‘Something Merry This Way Comes’ in Madison
Stephen Brown-Fried needs to make clear that audiences can still have a “Merry” time without Shakespeare or even Charles Dickens.
Brown-Fried is directing the fourth annual edition of “Something Merry This Way Comes” at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey this Monday, Dec. 15.
The evening consists of dramatic presentations of prose and poetry related to Christmas and the winter holidays, delivered by actors and actresses affiliated with the theater.
Brown-Fried, the artistic associate and casting director for the theater, stresses that all the selections will be suitably festive.
“We’re looking for pieces that are great literature but that also transcend any one belief system,” he says. “We’re picking the work of writers who celebrate the deepest human impulses around this season.”
At the same time, Brown-Fried says he wants to avoid some of the more obvious choices. “There’s no Dickens on the docket,” he says. “We won’t have O. Henry’s ‘The Gift of the Magi.’ ”
What about the Bard? Brown-Fried points out that the only reference to Christmas in all of Shakespeare’s writings is the briefest of mentions in Act I of “Hamlet.”
True, the title of “Twelfth Night” alludes to the 12th night of the Christmas celebration. But the action of the play itself has nothing to do with the holiday.
But Brown-Fried says that, even without Shakespeare and Dickens, literature abounds with seasonal works. “Most of these pieces were written in prose,” he says. “Our biggest challenge is bringing out their inherent theatricality.”
Brown-Fried and his company are looking for pieces that lend themselves to that dramatic interpretation. He cites stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Saki (the pen name of H. H. Munro) as examples of such pieces.
“We just discovered a short story by the American writer Zona Gale called ‘To Springvale for Christmas’ that we think audiences will like,” says Brown-Fried.
He adds that another selection will deal with the “Christmas truce,” the series of impromptu ceasefires that occurred along the Western Front during World War I. This piece is especially appropriate, since 2014 is the centennial of the start of that conflict.
Previous editions of “Something Merry This Way Comes” were directed by Bonnie J. Monte, the artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre. Brown-Fried says he is excited by this opportunity to direct the work.
As in the past, the actors will have scripts in hand. However, Brown-Fried feels that that fact does not diminish the skill involved in the presentation.
“Calling this a ‘reading’ is underestimating it,” he says. “We’re trying to create an experience that transports the audience.”
“Our mission as an institution is to galvanize people around the greatest works in literature,” he says. “This is an exciting opportunity for our audiences to discover how great writers encountered the themes of the holidays.”
Chief among those themes is the issue of hope, according to Brown-Fried. “We have the holidays in the midst of winter. It’s cold, and the days are short. We need to believe in hope and the possibility of miracles.”
Brown-Fried says that the process of crafting “Something Merry This Way Comes” has been a pleasure, and he hopes that sentiment will be apparent to the audience.
“We call this ‘something merry,’ and the process of putting it together has been just that,” he says.
SOMETHING MERRY THIS WAY COMES
WHAT: The fourth annual presentation of poems, prose, and songs with a holiday or winter theme, delivered by actors and actresses in a dramatic setting.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15
WHERE: F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave., Madison
TICKETS: $40
INFORMATION: 973-408-5600 or www.ShakespeareNJ.org.