CAST
Dax Bartlett                       Suffolk (and others)                     Or…        York (and others)
Scott Borish*                     Cardinal (and others)                   Or…        Jack Cade (and others)
Sarah Bray                        Queen Margaret (and others)    Or…        Suffolk (and others)
Sophia Brito                      King (and others)                          Or…        Warwick (and others)
Troy Coleman*                  Jack Cade (and others)                Or…        Cardinal (and others)
Crissy Iglesias-Baires       Somerset (and others)                  Or…        Elianor (and others)
Teya Juarez                       Elianor (and others)                      Or…        Somerset (and others)
Ofeibea Micah                  Salisbury (and others)                  Or…        Buckingham (and others)
Alex Novak                        Warwick (and others)                   Or…        King (and others)
Alexis Qiao                        Buckingham (and others)            Or…        Salisbury (and others)
Sarah Schoeneman         York (and others)                          Or…        Queen Margaret (and others)

*Appears courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association

Suffolk returns from France having wooed and wed the French Princess Margaret on behalf of King Henry VI of England, but at what cost? Many of the lands that Henry’s father (and Henry’s lords) fought to gain in France are given back to the French in the contracted wedding agreement.

Henry’s lords, including the Duke of York, are understandably unhappy about the arrangement. Gloucester, lord protector of the English throne, bemoans his troubles to the assembled Lords. As an ancient feud between the Cardinal and Gloucester surfaces, the other lords try to determine their own best cause of action. York admits in soliloquy that he has machinations to dethrone Henry and take the crown. Meanwhile, Elianor (Gloucester’s wife) tries to egg Gloucester on to himself seize the crown.

The Lords’ misgivings leak into the commonfolk as an armorer’s apprentice, Peter Thump, approaches Suffolk and Margaret in the streets claiming his master spoke treason. Suffolk agrees to look into the issue. Margaret admits to Suffolk that the King is not all she thought he would be, and that he is more inclined towards dedication to religion than to marriage or ruling. In this, Margaret tacitly admits to an ongoing love affair with Suffolk.

Back at the court, the King sends Somerset to be his reagent in France. Elianor is caught consulting with mystics who raise ghosts to speak prophecies about the fate of the King. As the Lords continue bickering, York begins to muster support for his claim to the throne (including Salisbury and his son, Warwick). Elianor is banished from the court for her crimes. Peter and his master enter trial by combat, which Peter wins.

Frustrated at the state of power affairs, Margaret begins to openly campaign against Gloucester. She and the Lords claim the King is old enough to govern on his own without a Lord Protector. The King, under their influence, asks Gloucester to resign his position (which he does). Meanwhile, news returns from France that more English land there has been lost. The King leaves court, beside himself with all of this. Margaret, York, Suffolk, and the Cardinal conspire to murder Gloucester. Word comes from Ireland that the Irish are rebelling against the English, and York sees this as his opportunity to raise an army to support his bid for the throne.

Gloucester’s murder is carried out, and the King is grief-stricken. The commonfolk, hearing about Gloucester’s death, begin to riot against the King but Salisbury manages to calm them. Meanwhile, the King rightly identifies Suffolk as the murderer and, against the Queen’s protests, banishes him from England. The Queen and Suffolk say their tearful goodbyes.

The Cardinal dies of old age. Suffolk, on his way to France, is killed by pirates.

In Ireland, a common man named Jack Cade riles the peasants into a populist rebellion. Cade and his army begin to make for London, where they besiege the city and cause general mayhem killing educated people, Englishman, and Lords indiscriminately.

York returns from Ireland with his army of Irish, his eyes on the English throne. He takes particular issue with Somerset as it was Somerset, reagent in France, who lost England’s lands there. Open conflict escalates when York sees that Somerset is not, in fact, held prisoner by the King (as the King’s emissary promised) but walks freely.

As the King, Queen, and remaining Lords flee, the war of the roses begins between the white rose of York (York’s house) and the red rose of Lancaster (Henry’s house).

What you’re about to see is an experiment.

The Theatre Studio Ensemble (TSE) series here at the University at Buffalo is a bit of an odd bird. While part of our curricular production season, these shows are performed under much more stringent production constraints than our mainstage shows. They are given a short run (two performances), a space with limited lighting control, and almost no production support.

This, to me, screamed Shakespeare. You see: Shakespeare’s company performed under very similar constraints. In Early Modern England there was no electricity (and therefore almost no opportunity for lighting effects), Shakespeare’s company generally performed in outdoor theatre spaces like the Globe (though later in their tenure moved indoors to spaces like the Blackfriars). They had few set pieces, only necessary props, and generally provided costume pieces from their own stock.

The idea of a “long run” (that is: a show that would run in the same theatre with the same cast for weeks, months, or years) is a fairly contemporary invention. In order for theatre to be financially solvent, one requires audiences. While the theatre was a popular leisure activity across a wide swathe of class strata (particularly prior to the invention of electricity), even a city like London before the invention of planes, trains, and automobiles did not bear a population large enough to sustain a single show being performed over and over again. These audiences craved novelty. In order to get repeat customers, Shakespeare’s company (and companies like his) would need to present different shows every night and, largely, they did!

This presents an interesting conundrum for theatre-makers. In the modern era, it’s very normal to rehearse one show with one group of actors for six to eight weeks before performing it. But that model was not feasible for Shakespeare’s company, presenting different theatre almost every night. Some scholars argue that Early Modern theatre companies had fourteen days of rehearsal or less for each show they presented.

But how does that work? What does that look like? TSE gave us an opportunity to find out. This cast has rehearsed for 56 hours. This is about 40% of the amount of rehearsal time mainstage shows at UB generally have.

While 56 hours over 14 days would be about 4 hours a day, I had more machinations up my sleeve. To truly see what would happen if we under-rehearsed a show, I added one more variable. Each cast member has been cast in two different tracks. Before our first show, we flipped a coin to determine which track each cast member would play each night. So: what you’re about to see is a permutation of this show that likely hasn’t been rehearsed at all, there are just too many variables. The actors are holding prompt scripts: scrolls with their lines and a few words before they start talking to give them a queue. Each actor is doubled in 4-6 roles for each track they play. It’s chaos back here.

I selected this play because it’s topical, exciting, juicy, and entirely under-performed. My goal was to try this experiment to see what we might learn about performing Shakespeare in these conditions. Since I’m writing this note well before performances have started, I can’t give you conclusive answers yet (though I can tell you that we definitely are learning things). But I do have a question for you, the audience: what did you learn from being here with us?

Rehearsal Workshop Repertory Lighting: Nicholas Quinn
Assistant Costume Shop Manager: Cindy Darling
Costume Shop Manager: Zechariah Saenz
Production Photographer: Ken Smith

Department Chair: Eero Laine
Associate Chair/Producing Director: Lynne Koscielniak
Production Manager: Rick Haug
Assistant Production Manager: Ally Hasselback
Department Administrator: Rachel Olszewski, Veronica Sedota
Senior Staff Assistant: Rob Falgiano
Administrative Assistant: Kristin Mann

We would like to thank: our production management team, Richard Haug and Ally Hasselback, for their support in this process. Thanks as well to Zechariah Saenz for going above and beyond to help us with purchasing.

Thanks to the University of Florida School of Theater and Dance Costume Department for loaning us some of their equipment. Thanks as well to USF Costume Shop Manager Joseph Musgrove and Costume Designer Jennifer Dasher for assistance.

The UB Department of Theatre and Dance is a proud member of the UB College of Arts and Sciences.

With a firm commitment to the advancement of creative research, experiential learning, and community engagement, the UBTHD 2023-2024 Production Season is administered by the Department of Theatre and Dance. We acknowledge our full faculty and staff for their part in preparing students for work on stage and behind the scenes.

We thank UB Center for the Arts for their support in making these productions possible.

The UB Department of Theatre and Dance wishes to acknowledge the generous continued philanthropic support of Fox Run at Orchard Park, an official contributing sponsor of the UBTHD 2023-2024 season.

Our season of programming is also made possible by ticket purchases and donations from patrons like you. To further support our work, please join the Celebration Rising donor wall.  Gifts to Celebration Rising expand opportunities for students to engage with guest artists and new theater technology during our 2024-25 gala season.