Occasionally, my facebook wife and fellow ICBINS business partner Julia will invite me along to some off-off-off production or workshop and I’m usually skeptical and almost always half-dreading it in the days preceding. But one thing remains constant: I am ALWAYS proven wrong and end up enjoying the hell out of the performances. Never again will I doubt her. This past weekend Julia asked if I’d come see NYNEO’s workshop performance of William Shakespeare’s Henry VI. To be honest I had never read this play or seen a production of it before and I was a little unsure of how I’d receive it. You see, a few years ago Denzel Washington shot me with a tranquilizer gun, wait no – I saw him in an excruciatingly soporific Broadway rendition of Julius Caesar, and since then I’ve been afraid of falling asleep through Shakespeare.
This however, was not the case with Henry VI. I can tell you that the play was brilliant and so were the actors, who could not have been better cast. The NYNEO ensemble is a relatively new theater company like ICBINS that is dedicated to producing Shakespeare’s work and they are damn good at it. For those not so well versed in Shakespeare, Henry VI is a three part series chronicling the history following the death of King Henry V. What would normally be over a 6 hour performance, the director Bill Griffin put together a solid abridgment that ran about 2 hours. All of the actors, clad mostly in all black, were exceptional. I was particularly impressed with the performances of Margaret, played by Maya Erskine, and Henry VI, played by John Kurzynowski.
So far I have seen two performances by the NYNEO ensemble: Twelfth Night and Henry VI, and both were exceptional. Never again will I let the painful memory of Denzel’s lackluster portrayal of Marcus Brutus deter me from seeing Shakespeare again. Sometimes Broadway doesn’t always get it right, and who needs them when you’ve got a group like NYNEO that cranks out great Shakespeare with a fresh philosophy? If they are any indication of what Gen Y is bringing to theater then we all have a lot to look forward to.
-Lauren B. Ferrel, Producer, Denzel Survivor
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one day I’m going to disappoint you and all your trust in me will be crushed.
but not on this day.
Dear Lauren, I thoroughly enjoyed your review of the play Henri VI as staged by the young Shakespearean theatre group NYNEO. However, I feel there may have been a misunderstanding regarding my motives those many years ago when I paid big bucks to take you to see the Broadway production of Julius Caesar starring Denzel Washington. I recall telling you what a great cultural and educational experience it was going to be to see Shakespeare on Broadway, but the truth was that I just wanted to see Denzel Washington up close and personal, in the flesh, wearing a Toga, bare-legged …. sorry, my mind wandered. Anyway, just so you don’t get the wrong idea about your mother, when we go see the Broadway play “A Steady Rain” when I visit in October, it is because I hear it is a thought-provoking, well- written, powerful play and, the fact that it stars Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman is irrelevant and in no way influenced my decision to pay premium prices to sit up close. I swear. Love, your mother
Mom, I love you.