Dachs Thoughts

Tonight I saw an ambitious play as the last entry in this year’s CalShakes season. It was an adaptation by Eric Ting and Philippa Kelly merging Shakespeare’s 4 plays Henry VI (parts 1, 2, and 3) and Richard III into one massive play, The War of the Roses. This was the only Shakespearean offering in this year’s CalShakes season, which only featured 3 plays, so I’m glad it was something unique. I’ve seen these four plays in full over the last four years, and I saw a good version of Richard III earlier this summer in Boulder, but it was still a lot of historical details to follow in one play. Who is who, and who’s allied with whom is a challenge to follow, but the staging with a sort of over titles helped. This was a four hour production, but it came off well. The acting was very good, and even though the plays were somewhat abridged it was an interesting production. Richard III was played by familiar Danny Scheie who is usually more comic that fearful, but he brought an interesting take on the character.

The evening was cooler than usual despite the last play of the season taking place in August. Due to schedule conflicts of my usual group, I ended up attending alone. But as this was a bit of a marathon production, I’m glad I didn’t drag anybody along with only mild interest. My group seems to have dissolved, so I suspect my subscription will be different starting next year. Nonetheless, this was a good play for CalShakes, leaving a good feeling in my mind before I head off to Oregon for some more Shakespeare in a few weeks.
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Tonight I saw the last play in this year’s Colorado Shakespeare Festival visit. It was a good way to end the run. It was an original practices production of Edward III, a play which is not in the Shakespeare Canon, but is attributed to William Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd. It is a history play that basically predates the stories contained in the Richard II — Richard III series of plays. It’s also rarely produced. It is always exciting to see the OP productions, and the cast did an amazing job, considering they only had 20 hours of rehearsal, seeing the scripts for the first time on the Tuesday before the Sunday performance.

While the audience is explicitly encouraged to engage and react, as always it seems like there are some jerks who use that as an excuse to talk or perhaps try to draw attention to themselves. There were a couple of buddies behind me who seemed to feel the need to continuously comment to each other in not so quiet voices. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable production to see. It was a nice warm evening, and I even ended up sitting next to a couple who had lived in Concord for 8 years, so we got a chance to chat about CSF and Livermore wine country. It was a great way to end my week of Colorado Shakespeare.

After three days in the high country I drove back down to Boulder, while not exactly low, it was 4000′ lower in altitude, and I seem to have more energy. I chose to stay at an interesting Airbnb, which seems a bit like a hippy ashram, right next to South Boulder Creek. My room reminds me of my first Berkeley apartment and is very spartan, but the place is quite beautiful, and the host is an artist who has created in interesting visual ambiance on the grounds and in the river.

I saw my first play of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Richard III, in the University Theater. It was a great production to start my visit. It was really well done, as I’ve come to expect with CoSF company. The lead was played by a familiar face, Rodney Lizcano, who I’ve seen in past seasons, and he did an amazing job with an enormous amount of dialog during the nearly 3 hour play. It was framed as a production of Richard III being put on by a 19th century acting company, and the staging was very basic but effective. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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