Shakespeare Garden

One of the many hidden gems of Central Park, the Shakespeare Garden is a lovely spot to “stop and smell the roses”.

Nestled between Belvedere Castle and The Swedish Cottage the garden first came into existence in 1913. Known as the Garden of the Heart it was patterned after Victorian era rock gardens. Then, in 1916, to celebrate the tercentennial of Shakespeare’s death, it was rechristened in honor of the Bard and only plants mentioned in his plays were planted there. These include columbine, primrose, wormwood, quince, lark’s heel, rue, eglantine, flax and cowslip, many of which sound as if they would be right at home boiling and bubbling in a cauldron.

Weeds are shallow-rooted, Suffer them now, and they’ll o’ergrow the garden, And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.

William Shakespeare: King Henry the Sixth, Part II (Queen Margaret at III, i)

This quote could have easily applied to Central Park’s Shakespeare Garden by the mid-1970’s. After years of neglect due to budget constraints and general disinterest the Garden had become run down and overgrown. Then in 1975 a group of volunteers stepped in and started to bring the garden back to its former glory. In 1986 the rescue of the garden was complete as a full restoration was undertaken funded by Samuel and May Rudin. The garden was replanted and expanded upward towards Belvedere Castle. The Shakespeare Garden is once again a popular attraction in the park and the perfect place to ruminate after a performance in the nearby Delacorte Theater.

Location: West Side between 79th and 80th Streets

The Shakespeare Garden

“Away before me to sweet beds of flowers.

Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.”

- Count Orsino in Twelfth Night, Act I, Scene I

A fitting quote to introduce number six on my top ten list of most romantic places, one of Central Park’s hidden gems: the Shakespeare Garden. Nestled between Belvedere Castle and The Swedish Cottage, the Shakespeare Garden first came into existence in 1913. Known as the Garden of the Heart, it was patterned after Victorian era rock gardens. Then, in 1916, to celebrate the tercentennial of Shakespeare’s death, it was rechristened in honor of the Bard and only plants mentioned in his plays were planted there. These include columbine, primrose, wormwood, quince, lark’s heel, rue, eglantine, flax and cowslip, many of which sound as if they would be right at home boiling and bubbling in a cauldron. It is in the spring and early summer that the garden comes into its own, bursting with blooms and fragrant blossoms. The Shakespeare Garden also offers a variety of secluded rustic benches, perfect for the timeless art of canoodling.

But, that doesn’t mean you’re always going to like it.

I will admit, at the very outset, that I can’t think of one time I’ve said the words “Wow, that Greek Chorus, they really made the play.”  Or “Wow, that Greek Chorus, I loved the way they outlined the plot in sonorous chanting” or even “Wow, that Greek Chorus, they really didn’t make my skin crawl.”  This may mark me as the rankest philistine.  And I would welcome enlightenment at the feet of a theater scholar, explaining, once again, the history and purpose of those bleacher bums of dramaturgy.  I would just gently suggest that they don’t use the current production of Euripides’ “The Bacchae” at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park to make their case.

Dionysus has returned to Thebes to make pay back to everyone for doubting his god-hood – and this especially includes his mom’s family, the royal tribe of Cadmus.   For some reason they have denied the fact that Zeus was his father and that he is a god.  Jonathan Groff’s portrayal of the Greek deity is almost perfectly balanced between precocious and powerful, while being oddly dressed like John Cougar Mellencamp circa 1984.  This choice in costuming seems even more jarring when compared to the aforementioned chorus, which is inexplicably dressed like extras from the original Star Trek.  And not the cute little uniforms either – these were bright orange, billowy things, sort of bouffant unitards.  Just a thought – if the play is about Dionysus, the god we can thank for debauchery, drunkenness and erotic excess, shouldn’t someone on stage look, well, sort of hot?  And no, I’m sorry, we can’t count Groff’s Elvis Fonzerelli look.  The rest of the performances ranged from very good to adequate, with Anthony Mackie’s turn as Pentheus, the conservative king of  Thebes, a stand out.  Come to think of it – Mackie in drag, as he is led off to spy on the bacchantes, is also the sexiest female on stage.

Now, as I’ve pointed out already, I am anything but a theater scholar, and I won’t pretend to be that familiar with this play.  I do question this interpretation of the play for the Shakespeare in the Park Festival.  Did we have too much fun during the wonderfully exuberant production of “Twelfth Night” earlier this summer?  Was it payback time?  And it’s also not that I don’t enjoy classic Greek tragedy.  I have sat spellbound through productions of “Medea” that still give me goosebumps, and that’s not exactly light fare.  In this case I have to say that by the climax of “The Bacchae”, with Pentheus’s mom, Agave, ranging about the stage, ecstatic, screaming, drenched in gore and waving around the blood soaked skull of her son (who, in death, has oddly changed ethnicity) was a bit much on an already much too humid August night.   Any emotional connection I might have felt for the woman was overwhelmed by a voice in my head that kept saying “She looks like Carrie on prom night.”  Hmmm.  Maybe the dramatic structure was undermined by the team of orange clad gymnasts that looked like they were going to break into the backup vocals of  ”Summer Nights” at any moment.  But what do I know.

Otherwise the musicians were excellent and Philip Glass’s music was remarkable, although it did seem somewhat misplaced at times.  I do love the idea that we were getting to experience Greek Theater the way it had originally been staged, outdoors, under the sky.   Only back then they had probably never seen the Fonz, the Starship Enterprise or Grease.

Although, given the recent weather the performance was miraculous just for the fact that it was completed. I originally was slated to attend Sunday’s performance. It was actually a lovely evening until about 7:45 when the heavens, as they say, opened and the rain came pouring down. The resultant one hour wait until the performance was called wasn’t much fun, but I quickly found out that it was much less fun for the profoundly disgruntled theater fans that had spent the entire day waiting for tickets.

Anyway – Daniel Sullivan, the Tony-winning director of Proof, has directed an ensemble of stage, screen and musical theatre veterans in Shakespeare’s comedy of mistaken identity and mismatched lovers that opened Wednesday evening and runs through July 12th. Starring Anne Hathaway, Audra McDonald, Julie White and Raul Esparza the production follows the example of many Delacorte performances past which combine big name stars from various venues and Broadway veterans, with decidedly uneven results. This effort is very happily the exception as the cast fits seamlessly together and manages to create what I think is one of the most remarkably complete productions to take place in the park that I’ve ever seen.

From her first moment on the perfectly designed stage it is obvious that Ms. Hathaway is the equal to anyone else on stage and having a great time proving it. Playing her gender bending role with the perfect combination of winsome femininity and boyish gallantry the actress is the perfect foil for the increasingly giddy attentions of Lady Olivia, played to lusty perfection by Audra McDonald. Raúl Esparza plays Count Orsino with wit and grace and, along with the ladies, gets to show off his impressive vocal abilities on several occasions throughout the evening.

The evening also features comic turns from Tony-winning actress Julie White as Maria, two-time Tony nominee David Pittu as the fool Feste, Hamish Linklater as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Jay O. Sanders as Sir Toby Belch, Michael Cumpsty as Malvolio, as well as Herb Foster as Valentine, Kevin Kelly as Sea Captain, as Curio and Jon Patrick Walker as Fabian.

Shakespeare in the Park most recently staged Twelfth Night in 2002, starring Jimmy Smits, Julia Stiles, Kathryn Meisle and Zach Braff. Additional stagings have featured Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer (1989); Kim Greist, F. Murray Abraham and Peter MacNicol (1986); and Barbara Barrie and Ralph Waite (1969).

Performances of Shakespeare in the Park are Tuesday-Sunday at 8 PM. Tickets are free and are available on the day of the performance (two per person) at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park beginning at 1 PM, or by entering the Public’s online ticketing lottery at PublicTheater.

The closest entrances to the Delacorte are located at 81st Street and Central Park West or 70th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Performances will run Tues. – Sunday from JUNE 10th – JULY 12th at 8:00 pm

Added perf: July 6
No perf: July 4
Limited ticket distribution: June 16, July 9
No distribution/Stand-by line only: June 25
Academy Award Nominee Anne Hathaway makes her Public Theater debut playing Viola, one of the canon’s most charming heroines. This beguiling comedy follows the romantic adventures of Viola and her identical twin Sebastian, both shipwrecked in the enchanted dukedom of Illyria. At the helm of this time-honored story of cross-dressing and mistaken identity, all in the name of love, is Tony Award winning Director Daniel Sullivan.

While the majority of free tickets for Shakespeare in the Park are distributed via the free line at the Delacorte Theater, a limited number of tickets will be available the day of each performance online. Specific locations for senior and handicapped accessible seats are not available through the virtual ticket line.

For more info on Shakespeare in Central Park click here.