DIRECTORS HOPE TO MAKE BARD MORE ACCESSIBLE

Thomas Bradac and Jules Aaron have heard them all.

Shakespeare is boring. Shakespeare is confusing. The language is strange. The settings aren’t contemporary enough; they don’t relate. Shakespeare is to be admired, but not really enjoyed.

But both are undaunted by such criticism. As the directors of the Grove Shakespeare Festival’s “Julius Caesar” (Aaron) and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Bradac), they contend that such doubts invariably belong to people who haven’t been properly exposed to the Bard in the right theatrical setting.

“We are not here to evangelize like Jim and Tammy Bakker, but we think people should be exposed to quality Shakespeare,” said Bradac, who also is the festival’s managing director. “It’s true that some people have an aversion (to Shakespeare), but we think good productions can change their minds.”

Aaron, whose staging of “Julius Caesar” opens the festival today and continues through July 18 in the Garden Grove Amphitheatre, showed the enthusiasm of a true believer when he pointed out Shakespeare’s lyrical poetry and the dynamic staging his plays lend themselves to.

“The visualization process in his tragedies and comedies is really remarkable, there’s a pageantry there (that can be sustained) over a long period of time,” he explained. “And the language just sings and cries out to you; it is naturally evocative.”

Bradac, whose production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (running Aug. 21 through Sept. 12 in the amphitheater) ends the festival, agreed. And it is through programs like the Grove’s, he said, that people are introduced--or reintroduced--to the Elizabethan classics.

But why are so many intimidated by Shakespeare in the first place? Perhaps more than any other playwright, the prolific Bard inspires grudging awe even as he provokes apprehension in theatergoers who are not devotees.

Bradac said he traces much of the rub to less than satisfactory introductions to Shakespeare in high school. A former teacher himself, Bradac believes that most classes focus on the complex and demanding plays like “Hamlet,” instead of lighter, more entertaining--and therefore accessible--fare like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” or his other comedies.

And when students only read the plays and don’t see them performed, they are confronted with a thicket of beautiful but often vague language.

“We got only half the product in school, which is not completely satisfying and turns us off; it creates an aversion,” Bradac said.

“It’s really too bad because we only get to enjoy about half of the universal themes, those that have stood the test of time.”

Director Aaron further worries that contemporary teen-agers may find Shakespeare even less attractive than did past generations. The reason, he fears, is that teen-agers have become accustomed to explosive, provocative imagery in films, music videos and television programs, where the visual is emphasized, not the verbal.

“I fear that the essence of Shakespeare’s language will be lost because kids have such a short attention span,” Aaron said. “They may have trouble (following each word and watching each scene) because they can’t really concentrate.”

Still, amid the gloom-and-doom fears, both directors note the on-going popularity of the Grove festival and others, like the prestigious Shakespeare program offered by the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. While the Grove festival, now in its ninth season, rarely sells out, attendance is consistently around the 50% mark, a figure Bradac regards as good.

“There’s definitely an audience out there. It may not be as big as we’d like, but there are people who want to see and hear Shakespeare,” he said.

To make the plays as interesting and accessible as possible, the directors say, they must walk a fine line between the traditional and contemporary. In the past, the Grove festival has taken some big chances. A few years ago, its staging of “The Taming of the Shrew” was set in the 1930s, with one scene placed on a golf course.

This season, however, both “Julius Caesar” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be played without avant-garde flourishes. With the exception of removing an arcane or burdensome phrase every now and then, the dialogue for both has been left pretty much intact, Bradac said.

Both directors do, however, experiment some with the plays’ settings and symbolism.

Aaron sees “Julius Caesar” as something of an allegory to the political machinations surrounding U.S. involvement in Central America and the revelations in the Iran- contra hearings, and he has tried to emphasize the play’s political intrigue and questions of political responsibility.

“I don’t think it would make sense to set ‘Caesar’ in current Central America; that would be ‘gilding the lily,’ but the parallels are obvious,” Aaron said. “The political implications are there . . . the political manipulation and mistakes made by Cassius and Brutus, and the lack of political sophistication of many of the characters seems to have lessons for the current situation.”

In Bradac’s hands, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” may be a little feistier and sexier than other productions. To present a contrast with the play’s “innocent and idyllic” elements, Bradac said he will dramatize the sensuality of many of the characters.

For example, the ubiquitous fairies, often portrayed as airy Tinkerbells, will be given a make-over.

“These fairies are going to be feral, animal-like, rather sexual,” he said. The approach in most productions is to “belittle the sexual tension,” Bradac said.

“But that’s not the case here. Sexuality drives (the comedy’s) shift from conflict to harmony, which is central (to the play) . . . my approach, I think, will make for some effective, entertaining moments.”