Among the anecdotes was one from Inwood Shakespeare Festival’s 2013 King Lear.
Surprises at the Delacorte Theater and Other Outdoor Spaces
There was also a little event during Zapata! Tiger of Morelos, that same season. Below is the unexpurgated text of both.
KING LEAR vs THE MARIACHI BAND (competition with the ear) Sonic incongruity:
It seems that, special events permit be damned, a group had hired a mariachi band to play at their birthday party in the park, about 150 feet from our performance venue, in Inwood Hill Park Peninsula (northernmost Manhattan). We were presenting Shakespeare’s King Lear. The juxtaposition of Shakespearean verse and the lyrics of Guadalajara was a little confounding, but I must say intriguing if not beguiling in its uniqueness!
Kent: “Things that love night Love not such nights as these”
Mariachis: Ay! Ay! Ay! Aaaaaay!
King Lear: “Let the great gods
That keep this dreadful pudder o’er our heads
Find out their enemies now.”
Mariachi: colomitos lejanooooooos
King Lear: “I am a man
More sinned against than sinning.”
Mariachis: Tienes el alma de provinciana
Hueles a límpio, a rosa temprana
A verde jara fresca del río
Son mil palomas tu caserío
Guadalajara, Guadalajara
Hueles a pura tierra mojada.
ZAPATA! TIGER OF MORELOS – (competition with the eye) Visual incongruity:
Then also, that same season came audience members arriving in several Kayaks, landing and hoisting their vessels to dock on-shore in the up-stage background (which is the Hudson River) during our bi-lingual presentation of Zapata! Tiger of Morelos! In the dusk, it briefly appeared as if a small military invasion was unfolding before our eyes. I believe that the character Lucifer was on-stage at the time, threatening insurrections.