Completing the Canon: Barry Edelstein on The Old Globe's Henry 6

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

This summer San Diego’s Old Globe became one of only 10 theaters in America who have produced all of Shakespeare’s plays (or 11, depending on how you count it) with their production of Henry VI, parts 1, 2, and 3. Artistic Director Barry Edelstein shares the details of how they tackled staging three rarely seen works with more than 150 characters, and condensed it into two exciting nights of theater. The epic production includes contributions from nearly a thousand San Diegans, many of whom have participated in the Globe’s community programs. Edelstein, the Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director of The Old Globe, is one of America’s most experienced Shakespeare directors and has staged more than half the canon himself. Before joining the Globe in 2012, he directed the Public Theatre’s Shakespeare Initiative and was the artistic director for Classic Stage Company in New York City. He is the author of Thinking Shakespeare about American Shakespearean acting and Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions. Henry 6 runs through September 14 and 15, 2024 at the Globe in San Diego, California. For tickets and more information, visit https://www.theoldglobe.org. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published August 13, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. I'm Barbara Bove.
0:08.2	San Diego's Old Globe has been mounting Shakespeare plays since the 1930s. In fact, by the time
0:14.3	Barry Edelstein took over as artistic director in 2012, there were only three plays in Shakespeare's
0:20.3	entire complete works that the
0:22.1	Old Globe hadn't ever staged. So when Edelstein arrived, there was one big item on his
0:27.7	to-do list, help the old globe complete the canon. That's easier said than done. Those last three
0:34.2	plays are doozies, Henry the 6th, parts one, two, and three.
0:39.1	Now, there's a reason those plays are almost never staged, actually several very good reasons,
0:44.3	namely they're too expensive, they're too long, and they're widely considered among Shakespeare's
0:49.9	most unseasoned works. But Edelstein's revised Henry 6 is a revelation.
0:56.4	He's condensed the three plays into too tight, exciting nights of theater with plenty of
1:01.3	comedy and action to go around.
1:03.4	It is reported by Saldry, that good Duke Humphrey trenchously is murdered by Sulfic
1:09.2	and the Cardinals's wicked means.
1:11.8	The commons, like an angry hive of beings that want their leader, scatter up and down
1:16.1	and care not who they sting in his revenge.
1:19.6	That he is dead, good Warwick, tis too true.
1:22.6	But how he died, God knows not Henry.
1:25.6	Enter his chamber.
1:27.1	View his breathless corpse. That was Sophia
1:29.8	Jean Gomez as Warwick and Keshav Mudliar as Henry VI in the Old Globe's production of Henry
1:36.1	Six. Before joining the Old Globe as artistic director, Edelstein directed the public theater's
	...

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