Interview: Guy Roberts, Prague Shakespeare Co. AD, Talks Directing VENUS IN FUR for Main Street

This January, Main Street Theater (MST) and the Prague Shakespeare Company (PSC) have come together to stage PSC's most popular show, David Ives' sexually-charged power struggle VENUS IN FUR.

The two-person, 95 minute show depicts Vanda, a young actress, auditioning for a role in director Thomas's new production, a play based on Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's erotic novella, Venus in Furs. Soon, however, Vanda and Thomas - as actor and director, woman and man, young and old - begin to bleed into their exploratory role play in an increasingly high stakes game.

Today Broadwayworld.com talks to PSC Artistic Director (and Houston native) Guy Roberts about the challenges of acting and directing VENUS IN FUR, the Richard III-esque role his leading lady plays, and the Shakespearean qualities of this "for mature audiences only" show.

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I really enjoyed your performance as Sir Toby Belch in MST/PSC's TWELFTH NIGHT production. The character is hilarious. VENUS IN FUR is a very different type of comedy. In reading the play, the comedy doesn't jump out at me, how are you making the humor more apparent on the stage?

Thank you for the kind words about TWELFTH NIGHT - we have a lot of fun playing the show and I hope the audience does as well. VENUS IN FUR is a brilliant script, and I am convinced the character of Vanda (the female lead) is one of theatre's great roles for women. She is in the same category as Hedda, Nora, Rosalind, Juliet, Lady Macbeth, etc. Jessica Boone, who plays Vanda, has a lot of experience in Shakespeare - Lady Macbeth, Juliet, Innogen, Rosalind, etc. - so she is really adept at making strong, sudden changes from comedy to drama the way Shakespeare's great roles require. David Ives has written such a fantastic script - like Shakespeare (Hamlet has great humor in it for example) the comedy is intermingled with the drama seamlessly and in moments of laughter there is a lot of very potent stuff - and within some of the more dramatic moments there are very, very funny bits as well. We don't think of it as a comedy or drama - it is both at the same time. With a script as subtle as this you have to have a light touch and allow for ambiguity.

In the same vein, how have you kept the play taut and suspenseful, as it is written? There are only two characters, three if you count the director's fiance, in one set. And on several occasions, they are actually reading.

We know all the lines so we only give the illusion of reading, but often playing that you don't know the lines can be more difficult. The play is such a cat and mouse game that the mystery of what is really going on keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. Jessica's Vanda is so excellent at being this motor that keeps the train moving - her constant changes and variety really determine the flow of the evening. Pace is very important. There are a lot of crucial plot points that have to land on the audience so we really try to take great care with moving the piece along and the constant switches between tension and levity and between drama and comedy.

How did you prepare for the production? How did you prepare your actors for the workout that is performing this play? As a Shakespearean actor, you must be well acquainted with marathon-like roles.

The role of Thomas is challenging in the best way, but Vanda is a much more strenuous part to play. It is probably equivalent to Richard III. There are so many changes and giant shifts and the fact that both of us are on stage the whole show for about 95 minutes straight is very demanding. On show days we are really careful about conserving our energy because we want to leave everything on stage. For both of us, our history playing Shakespeare really helps. When you play leading roles in Shakespeare you learn how to pace a performance - always saving something up your sleeve for the audience. You never want to show all your cards at the beginning. We are helped by the terrific script. It is such an actor friendly play. David Ives really knows how to give and take moments for his characters to help the actors. The play is exhausting but every night we feel this incredible high after the performance - as if we have really accomplished something.

Can you describe the staging and design elements for the production? Is it difficult transporting the play to Houston from Prague?

The play tours very easily - you just need a theatre, some chairs, a desk etc. When we toured to Budapest we fit everything into one suitcase. We typically arrange the audience tennis court style so the play comes off like a sporting event between these two characters. In Houston we are playing in a deep thrust and it will have the same effect we hope. We love playing the show in intimate spaces where the audience is really up close and personal. The show is set in the present day where a writer/first time director is auditioning a young actress for a role in his period adaptation of Venus in Fur. It is a wonderful mix of the modern and the classic aesthetics in theatre.

You've made Shakespeare your career. Is this a welcome change for you? There are definitely fewer characters and plots!

What I am really interested in are great scripts and VENUS IN FUR is a terrific script that I have no doubt will stand the test of time. I feel enormously privileged to play this show with Jessica Boone who gives such an outstanding performance. There are moments on stage with her - where like the character I play - I just marvel at what she is doing. When an actor like Jessica gets a role like Vanda really exciting things happen. We love playing the show - and our audiences in Prague have responded enthusiastically. We premiered it over 18 months ago and it continues to sell out as part of our rotating repertory. Jessica and I also co-directed the play in Czech with Czech actors and that has proved to be a giant hit as well. Our audiences love getting to see Jessica and I in a different light outside of Shakespeare. Some people know that we are a couple offstage as well so that adds an extra element to the production. While our personal life isn't really like Vanda and Thomas since we do play a director and actress a lot of people assume it is pretty autobiographical - we have gotten some very entertaining emails - and Jessica certainly has fans who have come to the show multiple times. We feel so lucky to play VENUS IN FUR and hope to continue to play in Prague and on tour for years to come.

How have your skills with Shakespeare translated to this production?

What Shakespeare does so well is present the light and the dark - the ambiguity of people. To play Shakespeare well you have to embrace ambiguity and contradiction and you have to understand balance and antithesis. This script and these characters are constructed in the same way, so it feels like playing a modern Shakespeare. The other thing Shakespeare does is build stamina as an actor - this show is a marathon and a sprint all at the same time and I know if we were not playing Shakespeare it would be very difficult to do justice to the play.

VENUS IN FUR runs through January 24. Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30pm. Sundays at 3:00pm. Main Street Theater, Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd. $20 - $39 and $10 for students. Visit MainStreetTheater.com.

Interview by Katricia Lang with Introduction by Natalie de la Garza