Stage Scene
'Lear' keeps Shakespeare tradition alive in Hilo

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

Tomas Belsky created the art for the "King Lear" poster. 'King Lear' 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and July 19-21 and 26-28 On Kalakaua Street in front of the East Hawai'i Cultural Center on the Big Island Free (808) 935-9155

"King Lear" opened a nine-performance run yesterday.

Peter Charlot, a Volcano actor, playwright and director, is cast in the role of Lear, a Celtic figure of about 800 B.C. who once ruled what today is southern England and Wales.

Shakespeare productions from "Hamlet" to "Anthony and Cleopatra" have been staged under the giant banyan tree in Kalakaua Park, planted by the Merrie Monarch himself; in the nearby Federal Building where "Julius Caesar" was performed in 1987; and in front of the East Hawai'i Cultural Center, also using parts of the park and Kalakaua Street.

There's no cover from Hilo's frequent evening rains, so theater goers bring their own umbrellas that are raised, as if on cue, when showers commence.

There's little money to pay for props. Actors and directors work up to three months virtually full time as a labor of love. Admission is free.

Some fans attend in segments, seeing the first half one evening and the second some time later. Some come night after night, catching snatches of the action. "I used to dart in and out," said Charlot, who has not appeared on the players' stage before.

Jackie Pualani Johnson, professor of drama at University of Hawai'i-Hilo, launched the Hilo Shakespeare series as director of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1978 after she returned to her hometown with a master's degree in theater arts and no job.

She took over the UH-Hilo program in 1979 but made time to direct two other Shakespeare productions and act in several others. Her favorite pastime is watching the audience react to the Bard's lines.

"There's something magical that has kept it alive," Johnson said.

Now she is Lear's daughter, Goneril, a challenge much different from her noted musical comedy roles.

Why Shakespeare? Why in Hilo, often regarded by some as a cultural backwater?

"It's the beauty of the language. It's the challenge to the actors. The humor reaches everybody," Johnson said.

Indeed, rehearsals that began two months ago on Kalakaua have drawn the interest of nearby street people who join in with uninvited comments and gag lines. "They project well," said "Lear" director Paul Mark Clark, who invited some of the homeless to join the cast when he directed "Julius Caesar."

Charlot lives in Volcano with his geologist wife Darcy Bevens and their 6-year-old daughter, Nicolyn. The son of the late noted muralist Jean Charlot describes himself as a full-time dad who writes.

Charlot says he is immersed in his character. "There is no way of removing yourself from Lear," he said.

He has spent about 12 hours a day preparing for the Lear role. That includes 1à hours commuting from Volcano to Hilo, six hours of memorization for the demanding role and four-hour rehearsals five evenings a week.

The Honolulu-to-Volcano shift agrees with Charlot. "Honolulu's too big for me now," says the happy transplant in a town of 2,231.

Charlot, who directed "Twelfth Night" in 1986, considers Hilo the epitome of community theater. He prefers it to Honolulu, where he was involved for most of his 54 years in a theater career that began at age 6 on the University of Hawai'i-Manoa stage.

"I've always loved Shakespeare," said Charlot, who regards theater as "not a metaphor but an extension of the brain."