From Shakespeare, with love: Chanticleer connects with Fresno Art Museum for a dramatic evening of love poems
By A.N. Patterson
Chanticleer Shakespeare Company’s artistic director Blake Ellis and executive director Brandon Weis found the perfect way to “prime the pump” for the company’s upcoming production of “Romeo and Juliet” in April.
“We want to expose people to the themes that Shakespeare explores of love, and heartache, and desire, and all the different things that you experience in any kind of romantic relationship. These are timeless things people experience,” Ellis said.
Pictured above: Chanticleer Shakespeare Company and the Fresno Art Museum are featuring Klimt’s “The Kiss” in marketing materials for “The Art of Love.”
This Sunday, Oct. 25, the Fresno Art Museum will host the Chanticleer Shakespeare Company’s fundraiser “The Art of Love.”
The fundraiser begins at 5 p.m. and will feature sonnets performed live by actors, on-the-spot poetry written by Ka’eo Yoshikawa, as well as a live painting done by artist Leslie Batty. At the end of the night, Batty’s painting will be auctioned off live, with proceeds being shared equally between Chanticleer Shakespeare Company and Fresno Art Museum. Tickets to the event are $20.
I got the chance to speak with Ellis and Weis about the evening.
“The sonnet is a very specific way of writing, and a lot of people have tried to master them, but Shakespeare really did crack the code on them,” Ellis said.
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For Ellis and Weis, this is one of the most significant reasons why Shakespeare’s material is lauded as some of the finest poetry in the English language.
While Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets over his career, “The Art of Love” will have just over 20 performed by actors associated with the Chanticleer Shakespeare Company. Some of the actors featured are David Rasner, Mark Standriff, R. L. Preheim, Kate McKnight, Terry Lewis and Emily Pessano.
One of the most exciting aspects of the event will be Batty’s live painting. During the performance of the sonnets, Batty will use the inspiration of the recitations to more thoroughly explore the themes of love.
At the end of the night, only one person will have the opportunity to take home Batty’s finished painting, but there will be another opportunity to take home a unique piece from the night. Local poet Ka’eo Yoshikawa will be in the lobby of the museum and writing poetry for attendees, inspired by what they tell him.
“He’s fantastic at freestyling these poems, and he’ll be pumping out poems for folks so they can take a piece of art from this event,” Ellis said.
Weis quickly added, “At least, as many people as he can get through. He’s not going to be there all night.”
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Ellis and Weis have been wanting to expand the company’s programming since they tackled “Richard III” two years ago. One of the benefits of having this fundraiser is that it will expose people to Shakespeare and help them fall in love with his work without having the expenses of a full production.
The performance of the sonnets will be especially intriguing. “We’re doing our best to find a way to illuminate and enliven them in a way that the audience might not experience, we want people to hear this poetry spoken by people who are expert craftsmen at that,” said Ellis. “When you hear these actors perform these sonnets, which are very rarely performed, I think it’s going to really open people’s eyes to the magic of poetry that Shakespeare wrote.”
