A Highly Anticipated Return to BAM

Next week, Paterson Joseph returns to BAM in Sancho: An Act of Remembrance—playing the BAM Fisher December 16—20. First seen on our stage as Brutus in the Royal Shakesespeare Company's 2013 production of Julius Caesar, Joseph reflects on his past BAM experiences and the joy of bringing African stories to Brooklyn stages.

Paterson Joseph in Sancho. Photo: Robert Day

by Paterson Joseph

After a month’s break, Sancho: An Act of Remembrance is about to have another outing in the United States. This time we’re playing two venues in Pennsylvania (August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh and Williams Center in Easton) and then a week-long run for our New York premiere at BAM.

I’m in need of a refreshment of my lines for Sancho, I realise, to my dismay. I certainly hope the feeling that I have the play sitting, intact, in the back of my head is not a false one. I’ll have to do a run in my head on the plane to the US from London . Hopefully, I’ll be sitting next to a sympathetic fellow passenger!

I feel very privileged to be able to play BAM again, as it is a well sought-after venue for any international theatre company. In 2013 I was part of the cast that took Julius Caesar there with the Royal Shakespeare Company. We were in the Harvey, a beautiful theatre built on the model of Peter Brook’s Parisian venue, Le Théâtre des Bouffe du Nord. All distressed walls and pillars, it gave our production, set in a fictional African country, a broken-down but holistic feel. As if the set, a copy of a rundown, African stadium, had always been a part of that space. Michael Vale, who is also Sancho’s designer, at his absolute best once again.

The audience came from all over New York and beyond; our talented company loved the time there. We were treated with such respect and support that I longed then to come back one day. I little dreamt that it would be so soon, and in a play of my own creation.

Finishing RSC’s Julius Caesar tour at BAM after playing the mecca of acting—Constantin Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theatre in Russia’s capital—couldn’t have been a better way to end our fairy tale year exploring what the actor, John Kani of the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, described with reverence as, “Shakespeare’s African play...” Taking Sancho, the story of one of Africa’s greatest sons, to BAM will be a full-circle that I will be proud to complete.

Cyril Nri and Paterson Joseph in Julius Caesar. Photo: Richard Termine

The other great advantage of playing BAM, of course, is the fact that Brooklyn is such a vibrant, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic borough of New York City. Walking down Fulton Street which leads to the Harvey was like walking down Atlantic Road in London’s Brixton, proving that Brooklyn is one of NYC’s biggest, most vibrant, Afro-Caribbean communities. I’ll be playing the BAM Fisher, where we held an electrifying symposium on Julius Caesar in 2013. What better place to end this year of Sancho than in America?

Sancho: An Act of Remembrance comes to the BAM Fisher December 16—20, and great tickets are still available.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei: Community Chorus Diaries, Volume Two

Heading into the final weekend of Julius Caesar, we present this second installment of community chorus member interviews.


Name: Charles Day
Age: 37
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Occupation: Administrative assistant

Last time you were on stage?
February 2011. I was one of the audience members interviewed during the show Interviewing the Audience at the Vineyard Theater.

Does being at BAM feel any different now that you’ve been on stage?
Yes! I’ve worked at BAM as an usher for years, and the only time I’m ever on stage is at the end of a show to keep the audience members away from the set. Performing here and being backstage has given me a whole new perspective. I have even more respect and admiration for the actors and stage crew.

How did you feel about Shakespeare before this experience? How do you feel now?
I’ve always marveled at Shakespeare. I’ve been reading along as the play is performed each night and I am constantly rediscovering more of Shakespeare’s genius.

Which would you choose: corrupt democracy or beloved monarch?
Although imperfect, I’d go with democracy every time.

From the Astrology Dept: Today’s Mystical Number: 37

Today, April 23, 2013, is a significant day, dear readers.

Today is the 37th anniversary of the birth of Aaron and Bryce Dessner, the curators of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, which opens Thursday in the Peter Jay Sharp building and runs through Saturday. 

Do you know how many acts are participating in CBF? 37!

Today also happens to be the 397th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. He just happens to be the author of Julius Caesar, which is currently being performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Harvey through April 28.

An exclusive evening with the RSC

L-R: At the BAM Next Society Celebration: Shakespeare Society Artistic Director Michael Sexton; BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins; Bank of America BAM Trustee Jeff Barker. (Photo: Elena Olivo)

On Monday night, members participated in an exclusive program co-presented by BAM and the Shakespeare Society, in which Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro and actors from the Royal Shakepeare Company's Julius Caesar explored characters from the play through scene work and discussion. Guests left feeling extremely moved by the program which was entitled "Brutus and Julius Caesar: The Nature of an Insurrection." The Next Society Celebration, an annual event for this special group of BAM patrons, followed the program.

Company members Chartwell Dutiro, who plays the mbira in the live band onstage, with

Ray Fearon (Mark Antony) at last night's event. (Photo: Elena Olivo)

Read on for more about the event!

Vox Populi, Vox Dei: Community Chorus Diaries, Volume One

“The voice of the people is the voice of God.” So says the proverb, and so say we here at the BAM blog.

In this spirit, we’ve conducted interviews with the community chorus members now gracing the Harvey stage in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar.

With every production, the RSC casts its Roman public anew from the local community. Here, these unique New Yorkers share their favorite moments, personal stories, and insights on this remarkable tragedy of the commons.

Foto Friday: The Soothsayer

Photo by Richard Termine

Theo Ogundipe, who plays the Soothsayer in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Julius Caesar, gets covered with clay before opening night on Wednesday at the BAM Harvey Theater. This look was inspired by the Nuba men of South Sudan, who cover their bodies in ash and clay for traditional wrestling matches.

Watch an interview with Theo about his character after the jump, and follow BAM on instagram (@BAM_Brooklyn) for more behind-the-scenes photos.

Et ego, Brute.

"Et tu, Brute?"
Paterson Joseph, who plays Marcus Brutus, and the cast of Julius Caesar. (Photo: Elena Olivo)

To kick-off our event-filled month of April, we welcomed the world renowned Royal Shakespeare Company back to the BAM stage with its much anticipated production of Julius Caesar. This vibrant production is directed by Gregory Doran with an African inspired set and features an all black cast, including a chorus of community members. 

Sir Patrick Stewart, who was in the first RSC production to come to BAM in 1971, A Midsummer Night's Dream, with Gregory Doran, artistic director of the RSC and director of Julius Caesar. (Photo: Elena Olivo)

BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins and Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo spoke at the event, welcoming the company and patrons. Laura Egodigwe from Bank of America, Gregory Doran, and Catherine Mallyon, executive producer of the Royal Shakespeare Company spoke at the party as well. Among the many guests in attendance, was long-time BAM supporter, actor, and friend Sir Patrick Stewart.

Read on for more about the Opening Night Reception and for more information about our many upcoming events!

In Context: Julius Caesar

The Royal Shakespeare Company's Julius Caesar opens this Wednesday, April 10, and runs until April 28. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles, videos, and original blog pieces related to the show. Once you've seen it, help us keep the conversation going by telling us what you thought in the comments.

Julius Caesar: The Bard With More Bounce

by Heather Neill

Jeffery Kisson, Jude Owusu, Ricky Fearon and Mark Theodore. Photo: Kwame Lestrade

“Cowards die many times before their deaths: The valiant never taste of death but once.”

These lines, spoken by Caesar, were marked and signed by Nelson Mandela in the collection of Shakespeare’s plays secretly shared by the ANC prisoners on Robben Island. Some years ago, director Gregory Doran met Mandela and saw the legendary volume, its cover hidden under pictures of Hindu gods.

Doran traveled widely in Africa and was aware of the familiar post-colonial pattern of a popular hero becoming first leader, then dictator, precipitating military coups and civil war. “This is,” he says, “exactly the story of Julius Caesar.” Candidates for a modern-day Caesar, from Bokassa to Amin to Mugabe, immediately came to mind. He also knew that the play had been translated into a number of African languages and was perhaps the most frequently performed Shakespeare play on the continent.

In the markets Doran noticed items of ju ju magic displayed next to household goods. The Soothsayer who warns Caesar is not unlike the sangomas or witch doctors found in Africa, where a belief in magic is still part of everyday life, much as it was in Shakespeare’s England.

The Royal Shakespeare Company and BAM: A Brief History

Back in 1969, when Harvey Lichtenstein saw Peter Brook’s legendary Royal Shakespeare Company production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Stratford-upon-Avon, he swooned. Lichtenstein went on record in his oral history for the BAM Archives to say that “if I had to pick one performance of all the ones I’ve seen that affected me more than anything else, it would be that performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Lichtenstein brought Brook’s production of Midsummer, with Patrick Stewart as Snout, to BAM in 1971, and over 40 years later, the RSC still regularly returns to BAM.

Peter Brook's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

From the Astrology Dept: The Ides of March and Google Divination™

Dear BAMystic,

What's up with the Ides of March? Is it a real thing? Something Shakespeare made up? Some band I've never heard of? And what does “ides” mean, anyway?

Yours,

Ida