Ivanhoe, America
5w, 6m, and ensemble
An adaptation of Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe is a novel about the abuse of power and the betrayals of the ruling classes, written to offset the anti-Semitism in Shakespeare and books popular in Scott’s time. The adaptation transplants the novel to the backwoods of Arkansas in 1966—a time when hillfolk still roam the hills, practicing their own brand of magic. The Vietnam War is raging. The Woodstock Nation is gathering. Ivanhoe is a Vietnam vet, suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. Rebecca, Scott’s beautiful Jewish healer, is a psychiatrist. Jousting is replaced with stock car driving. The villain of the play is based on America’s most infamous anti-Semite, a man known as the American Hitler, Gerald L. K. Smith. The play takes place beneath the shadow of his giant Christ of the Ozarks statue, as his private militia is poised to overthrow the American government. Just as in the original novel, the common people band together to destroy the ruling class villain and save the country they love.
Development:
Theatre Squared Festival
New Harmony Institute