Keeping in time with Women’s History Month, Indiana Repertory Theatre is presenting a classic one-woman show for its 50th season.
Onstage now through April 16, “Shakespeare’s Will” follows the story of William Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway — or what might have been her story, said Tracy Michelle Arnold, the lead actress in the play. Written by Canadian playwright Vern Theissen, Arnold said the show is a fictional interpretation of what could have been Hathaway’s life after her husband moved from Stratford to London to join a theater troupe.
“The play is very much about their marriage — or lack thereof,” Arnold said. “They were married definitely, but William Shakespeare, once their three children were born, was asked to be a part of the Queen’s Men Players.”
During that time Shakespeare would have been writing and performing for court and touring with the troupe. Arnold said his visits and letters back home to his wife and children were rare until they stopped completely until he returned home just before his death.
“The idea in the play . . . is that he wasn’t much of a husband after that,” Arnold added. “That may be close to true … There’s a whole lot more written about Shakespeare than there is about Anne Hathaway.”
Janet Allen, Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director, said she chose this show as part of her final season with IRT because it elicits a fascination with both historical characters and the little that is known about “women in the past who’ve played pivotal roles in shaping culture.”
“The show is a great insight into a historical character who was very important and who was virtually unrecorded historically,” Allen said. “I think we continue to have a lot of fascination with the life of Shakespeare as well as his work, and this play leverages off ‘who was that mysterious woman behind the man?’”
In terms of history, Arnold said there are about nine known facts about Hathaway — including when she was born, when she died, when she married Shakespeare and had her children, and what was left to her in Shakespeare’s will.
Arnold, who starred in the production 12 years ago alongside former IRT director Brenda DeVita, is reprising her role as Hathaway per Allen’s request. A one-person show is strenuous, especially one as physical as “Shakespeare’s Will,” and Allen said she knew Arnold would bring it to life in new ways.
Returning to the show more than a decade later, Arnold said she’s able to bring more conviction to the role. Everyone in the country has learned a lot about inequities in the past few years, not only between different communities of color but between men and women, she said.
“I come to this play with that sort of injustice in my brain, so I think it makes my portrayal of Anne that much more righteous, I suppose,” Arnold said. “We want people to walk home from this show talking about it, thinking about it, you know, comparing it to their lives and their life choices and their actions.”
One of Allen’s goals as a producer is to bring in plays that are accessible and compelling to everyone in the audience, no matter their age, demographic, knowledge of theater or even their seat in the audience.
“We need a lot broader storytelling, not only in terms of gender, but race [and] culture,” Allen said. “So, there’s been a tremendous effort to expand the repertoire and I think this play is definitely one of those efforts.”
Both Allen and Arnold’s favorite scene in the play is when Hathaway recounts a dream she has of being a bird and flying over the Globe Theater listening to Shakespeare’s play and “gathering worlds like a mother bird gathering worms to take back to her child.”
“It’s a beautiful recognition about the power of a script and an actor and design and staging,” Allen said. “It’s a very evocative moment. Part of it is the power of the staging, a lot of it is the power of Tracy’s skill … It’s a very physical moment in the theater, and that combination of things is really compelling.”
“Shakespeare’s Will” is running at the IRT through April 16. Tickets start at $25 and are available at irtlive.com.
Contact staff writer Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848 or chloegm@indyrecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @chloe_mcgowanxx
