The Scaffold Theatre’s A Night of Classic Theatre Brings Some Classic Theatre Culture to Downtown Salt Lake

By Christy Hudson

This weekend at the Regent Street Black Box Theater, the Scaffold Theatre presented A Night of Classic Theatre. The performance consisted of a compilation of scenes from various works of classic theatre.

Director Julie-Anne Liechty put together a collage of scenes, removing the visual settings and costumes that the actors would traditionally wear in the plays the scenes are from. Most of the actors performed in a handful of the scenes and played multiple characters. The actors were Althea Sam, Deven Skye, Jack Foriska, Lorenzo Silva, Michele Wilson, Mary Neville, Natalie Rohde, Peter Christensen, Teren Turner, and Brooklyn Bagley, as well as Liechty herself. They all were good at changing from character to character, sometimes from one scene directly into another. One who stood out was Neville, who played some of the most memorable characters in the show.

The performance featured 14 scenes from classic theatre, including two plays by Eugene O’Neill, A Moon for the Missbegotten and Desire Under the Elms, as well as two by Tennessee Williams, the Glass Menagerie and Orpheus Descending. It also included scenes from The Madwomen of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and the Death of a Hired Man by Robert Frost. And, of course, a night of classic theatre cannot be a Night of Classic Theatre without William Shakespeare. The performance included scenes from the Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Richard III.

I’m guessing the experience of each scene is different, depending on whether or not you are familiar with the play that it is from. I knew some of them, but not all. The actors just jumped right into the scenes without preamble, so the program helped guide the audience from scene to scene, with a snippet about the setting, who the characters are, and what is going on. Sometimes there was enough in the dialogue to give context, but if there wasn’t, the program was beneficial. For example, if you don’t know that the characters in Desire Under the Elms are stepmother and stepson (which I did not, until I read it in the program after watching), the scenes do not make a lot of sense. However, now I know the relationship, the characters’ motivations are much more understandable, and the scene is more impactful.

There was no set, and there were very few props used for this performance. There were also no costumes; the actors all simply wore black pants and solid-colored shirts. The stage at the black box was not raised. The performers and the audience were on the same level. In several of the scenes, the actors pantomimed whatever tasks they were doing, such as hanging up laundry. It was entirely minimalistic and artistic, relying solely on the actors’ abilities and the words by the playwrights to bring the stories to life.

This show was not meant for people who are uncomfortable with nontraditional plays. But I would imagine that literary enthusiasts, or anyone who enjoys studying classic theater pieces, are able to obtain a greater appreciation for the style and artistic choices made by Liechty and the rest of the cast. If you are the kind of person who likes a variety of styles when it comes to plays, this is a good example of how classics can be remastered and reimagined.

When compilations like this are made, it is helpful if the various scenes have at least something in common tying them together, such as a theme or premise. The scenes included in this did not seem to necessarily have that thing in common, at least in a way that was obvious, other than the fact that they all come from works of classic theatre. There were a few comical ones, although most of them were more dramatic. During the first act, there were three Shakespearean scenes together, followed by the one by Giraudoux. As the language is different between Shakespeare and Giraudoux, it took my brain a moment to stop trying to interpret Shakespeare. There is nothing wrong with putting all these different stories together for one performance, but the way the scenes flow together and relate to each other should still connect in a way that the audience can identify, without it seeming too random. All of the scenes were well-acted, but they felt a little disconnected from one another

The Scaffold Theatre’s A Night of Classic Theatre was unique and entertaining. Even if a play has been around for many years, looking at a classic from a new angle can be a good thing, and I believe it is good here. As stated in the program, Scaffold Theatre is working to become the resident theatre company of the Regent Street Black Box. While it is a newer company to the area, I look forward to seeing what more they will have to give us in the future as they further establish themselves. I think they’re going to stick around for a while.

The Scaffold Theatre Presents A Night of Classic Theatre
The Regent Street Black Box, 144 South Regent Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101
August 17-18, 2018, 7:30 PM
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