scene I definitely feel more connected being up in the space and talking with actors, working it through, and then stepping back. Of course, you have to let them go for it, let them run it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poggemiller\u2014who has been working with her cast outside Wilna Thomas since May\u2014says she still gets anxious on opening night, even after all these years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just don\u2019t take it for granted,\u201d Poggemiller says of working on a Shakespeare play. \u201cYou never feel like, \u2018Oh, I got this.\u2019 What you want more than anything is for the audience to respond in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival
\nJuly 7 to 30
\n$24-$33 (children under 12 free; half-price tickets available for some events)
\nCamosun College Lansdowne campus
\nvicshakespeare.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been hanging around the Wilna Thomas building on Camosun\u2019s Lansdowne campus, you might have noticed actors and actresses rehearsing a play nearby. Director Barbara Poggemiller is working on Shakespeare\u2019s The Winter\u2019s Tale \u201cby the huge beautiful oak trees\u201d at Lansdowne for the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival. Some critics regard The Winter\u2019s Tale as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12160"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12179,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12160\/revisions\/12179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}