I guess I wasn’t quite done with Shakespeare for the year. Bob and I went over to San Francisco to see a production of The Tempest by the African-American Shakespeare Company. While this represented my 3rd production of The Tempest for the year, I was interested from the both the aspect of keeping the Shakespeare flow going, and also to see a play by a company I’d heard about, but never seen a play from.
While I have to say it was the least exciting of the three productions I’ve seen this year, it had some interesting aspects. The theater is fairly small, and the stage was sparsely decorated. It had modern elements, such as Prospero’s magic was controlled through a smartphone, and he talked to Ariel through a headset. The acting was ok, with a couple of noteworthy performances by the actor playing Caliban, who was a dancer with great physicality in his movements, and the actor playing the comedic Trinculo, who was also physically very funny. I’m glad I was able to see it, but I don’t think I’ll put this company on my must-see list for the future.
It was nice to get over to the city and see the hustle and bustle of a Saturday night. We prefaced the play with a nice dinner. I’ll have to look into other activities over there.