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STRATFORD, Conn.--A brand newqartistic director has taken the helm at the American Shakespeare Theatre (AST) this summer. He is Peter Coe, a 52-year-old native of London and a man of considerable Shakespearean experience. To inaugurate his tenure. Coe has chosen to stage Henry V, a work offered here only twice since the AST began...
...effect his plan Coe assigned the set and costume designs to Robert Fletcher '45, who worked on the AST's first two shows and a couple more since then. Fletcher has chosen to continue the wooden panelling of the auditorium's side walls across the front of the theatre to create an Elizabethan tiring-house facade. A flat Tudor arch in the center is symmetrically flanked by two doors. Up above is a sizeable gallery that can be curtained, with window openings at both sides. There are a few modest decorations--trefoils and four-leaf flowers, along with a blue...
...company for whom Robert Fletcher designed costumes in the AST's first season was a little-known young Canadian actor who played Antony in Julius Caesar and Ferdinand in The Tempest. His name was Christopher Plummer. The next year he portrayed Henry V both in Canada and Scotland--a stint that catapulted him to stardom, and a performance I have always regretted missing. For the past two decades Plummer has merited inclusion on any list of Plummer has merited inclusion on any list of the dozen finest actors in the English-speaking world. Like Guinness and (for a time) Brando...
...therefore a real coup for Coe to entice Plummer (whose Macbeth he directed years ago) back to the AST after a 26-year absence. While the historical Henry V ascended the throne at 26, Plummer is today roughly twice that age (51 or 53, depending on your source). It would be idle to expect him to recapture that youth for which the French dauphin insults Henry with a present of tennis balls. With more than a dozen important Shakespearean parts under his belt, not to mention other major classical roles. Plummer remains at the height of his phenomenal vocal control...
...drive to the AST grounds on the Housatonic River takes about two and three-quarter hours at legal speeds, via the Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate 91 and t he Connecticut Turnpike to Exit 32 or 31. Out-of-state motorists attending the Theatre can, whatever their license-plate number, obtain gasoline from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays Saturdays and Sundays at the Honeyspot Gulf Station at 245 Honeyspot Road near Exit 31 in Stratford. Performances at 2 and 8 o'clock. There are free facilities for picnickers on the premises...