NWCTC's King John

We enjoyed another production by the Northwest Classical Theatre Company. I forgot to bring my camera and there were three things I would have taken pictures of, if only. Instead you get words.

The drama was set in the present, which worked very well as two countries arguing and warring is not foreign to our modern sensibilities. Aside from the action on stage, there were also updates "from the field" given by newscasters as the royal families watched on television. The music, (sound design/original compositions according to the program) by Sharath Patel added a lot to the story and I found the costumes very complementary to the action. Well done Elizabeth Huffman (who also directed.)

Michael Fisher Welsh was a very good King John, and Vana O'Brien was a very good Eleanor, ably overcoming what I thought was a very bad wig. Dana Millican (who we saw before in Pericles) stole the show as Constance, pleading angrily then desperately for Arthur to take the throne. I was also impressed by both Grant Byington (who we saw in Twelfth Night) and Matt DiBiasio who were both double cast, Byington as King Phillip and also Salsbury, DiBiasio as Austria/Pembroke. Both changed so much about their demeanor that I had to read the program more than once before I realized the double casting.

NWCTC sells treats in the lobby and posts prices on a whiteboard above the treat table. This time their board offered coffee, tea, cookies and Lady Blanche. The first items sold for fifty cents to one dollar, the last was for sale for five countries and 30,000 marks.* We bought cookies.

*King John insider joke. Heh heh.

image from: http://www.nwctc.org/season.html