Shenandoah Shakespeare Express
Vaulting Ambition Tour
Windy River Winery
June 10-13
$12 in advance; $15 at gate; $30 for all three plays
449-6996

Are you leery of King Lear? Does the thought of Othello make you a little yellow? Do you think Hamlet is just a ham? You may be suffering from “Shakesfear.” Shenandoah Shakespeare Express (SSE) defines this affliction as “the reflexive intellectual paranoia that grips [people] when considering the work of a 400-year old dead European white guy.”

For more than 10 years, SSE has made a mission of fighting Shakesfear and has succeeded famously, performing for more than 60,000 people annually. Managing Artistic Director Jim Warren credits one simple idea for the company’s success: “Shakespeare’s plays work best when performed like they were originally designed,” he says. “This idea has been part of everything we’ve done.”

SSE’s shows are performed on a bare stage with performers and audience sharing natural lighting. “The fourth wall is a relatively new concept,” says Warren. He’s referring to the way most modern plays are performed, as if the audience is removed from the action, peering in at the proceedings through a one-way mirror. “There used to be more of a communal kind of theater,” Warren explains. “The actors were trying to get the audience on their side. There are many places [in his plays] where Shakespeare was acknowledging the audience.”

SSE brings its interactive style to Windy River Winery in Beaverdam this weekend, June 10-13, a stop on its Vaulting Ambition tour. The year-long, cross-country tour includes productions of “The Merchant of Venice,” “Macbeth,” and “The Knight of the Burning Pestle,” a comedy by Shakespeare’s contemporary, Francis Beaumont.

“Ambition” is more than just the name of a tour for SSE. The company has embarked on a far-reaching mission to raise its profile. Based in Harrisonburg for 10 years, SSE moved to Staunton this spring and hopes to open a new indoor playhouse by the end of 2000. Construction of a replica of the Globe Theatre will follow three or four years after that. Warren says the time is right for the move: “We think Staunton is perfect for developing a ‘destination’ Shakespeare festival, where people will come to visit specifically to get their Shakespeare fix.”

SSE, working with a consortium of Virginia colleges also will offer an accredited two-year program where graduates will receive a Master of Fine Arts degree in Shakespearean studies.

Though it may seem implausible that the sleepy Shenandoah Valley would become a hotbed of Renaissance-era dramatics, Warren believes in the power of the company’s simple principles. “Doing Shakespeare this way produces theater that is fun, exciting and accessible,” he says. … “The idea worked.”

With SSE on the case, Shakesfear may be wiped out in our