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Rare Secret Play 'The Malcontent' Opens at Deaf West Theatre This Weekend - North Hollywood-Toluca Lake, CA Patch
The Antaeus Company’s latest production revives a rarely performed political satire. The Malcontent was John Marston’s commentary on the royals of the early 17th century. His malcontent is a deposed duke in disguise, saying what he really thinks about the duke who usurped him.
NoHo should be ready for this. Audiences have supported Antaeus’ classical productions like King Lear, Cousin Bette and The Autumn Garden.
“It’s brutally honest,” director Elizabeth Swain said. “It really shows ultimately the futility of political correction, but it does sort of wreak havoc on its way. The language is very, very violent. It’s very rich but some of the language is quite shocking. It’s not vulgar, but it’s very shocking. Well, little bits of it might be by some people deemed a little bit vulgar.”
Swain moved to Los Angeles in 2008 after retiring from teaching in New York. Now a freelance director and teacher, she teaches Antaeus classes. After directing Antaeus actor JD Cullum in a reading of Richard II, she recommended The Malcontent. It was a tough sell, but after a 2010 Classics Workshop production, Caulum realized the company should perform the show for a full run.
“Oh, it’s outrageous,” actor J.D. Cullum, who plays the malcontent Malevole. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things that he gets away with saying. As I’ve said on a few occasions, no bodily function goes unmentioned. It’s downright lewd and shocking and scurrilous language. I don't know how it got around the censor but it’s very funny. It’s funny on all levels. There’s even elements of comedia, certain characters that are recognizable as the comedia archetypes.”
To get Cullum to be such a spokesman for The Malcontent, Swain had to constantly remind him to read the play. Cullum didn’t get it until he spoke the lines out loud. He believes that’s the roadblock that keeps many other companies from attempting to perform it.
“I think it’s partly because it’s difficult to read so people don’t find it accessible,” Cullum said. “That must be the main reason because I’m not entirely sure. I guess Jacobian plays in general like Webster, those plays just aren’t done a lot. I think that artistic directors and companies are scared of them because they seem so dense but once you experiment with them and put them up, they’re a lot of fun to do.”
Cullum shares the role of Malevole with Bo Foxworth on alternating performances. The Antaeus produces every show with two companies of actors. Swain has worked with both sets of actors to convey Marsten’s message, so the audience will understand even the most difficult passages of the play intuitively.
“I got to tell you, it took us several days at the table to be really clear on what we were saying and doing,” Swain said. “Then all the way through rehearsal, ‘Wait, wait, wait a minute, what’s this about?’ I do believe that when actors do know what they’re doing, the audience gets it. Even though they may not understand every word that’s being uttered, it’s like Shakespeare. You can tell when a Shakespearean actor doesn’t know what he or she is talking about. That’s when you go to sleep. When you know the actor understands it all, you get it even though you may miss specifics. The audience will probably be fascinated by it, say, ‘What did he say?’”
The audience will have to engage with the performer to get the most out of the show.
“That’s the thing, it’s for the stage, not for the page,” Cullum said. “The language is arcane and obscure. There’s a lot of verbal puns. There’s a lot of difficult syntax. It’s a greater challenge than Shakespeare in some ways because it’s a little bit later so audiences were used to the complexity of Shakespeare’s language. So I think the later playwrights took it even further, tried to outdo Shakespeare. It’s really hard to read. When you put the people on the stage with the words, suddenly it really comes to life. You can really appreciate the fun of the play.”
The highbrow crowd who attends Antaeus shows may want to consider the political undertones of the show too. Even though it is set in the Jacobean era, Marsten’s politics are eternal.
“I think because you see that the main theme of the play is about the corruption of the court and about how flattery and disingenuousness are the tools that allow people to succeed and advance themselves,” Cullum said. “So people are constantly changing their allegiances, people are totally self-serving. There’s a lot of actual references to ‘What religion are you now?’ because people change back and forth. Back then, this was James so if you were Catholic, you were in trouble. Yet there were a lot of people, some can argue 50 percent or more, I’m not really sure what the statistic is but there were a lot of Catholics still around. People were dishonest in the court.”
This again could be why The Malcontent fell out of rotation in the classical theater circuit. Now, NoHo is ready for it.
“Of course Marsten did get into trouble a little bit for his satire,” Swain said. “He also used to write erotic verse but that archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London, [George Abbot], I think it was in 1599, had a book burning where all sorts of people’s satiric and erotic verses were burned. I think there was a fear of satire and of course everybody should be afraid of satire if they don’t have a good conscience.”
The Malcontent plays Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. from May 5 through June 19 at the Deaf West Theater. Buy tickets at Antaeus.org.
Check out our Theater Guide for a full list of all the current and upcoming productions in NoHo, Toluca Lake and Valley Village.
The Antaeus Company’s latest production revives a rarely performed political satire. The Malcontent was John Marston’s commentary on the royals of the early 17th century. His malcontent is a deposed duke in disguise, saying what he really thinks about the duke who usurped him.
NoHo should be ready for this. Audiences have supported Antaeus’ classical productions like King Lear, Cousin Bette and The Autumn Garden.
“It’s brutally honest,” director Elizabeth Swain said. “It really shows ultimately the futility of political correction, but it does sort of wreak havoc on its way. The language is very, very violent. It’s very rich but some of the language is quite shocking. It’s not vulgar, but it’s very shocking. Well, little bits of it might be by some people deemed a little bit vulgar.”
Swain moved to Los Angeles in 2008 after retiring from teaching in New York. Now a freelance director and teacher, she teaches Antaeus classes. After directing Antaeus actor JD Cullum in a reading of Richard II, she recommended The Malcontent. It was a tough sell, but after a 2010 Classics Workshop production, Caulum realized the company should perform the show for a full run.
“Oh, it’s outrageous,” actor J.D. Cullum, who plays the malcontent Malevole. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things that he gets away with saying. As I’ve said on a few occasions, no bodily function goes unmentioned. It’s downright lewd and shocking and scurrilous language. I don't know how it got around the censor but it’s very funny. It’s funny on all levels. There’s even elements of comedia, certain characters that are recognizable as the comedia archetypes.”
To get Cullum to be such a spokesman for The Malcontent, Swain had to constantly remind him to read the play. Cullum didn’t get it until he spoke the lines out loud. He believes that’s the roadblock that keeps many other companies from attempting to perform it.
“I think it’s partly because it’s difficult to read so people don’t find it accessible,” Cullum said. “That must be the main reason because I’m not entirely sure. I guess Jacobian plays in general like Webster, those plays just aren’t done a lot. I think that artistic directors and companies are scared of them because they seem so dense but once you experiment with them and put them up, they’re a lot of fun to do.”
Cullum shares the role of Malevole with Bo Foxworth on alternating performances. The Antaeus produces every show with two companies of actors. Swain has worked with both sets of actors to convey Marsten’s message, so the audience will understand even the most difficult passages of the play intuitively.
“I got to tell you, it took us several days at the table to be really clear on what we were saying and doing,” Swain said. “Then all the way through rehearsal, ‘Wait, wait, wait a minute, what’s this about?’ I do believe that when actors do know what they’re doing, the audience gets it. Even though they may not understand every word that’s being uttered, it’s like Shakespeare. You can tell when a Shakespearean actor doesn’t know what he or she is talking about. That’s when you go to sleep. When you know the actor understands it all, you get it even though you may miss specifics. The audience will probably be fascinated by it, say, ‘What did he say?’”
The audience will have to engage with the performer to get the most out of the show.
“That’s the thing, it’s for the stage, not for the page,” Cullum said. “The language is arcane and obscure. There’s a lot of verbal puns. There’s a lot of difficult syntax. It’s a greater challenge than Shakespeare in some ways because it’s a little bit later so audiences were used to the complexity of Shakespeare’s language. So I think the later playwrights took it even further, tried to outdo Shakespeare. It’s really hard to read. When you put the people on the stage with the words, suddenly it really comes to life. You can really appreciate the fun of the play.”
The highbrow crowd who attends Antaeus shows may want to consider the political undertones of the show too. Even though it is set in the Jacobean era, Marsten’s politics are eternal.
“I think because you see that the main theme of the play is about the corruption of the court and about how flattery and disingenuousness are the tools that allow people to succeed and advance themselves,” Cullum said. “So people are constantly changing their allegiances, people are totally self-serving. There’s a lot of actual references to ‘What religion are you now?’ because people change back and forth. Back then, this was James so if you were Catholic, you were in trouble. Yet there were a lot of people, some can argue 50 percent or more, I’m not really sure what the statistic is but there were a lot of Catholics still around. People were dishonest in the court.”
This again could be why The Malcontent fell out of rotation in the classical theater circuit. Now, NoHo is ready for it.
“Of course Marsten did get into trouble a little bit for his satire,” Swain said. “He also used to write erotic verse but that archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London, [George Abbot], I think it was in 1599, had a book burning where all sorts of people’s satiric and erotic verses were burned. I think there was a fear of satire and of course everybody should be afraid of satire if they don’t have a good conscience.”
The Malcontent plays Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. from May 5 through June 19 at the Deaf West Theater. Buy tickets at Antaeus.org.
Check out our Theater Guide for a full list of all the current and upcoming productions in NoHo, Toluca Lake and Valley Village.