thee-ay-ter

[rone]

Back during the first week of September, Kim, The Boy, and i went to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where we saw three Shakespeare plays and three non-Shakespeare plays, none of which i've ever read or seen before. Of the former, King Lear was sad, especially because the tragic events are propelled by an act of virtue (Cordelia's refusal to descend to a duplicitous, exaggerated show of love); the blinding of Gloucester was harrowing. Much Ado About Nothing was lavishly costumed but fell flat at key points due to a really terrible Claudio (who did a better job as Edmund in Lear). The Comedy of Errors was a short and shallow farce centered around mistaken identity that was set in a Rat Pack-era Las Vegas; i thought it worked great, but opinions in the group were mixed on that. It had a couple of fourth-wall-breaking moments which were very well timed.

The latter plays were Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun, a story of a `50s black family in South-side Chicago, trying to decide what to do with an unexpected windfall. It was a wonderful performance. The Royal Family was a sort of parody/pastiche of the Barrymore family of actors; it was funny, but not especially deep.

Finally, the best of the lot was Humble Boy, a play written only 3 years ago by Charlotte Jones. It is a play that involves astrophysics and the pursuit of the Grand Unified Theory, familial and carnal love, gardening and beekeeping. All of the characters are fully formed (except one, perhaps?), and their interactions are all deeply striking and vivid. I can't recommend this play highly enough.

Comments

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. I am entirely jealous of you.

My father was (until he retired) an English teacher. We made yearly treks to the OSF, where we would buy the early tickets (basically, the last week of dress rehearsals, which were a little cheaper but typically as amazing as the "real performances"). We'd usually head down to Ashland for a week and see a tragedy or a history, a comedy, and a third play and sometimes a fourth. I've seen more Shakespeare there than anywhere else, including as films or at schools I've been to.

It's a pity this year's Much Ado wasn't so good... I enjoyed it greatly when I saw it there. Also Love's Labours Lost, which was a blast.

Their re-setting-ing (is there a real name for that?) can be good or bad-- I'm of mixed mind about it in general, but done well it can be amazing. Seeing Twelfth Night set in the roaring 90's music hall era was a blast (and has stuck the song from that, "Oh Mistress Mine, where are you roaming?" forever in my head). I was sorry to have missed The Scottish Play performed as a Mad Max-style post-apocalypse drama, complete with lots of raggy leather and punch daggers made from leaf-springs and old tires... (Did you do the backstage tour? It's a little touristy, but very very cool, and they will show you the props from the previous year's plays.)

I've have loved to see them do Lear. Had I mentioned that I'm totally jealous of you? 8)

Did you get a chance to poke around Ashland, too? It's a really nice little town...

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

I would have loved to see The Scottish Play performed Mad Max style!

Yes, we did get to poke around Ashland, and we took a walk in the lovely Lithia park. We also saw the backstage tour. We had a very good tour guide.

You should make a point to go next season.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, that means having to be able to afford to fly across the country twice in a year, rather than just once, which is what I do now... :/

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Where on the Left Coast do you go?

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Stayton, Oregon, to visit my parents.

Lately, Seattle, too, to visit my brother.