Photo by the author.

Cast and crew of Lovers and Madmen’s production could not be subdued Thursday night, covering the Rock and a nearby tree to publicize this weekend’s running of the William Shakespeare comedy The Taming of the Shrew.The show runs until Saturday with performances 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. tonight at Shanley Pavilion.

The Shakespeare-oriented theater group Lovers and Madmen painted the Rock on Tuesday to advertise their upcoming performance of Much Ado About Nothing, and continued painting it today. Although painting the Rock during the day is generally frowned upon as unacceptable behavior as per tradition, the performances will be taking place at the Rock and the painted Rock will serve as a backdrop. The original advertisement was painted at night.

If you are interested in seeing this performance, stop by the Rock at May 28 at 7 p.m., May 29 at 7 and 10 p.m., and May 31 at 2 p.m. In case of rain, the performance will move to the Bergen Theatre in the Theatre Interpretation Center. There is no charge for watching all or a part of the performance.

First up: theater majors Tim McGovern (junior), Nate Trinrud (sophomore) and Britta Rowings (junior), who comprise the cast of The Compleat Works of Shakespeare. A Wildcat Welcome Week staple, the student-cut and directed show compiles all of Shakespeare’s plays into less time than it takes to Sparknote Hamlet. Compleat Works opens 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19 at Cahn Auditorium with a reprise at 11 p.m. on Sunday, September 21 at Ryan Auditorium.

McGovern, Rowings and Trinrud made a trailer for The Compleat Works of Shakespeare.

What is The Compleat Works of Shakespeare?
Rowings and Trinrud: A play.
McGovern: It is the abridged version of all the Bard’s works.

What do you do in it?
McGovern: I perform various characters throughout the show. Most of them are women. What does this mean?
Rowings: Act. This sometimes involves talking, moving and an occasional make-out sesh with the other cast members.

If someone offered you $50,000, would you quit?
McGovern: I would do a number of things for $50,000. Speak pig latin for five years. Live in a leper colony.
Rowings: Are you kidding? Of course! I’d quit for a lot less.

Which set piece are you most excited about breaking?
Trinrud: Britta Rowings.
McGovern: Since we don’t have a very complicated set, I’ll go with my table. In this hypothetical, I’m not excited about doing it, though. It’s probably chestnut.

If you could be one character from Compleat Works, who would you be?
McGovern: Richard III. He’s a BAMF version of Quasimoto.

What do you really think of the library?
McGovern: It looks like a set from Oz.
Trinrud: I stopped going to the library once I heard about the anonymous sex.
Rowings: Around 5 a.m. during finals week, Core makes me feel like I’m in a space station and it’s awesome.

If you had to take someone in a fight, who would it be and why?
McGovern: Nate Trinrud. My chances of winning would go up by seven percent. That’s right. From 1000 percent to 1007 percent. He has a weak knee.
Trinrud: Tim, because I can do more push ups than him.

What do you eat late at night?
Rowings: My roommate’s food.
McGovern: Scooters. They’re the store brand of Honey Nut Cheerios. Some people have brandy. I have Scooters.

What do you think of models who say they used to be ugly?
McGovern: I don’t know. Let me ask my harem of formerly ugly models I keep locked in my dungeon.
Trinrud: How rude of them to assume they’re not ugly now.

What’s a sex tip everyone should know?
Rowings: I hope everyone can find someone as perfect as Chris Voss.
Trinrud: I’m in a play about Shakespeare. Do you really think I’m getting any?

What’s your worst addiction?
McGovern: Probably watching National Treasure movies.
Rowings: Watching Wee Sing Big Rock Candy Mountain online.
Trinrud: Cocaine.

How often do you go out?
McGovern: All the time. No, I didn’t knit those ornate and tasteful quilts that are in my room.

What do you hate about Northwestern?
Rowings: The puddle under the arch after it rains.
McGovern: The skunks. They should all be reigned in, blindfolded and shot. The blindfolds are for their dignity. Although I hate my striped foe, I respect him.

What’s the weirdest thing about your body?
Trinrud: I was born without toes.
McGovern: I have abnormally ripped abs. So awkward!

Favorite pick up line?
Trinrud: Britta, make out. Now.
McGovern: You must be a Kenyan, because you’re certainly running away from me fast.
Rowings: If you were a hamburger at McDonalds, you would be called McBeautiful.

Do you work out?
Trinrud: Absolutely not.

Would you ever live in Jones?
McGovern: Something even I wouldn’t do for $50,000.

Which MTV reality show would you be on?
McGovern: Rock of Love. I would only do it to kill Brett Michaels though.
Trinrud: America’s Best Dance Crew. I’m a b-boy by trade.

How do you feel about nudity?
McGovern: I love it. You should see my bookmarked pages.
Trinrud: Is this questionnaire hitting on me?

In a haiku, why should people go see Compleat Works?

When you’re walking by the Rock this weekend, don’t be alarmed if you overhear language usually confined to your Shakespeare class. Try to fight off that aversion to iambic pentameter you developed in high school English, or least don’t be a fool and disrupt the actors in your drunken Dillo Day-weekend state.

This year’s Lovers & Madmen “Shakespeare at the Rock” show is Pericles, directed by Andrew Jorczak. Jorczak, a Communications junior, had seen a production of Pericles at the Globe Theatre in London, which, he said, made choosing it for this year’s show easy. “I had seen more or less an outdoor production. That helped me know how to put it outside,” Jorczak said.

He describes Pericles as “the story of one man’s growth and how he cannot but obey the powers above him.” This is entertainment, though, not English class, and Jorczak promises the show won’t be too preachy.

The extensive cast requires many of the 12 actors to play two or three parts. “After knowing briefly who they were, I had a sense of where else I could put them,” Jorczak said. “A lot of it was what their original role was and it also had to be viable to the audience that they could play one character and then another.” To indicate these character switches, the actors add different costume pieces to a base of white or khaki clothes.

Jorczak was initially frustrated when Lovers & Madmen gave him the slot to direct the Rock show. After performing in a show in Crowe Plaza, he knew the disadvantages to outdoor theatre. “I knew how frustrating it can be to do a show outside,” Jorczak said. “People walk right through your rehearsal space and are oblivious.” Like most outdoor shows, Pericles will have no set or sound system, so the actors will have to talk louder than they would on a stage. And enunciation is especially important when you’re performing Shakespearian text.

“It’s really difficult,” cast member and Communications sophomore Fred Geyer said. “I can’t really ever judge if I’m being loud enough or if the audience will be able to understand what I’m saying. And when I’m ‘offstage,’ I’m so far away from the actors that it’s hard to know when to come back on.”

Pericles will be performed for free at the Rock this Thursday, Friday and Sunday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Cher has just committed to a 200-show engagement at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas set to debut May 6, according to CNN. Am I on glue, or didn’t she already make an exit two years ago with her three-year-long “Farewell” tour?

Now, we all love Cher, but I don’t know if I believe in life after “farewell.” Sometimes, it’s better to end things while they’re good instead of beating them to death, even if it includes 18 dancers, aerialists and “technology that we’ve never seen before.” If I could turn back time, I would first tell Cher to stop dragging out her farewell tour, then tell her that there actually is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

But then again, “Cher at the Colosseum,” will still probably draw the fabulous glitterati crowd by the masses. And I won’t lie, I’ll probably go see it if I get the chance (though not without cracking a sarcastic joke or two, I mean, she is pretty old and hilarious). Cher, we got you, babe.