Who's the most-produced playwright in Cincinnati this season? The most produced playwright in America: William Shakespeare.

        It's a veritable festival of the Bard in Southwest Ohio with seven productions by five companies starting with the Really Big Show, Playhouse in the Park's King Lear. Opening Thursday (through Oct. 5) it features a triple treat: Joneal Joplin in the title role, Philip Pleasants as Gloucester and Dale Hodges as the Fool.

        There will be two productions of The Tempest, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Oct. 25-28, and Stage First, Jan. 29-Feb. 17. Cincinnati director Drew Fracher will commute to Dayton to direct Macbeth (Jan. 31-Feb. 16) for Human Race. It will star Bruce Cromer, a fine Dayton actor who often commutes to Cincinnati stages. (He'll be brushing up his Shakespeare in King Lear.)

        Cincinnati Shakespeare will lean toward the lighter side of the Bard. Twelfth Night (Oct. 11-Nov. 4) and As You Like It (April 11-May 5) will be leavened by the darkness of Othello (Feb. 21-March 31).
       

Fangs back in "Lear'

               “Why do we do Shakespeare?” ruminates Michael Burnham, who directs The Tempest for CCM and Othello for Cincinnati Shakespeare. “This is my theory. In times of great social change, we want to show we have a grasp on the past, yet the work is ambiguous enough to let you say what you want to say.”

        Playhouse's Ed Stern promises to put the fangs back in Shakespeare set “in a primitive (or post-apocalyptic) world ... filled with moral ambiguities.

        “Lear is the story of a man who goes from being a king to being a human. But it takes great tragedy to cause this transformation, to allow for his rebirth, his regeneration.”

        For Mr. Stern, Lear “is a play about land, about earth and that element is central to the staging.” The costumes carry hints of India, Pakistan or the Philippines. Designers are Playhouse favorites Karen TenEyck (sets), Susan Tsu (costumes) and Thomas Hase (lights).

        That's all Mr. Stern cares to say. “Shakespeare's audiences came to the show fresh. It's theater, not literature, it's meant to be seen not read” (or read too much about).
       

Gender-bending "Tempest'

               Mr. Fracher returns to Macbeth for the second time in two years. His version for Cincinnati Shakespeare last season was a crack dream that included witches disguised as street people, homeless and addicted.

        Things are going to be much straighter at Human Race, where the setting will be Braveheart's Scotland. Mr. Fracher plans to use his expertise as a fight director to good use with “burly men with broadswords.” The show doesn't open until 2002; Mr. Fracher says there's still a lot to be planned.

        First up for Mr. Burnham is a gender-bending Tempest, with key roles, including magician Prospero, taken by women. “It's not about making a statement, it's about having really good (women) actors.”

        Although, Mr. Burnham continues, “I'm always curious about what happens with women in roles played by men,” and he points out that there are many parallels in America today as women take over male roles in society.

        Intellect tends to predominate, and Mr. Burnham sees Prospero, who lures old enemies to his/her island, as having “a mind but not much sense of body.”

        It's too early for final plans for jealousy-and-revenge tragedy Othello, but what's intriguing Mr. Burnham most is casting festival fave Giles Davies as Iago.

        “I think everybody in the play is secretly in love with Iago,” Mr. Burnham pronounces. “Everybody likes him, everybody trusts him.

        “He's an interesting guy and it seems to me he doesn't start out to be evil, he just falls in deeper, deeper and deeper. I think just maybe — just maybe — he didn't plan for Desdemona to die. I expect Giles and I will have lots of long talks about that.”

        As to the setting, “I don't have a clue yet, although I can't see anywhere else to put it (than its traditional setting). I do know it has to be bare bones so you can see the people play with each other.”
       

Another "Tempest'

               Stage First hit a box office goldmine with Hamlet last season. Artistic director Nicholas Korn wasted no time in scheduling a follow-up. He's bringing back director Greg Procaccino and set designer Brent Hodges.

        Bob Allen and Michael Bath have already signed on as magician Prospero and monster Caliban.

        “I've always been drawn to The Tempest because the plot is so simple, almost Greek in its uniformity, yet the themes are so cleverly and tenderly woven and the poetry of the play is some of Shakespeare's most delicious and complex,” Mr. Korn says.

        “There's new love and the forgiveness of ancient wrongs, pagan magic and Christian-like virtue, control of the elements made to look like chaos, all taking place in a matter of hours on a small, uncharted island.

        “We must remember that this is Shakespeare's last play and the artist's entire history, everything he has learned to do with language, character and narrative stand ready to do his magical bidding.”
       

Mirror world

               Twelfth Night may be set in ancient Illyria, but it will look like Alice Through the Looking Glass at Cincinnati Shakespeare.

        “The stage will actually be made of mirrors,” director Jasson Minadakis says. Like Alice in Wonderland, heroine Viola tumbles into a strange world when she survives a shipwreck and disguises herself as her twin brother.

        The mirrors play with the idea that the image is not necessarily what's there. It also reflects the vanity and pride of some characters. As You Like It will be a traditional telling, Mr. Minadakis says. Festival co-founder Marni Penning will return as Rosalind.

        Banished from court, she disguises herself as a boy, sets off for the Forest of Arden where she coaches her swain in sonnet writing and is one of several characters happily-ever-after in love at the final curtain.

        Perhaps not a complete return to tradition. One of the supporting players will be performed by a puppet.

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