Paying little attention to the brisk wind blowing off the sun-swept field that stretches behind Shakespeare & Companyâs Tina Packer Playhouse, Artistic Director Allyn Burrows led a visitor on a brisk walk across the theaterâs spacious terrace and down a narrow path leading past the outdoor Roman Garden Theatre.
Burrows paused for a brief moment to comment on some things that will remain the same in the Roman Garden, one or two that may not, once Shakespeare & Company begins its 2021 season at 70 Kemble St. in Lenox.
Burrows then continued down the path to what will become pride of place â the outdoor New Spruce Theatre, now a sprawl of compact white fill and a cluster of towering trees that give the new space its name.
Charlie Shotwell in John and the Hole
Charlie Shotwell plays an intense teen who traps his family in a forest bunker in Pascual Sisto s disturbing first feature, also starring Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle and Taissa Farmiga.
The minefield of early adolescence is a treacherous phase in Spanish visual artist Pascual Sisto s
John and the Hole, in which Charlie Shotwell gives a rivetingly affectless performance as an apathetic 13-year-old who holds his parents and sister captive in an underground bunker. The director has jokingly referred to his psychological coming-of-age thriller as a Michael Haneke version of
Home Alone, which isn t far from the truth. But it more specifically recalls the 2014 nail-biter by the Austrian auteur s compatriots Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala,
Allyn Burrows All you can do is dodge rocks and make it down the river, Burrows says in his answer to one of a series of questions posed to him about the year just ended and the one that s just begun.
As it did to all the cultural institutions in the Berkshires, COVID-19 forced some tough decisions on Burrows and his board â cutbacks; canceling the season; furloughing staff â and some thinking outside the box to survive.
Ironically, Shakespeare & Company was facing stiff challenges when Burrows returned to Shakespeare & Company in the fall of 2016, after a nearly 10-year absence, to replace interim co-artistic directors Ariel Bock and Jonathan Croy as artistic director.