Beloved Shakespeare Character Takes the Spotlight in “Snug”
A new play based on a beloved, old character takes The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s outdoor stage. “Snug” expands on the lives of the mechanicals from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with merriment, mischief, magic, and love. JerseyArts.com correspondent Maddie Orton talks with the cast and creator of "Snug" about life imitating art and creating theatre despite challenge after challenge.
For tickets and more information on “Snug,” visit www.shakespearenj.org.
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MADDIE ORTON (ON CAMERA)
Hi, I’m Maddie Orton for JerseyArts.com here at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s Outdoor Stage for their new play, Snug.
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
If the name “Snug” sounds familiar, that’s because she or he is a character in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She makes a brief, but fun appearance as a “Mechanical”--or skilled laborer. Memorably, she must overcome her timidity to perform the part of a roaring lion alongside her fellow craftsmen for an audience of royalty.
SHOW FOOTAGE:
STARVELING: Roar again, Snug! ‘Twas marvelous impressive!
SNUG: No, I don’t want to!
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
This story about Snug is the brainchild of Artistic Director Bonnie Monte, who wrote the play when life began to imitate art…
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s educational touring company, which performs Midsummer for school children, had been grounded by the pandemic. Cast members were offered the chance to quarantine together in company housing and pick up odd jobs around the theater. Isaac Hickox-Young plays the character “Flute.”
ISAAC HICKOX-YOUNG, “FLUTE”
The theater was generous enough to let us stay in the housing and also provide us with kind of random work opportunities. We painted the building, we reorganized, we cleaned, did all sorts of random things… We became mechanicals in our own way, and that sort of inspired the piece.
BONNIE MONTE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
I used them, meaning the actors, and the kind of characters that they had created originally for our touring Midsummer. And then, I used THEM--as people, as I’ve known them a little bit…This is about getting to know the Mechanicals from the whole other side of things. So all the stuff in Midsummer is referred to, but you’re seeing what happens either before or after those scenes in Shakespeare’s actual play.
SHOW FOOTAGE:
SNUG: I made a promise. I shall keep it.
FLUTE: Yay! Hurrah, Snug!
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
Of course the show is named for Snug--a character played by Billie Wyatt in both the educational touring production and this play. Monte says she was the initial inspiration for the show--a fact that still has Wyatt reeling.
BILLIE WYATT, “SNUG”
I was incredibly surprised. Because when she brought it up the very first time, I thought she was joking… I realized she was being very serious, and it became very, very exciting--and terrifying, obviously, but very exciting.
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
As Bonnie Monte crafted the script for Snug, she thought about using it for the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey’s outdoor stage.
BONNIE MONTE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
We don’t have any money, like every other theatre right now, because of the pandemic. We haven’t been able to really earn money for a year and a half now. So we needed to be able to find a show, or two shows, that we did not have to pay royalties on...We didn’t have enough money to full restaff, we didn’t have enough money to pay a full team of designers, and because I do quite often design for my shows, I thought, “Well, I’ll take on those--I’ll wear those extra hats and save us some money.”
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
This season, Monte is wearing a lot of extra hats. In addition to her work as Artistic Director--overseeing both Snug and The Comedy of Errors, which run concurrently on the outdoor stage--she designed costumes and sound for, directed, and of course wrote Snug.
BONNIE MONTE, DIRECTOR & PLAYWRIGHT
That’s what a pandemic will do to you.
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
Monte is no stranger to tough times, and she doesn’t shy away from a challenge. In 2009, as arts funding was frozen during the Great Recession, Bonnie was featured in The New York Times for creating a set primarily from shredded paper.
BONNIE MONTE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
I’ve actually asked my administrative staff to start saving all their shredded paper again, because--and we may use it in a new way, but it’s free… I mean, it’s not like we’ve made money yet again. The pandemic really emptied our coffers, and we’ve been existing on a shoestring like everybody else… particularly in the performing arts. And I keep trying to think of ways--well, how can we do things for very, very, very little money?
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
Adding to an already challenging time, this summer’s season lost a week of performances when a major storm all but destroyed the company’s outdoor set.
ISAAC HICKOX-YOUNG, “FLUTE”
You finally get to this moment--we’re going to get to do a big thing on a grand scale, kind of returning to form--and then the set’s at 45 degrees, impaled on a post...
BONNIE MONTE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
The floor got totally destroyed… all the tents got ripped apart..and then it kept raining for ten days.
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
Monte says spirits were low at times.
BONNIE MONTE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
There were other times where you would look at everybody and think, ‘Man, this is a band of brothers. These guys are pulling together…” And I have to say that the crew was extraordinarily impressed with and grateful for this group of actors, who did not have to, but all gave their time and energy during the day to help rebuild, even though they had to do shows or rehearse at night.
MADDIE ORTON (VOICEOVER)
And while the actors have done more than their fair share of playing mechanicals in real life, they are thrilled to be back to embodying those characters on the stage.
ISAAC HICKOX-YOUNG, “FLUTE”
We are so happy to finally be really doing it.
SHOW FOOTAGE:
SNUG: Surely he will leap at the chance to have his dramatic commotions finally seen by those beyond our quarter!
MADDIE ORTON (ON CAMERA)
Snug runs in rep with Comedy of Errors through August 1st. Check out ShakespeareNJ.org for more information. I’m Maddie Orton--thanks for watching.
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