THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601090087
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Preview
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
When ``Shakespeare for Our Children'' takes the stage at Generic Theater with its production of ``Scenes from Twelfth Night,'' there will be an important difference from the other programs that the new performance series Childs Play has been presenting to its audiences of the young and very young.
The people on stage will be no older than the audiences for whom they are playing. The troupe is made up of nine youngsters 7 to 13 years old. ``Shakespeare for Our Children'' isn't just performed for children - it's performed by them as well.
The company grew out of a third-grader's interest in the works her school was presenting in the classroom. When Ana Salzberg came home four years ago and told her parents that she was studying Shakespeare, she rekindled an interest that had begun when her mother was a 9-year-old New Yorker, playing Juliet in scene-study classes for children at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Janice Salzberg went on to earn membership in Actor's Equity. Veterans of local theater remember her as Ophelia and Joan of Arc, as Samuel Beckett's Winnie, and in a host of other leading roles at the old Norfolk Theater Center and Tidewater Dinner Theater.
Now she directs and narrates for this group she founded so that her daughter and others could be exposed to Shakespeare's words in the venue for which he originally wrote, the live stage.
``We've gotten to these children before anyone told them they shouldn't like Shakespeare, before anyone told them it was difficult,'' she says. ``Its fun. It's getting into costume.
``Children respond instantly to performing Shakespeare. It's amazing what they can do. They understand what they're saying; they're communicating the intelligence of the lines. As a result, they love Shakespeare for the rest of their lives.''
Salzberg uses what she calls ``minimalist'' staging, to accommodate the skills of her young novice actors and to focus on the ``beauty of the language'' that she calls ``spoken music.''
At a performance last weekend, the children entered and exited for each scene in character, for the most part remaining stationary as they recited their lines clearly and distinctly. The jester somersaulted into her place on the stage. The self-important Malvolio pranced on and off, while Duke Orsino and the Countess Olivia came and went with a haughty regality.
Salzberg introduced the show and kept the audience abreast of the plot and characters with narration linking the 10 scenes from ``Twelfth Night'' that make up their show.
The play runs 55 minutes, and Salzberg points out that the length of the uninterrupted performance makes it unsuitable for children less than 7 years old. ILLUSTRATION: AT A GLANCE
What: ``Scenes From Twelfth Night,'' presented by Childs Play.
Who: ``Shakespeare for Our Children.''
When: Saturday at 2 p.m.
Where: Generic Theater, 912 W. 21st St., Norfolk.
Information: 441-2160.
by CNB