Utah theater troupe teaches basics of Bard

Kimberley McGee

Friday, Feb. 16, 2001 | 9:47 a.m.

Fast Facts

What: "Julius Caesar," presented by the Utah Shakespearean Festival's Education Tour.

When: 8 p.m. today, through Saturday.

Where: Nicholas J. Horn Theatre at the Community College of Southern Nevada, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave.

Cost: $10 general admission; $8 for students and seniors.

Information: 651-5483.

He's considered one of the top writers of the last millennium, and his plays have become box-office hits at the movie theaters.

Shakespeare still sells.

Yet some still balk at the Bard, said Michael Bahr, an English teacher and education director for the Utah Shakespearean Festival's Education Tour.

"All you have to do is get them in there, get them involved, get them excited about it," Bahr said.

That's just what his Shakespeare troupe has come to Las Vegas to do.

The tour presents a 75-minute adaptation of "Julius Caesar" tonight and Saturday at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

The play is appropriate, Bahr said, considering the country's current political climate -- confused.

"We wanted to give the audience what they want and also show that this could be us today," Bahr said.

There are 24 roles played by seven Shakespearean actors wearing suits and ties throughout the political drama of Roman Emperor Caesar's downfall. They don togas, gladiator breastplates and guard uniforms over the suits to depict each role.

This is not just a play about stuffy Romans.

"Suits are a sign of authority today," Bahr said. "We wanted to show the audience that what happened then could be used in context today."

The troupe also performs for Clark County school students Mondays through Fridays at CCSN's Nicholas J. Horn Theatre through Feb. 24. (The performances are not open to the public.)

The festival's annual education tour was created in 1992 to breathe life into the more than 400-year-old works.

The tour winds through remote areas of Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Wyoming exposing Shakespeare's classic plays to those who may otherwise have only been introduced informally to the works.

Judi Steele, president of the Arts Council of Henderson, said that such tours perpetuate the classic tales of tragedy, love and good and evil.

"It allows them to experience cultural events that many large cities take for granted," Steele said.

The workshops and after-play discussions offered to the audience break down the sometimes-lofty monologues and complicated wording of Shakespeare, as well as educate the hip-hop age about the Renaissance age.

"It takes away the mystery so that the (people) can enjoy him," Steele said.

Shakespeare should be seen, and heard, Bahr said, for audiences to truly appreciate the play and get beyond the language of the 16th-century playwright.

"It's like a second language a little," Bahr said. "If kids start (learning about it) in elementary school, they don't know they're not supposed to understand it. By junior high, kids get cool and don't want to understand it."

To get a foot in the door with put-off teens, Bahr compares the style of Shakespeare to that of Theodor Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss, the late author of children's books.

Each author, although centuries and audiences apart, used a rhythmic tone to place importance on the words they wanted the listener to hear, Bahr said.

"Shakespeare and Seuss have what I call 'loaded language,' " Bahr said. "Not only do they say things and have great messages, but they are fun to roll off the tongue."

Shakespeare intended his plays to be seen live onstage, not to be recited in classrooms by bored English students, Bahr said.

There's the rub, for in that sterile atmosphere of a classroom, Shakespeare's tragic characters lay limp on the page.

"He wanted (them) to be performed, to see his works come alive," Bahr said. "He never intended for it to be studied from a book."

After all, Bahr reminds, Shakespeare was a regular guy who worked with words to pull in the crowds.

"He wrote for the masses to be entertained and to learn something about life situations. We bring that to life today."

Kimberley McGee

is an Accent feature writer. Reach her at 259-4096 or mcgee@lasvegassun.com.