During the holidays Hidden Room actor Liz Fisher and our Director of Technology Robert Matney and sat down with Professor Tiffany Stern in her rooms at University College, Oxford to talk about her research into, and the Hidden Room’s production of, Der Bestrafte Brudermord. 

With adroit scholarship and surpassing charm, she discusses how Brudermord may or may not historically have been a puppet play. With the editorial finesse of Lowell Bartholomee, we bring you that chat in a brief version and an unabridged version.

“Theater has problems and theater in a theater-y way solves those problems. And I think what has been so exciting for working not just with Beth but working with the Hidden Room and this amazing company, there you can really combine research and practice and bring something new and incredible. It is very very exciting for me.”

Abridged:

Unabridged:

So I teared up a little today.  Don’t think less of me.

I was sitting in while Ryan Crowder rehearsed one of the most beautiful speeches we’ve ever had the pleasure to work on in our adventures with Shakespeare: Henry VI’s molehill speech from ROSE RAGE.  On the page, it’s already spectacular.  In the hands of Ryan Crowder, it’s transcendent.   I listened to it once, then again, and slowly we settled back into it, adjusted, fresh-minted, and it was pure, gorgeous gold.  So I cried a little, right there in a community basketball court (with anxious ballers waiting their turn behind us.)

Ryan will perform this extraordinary speech tonight at Aviary Decor in Austin (S. Lamar and Oltorf) as part of the Creative Fund’s Happy Hour.  The party starts at 6PM, and Ryan’s performance should start around 6:30 or a little thereafter.  The Creative Fund is a wonderful organization filled with cool folks that you’ll want to know, and perhaps even join, so it’s a win-win.

And as for your own possible venture into emotions at Henry’s plea for a simple life, bring a tissue, or at least come armed with your standard excuse of allergies.  Sniff.

– Beth Burns

Ryan Crowder as Henry VI in Rose Rage, photo by Kristen Wrzesniewski