-
Wendy Almeida places a burning candle onto the replica desk of William Shakespeare as her character, Anne Hathaway, mourns her husband. -
A burning candle sits on the mantel of the fireplace, flanked by artifacts of the time of Shakespeare. A window is hung in the background for Anne Hathaway, played by Wendy Almeida, to look out of during the show. -
Wendy Almeida walks with a burning candle as she prepares for the role of Anne Hathaway. The paintings shown behind Almeida will not be hung during the show, for they belong to a currently featured collection in the gallery.
Wendy Almeida’s history in theater dates back to her early days in Brooklyn.
“When I was very young, I studied theater in New York,” she said. “Then I was in Boston and did shows in Boston. And then it was the suburbs of Boston and I moved to this area in 1997. So I’m working with all the local theaters since then.”
Almeida will star in “Shakespeare’s Will,” written by Vern Thiessen, which premieres Friday, July 7, at 7 p.m. at the DublinArts & Muse Gallery. The show is a fictitious following of Anne Hathaway, William Shakespeare’s widow, in the moments following his funeral. The one-woman, one-act show will be performed in a prop-accurate Elizabethan living room featuring furniture and decor of the time.
“Shakespeare’s Will” is directed by Peggyrae Johnson, a former professor of speech at Keene State College with roots in the local theater scene. This show is her first collaboration with Almeida, and the duo has been collaborating to bring the life of Anne Hathaway to Dublin.
“I had never been directed by her before, and she was really, really helpful,” said Almeida.
An integral aspect of the actor-director relationship between Almeida and Johnson has been the logistics of the show itself. With the crowd situated just feet from Almeida, this play introduced a new and challenging aspect of acting.
“One of the things we discovered working on this is that it would seem that she’s [Anne Hathaway] talking to the audience because it’s just the one character and the audience. But it’s really all to Bill [Shakespeare]. I think of it as a love letter to him and their life together,” said Almeida. “[Johnson] helped me with dealing with having an audience, but I’m not talking directly to them.”
“Shakespeare’s Will” seeks to present viewers with an approachable Shakespearian story without compromising a poetic nature. The show is performed in prose, but not of 16th-century English.
“You look at titles of some scholarly papers about Shakespeare… it just dries your eyeballs out,” said Almeida. “Just the title. It’s not a play that most people have seen before. And it’s kind of a new slant on Shakespeare, a modern slant,” said Almeida. “[Thiessen] gives a different perspective on… the character of Shakespeare, just through what Anne has to say.”
The play also offers a nuanced approach to the character of Shakespeare on a personal level.
“[Thiessen’s] brilliant about leaving it up to the audience, in terms of what they leave thinking about Will, or Bill as he’s called,” said Almeida.
Tasked with portraying the neglected wife of William Shakespeare, Almeida has found inspiration in the character of Anne.
“I hope mostly to capture the fact that she is somebody I would describe as a survivor,” said Almeida. “She comes through. She does what has to be done. She doesn’t fuss over the little things. She’s not dramatic.” said Almeida.
DublinArts & Muse Gallery serves as a multi-purpose creative space for artists of all mediums. Molly McDowell bought the space in 2020 and has renovated the building alongside her son Chris. The former window factory features many creative apparatuses, including a windowed staircase and four trees brought from Maine. The trees now serve as load-bearing pillars which playwrights and directors can incorporate into their pieces. There are also garage doors, which present unique storytelling abilities.
“I want directors and playwrights to come and work here and develop plays, whereby you could have act one down there and then act two here,” said McDowell. “If, in a play, a car pulls up, you know it’s a sound effect when the door closes,” said McDowell. “Here, a car can pull up and [the actor] can… come right in from the driveway. So it’s a very interesting space for theater. I’m planning to invite and encourage… all kinds of theater to happen here. It’s a wonderful place for very little, site-specific, fun theater.”
“Shakespeare’s Will” opens Friday at 7 p.m., There will also be 3 p.m. shows July 8 and July 9. McDowell will be serving English tea and Elizabethan cookies in an informal setting after the show. Tickets are $15 at the door and the show is approximately 90 minutes.