A Different Julius Caesar

Posted on September 14, 2017 by djnpub

Today I embarked on another Shakespeare adventure in Ashland at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Getting started about an hour late I made my way up, passing though a lot of hazy smoky country in northern California ultimately getting to Ashland, which at the time seemed to be smoke free. After picking up my tickets and getting settled into my hotel, I headed over for my first play of the series in the Bowmer Theatre.

OSF 2017 Julius CaesarThe first play in my week of theater was a production of Julius Caesar, the second I’ve seen this summer. It was a more abstract staging than the more classical one put on by CoSF. The staging was pretty sparse, representing a decaying Rome. It took me a while to warm up to it in comparison to CoSF’s, but ultimately it got me, particularly towards the second half. The fight/battle scenes were actually very interestingly choreographed, being more like a dance than a fight, initially only showing one side or the other going through fight moves. The ending was very powerful making a abstract commentary on the never-ending conflict and fighting. A good way to start out my week
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Heading Back Home

Posted on September 4, 2017 by djnpub

After my adventurous weekend, on Labor Day I headed back north, again on the Coast Starlight. This time went a bit smoother schedule-wise. Interestingly I ended up sitting with a young guy (a software product developer) who was on a photography travel adventure. He was learning and exploring still and video. He had gotten himself a Nikon D750 with a nice lens, and also had a drone, and was planning on traveling around trying to develop some skills and perhaps a concept. He jumped out at every leg-stretch stop and launched his drone trying to get some shots. It was interesting to see his just-jump-in and try it attitude.

It was interesting that the scenery appeared better going north than it did coming down. I guess it was partially the timing, starting from the south were it’s more scenic, and also the fact that it was overcast giving softer colors. We arrived in Oakland only 20 minutes late, and I made a dash for BART only to discover that the station was closed. They (unhurriedly) bused us down to the next stop, and I just made the train I needed by 1 minute. Then I traveled out to where I was getting my final bus with 5 minutes to spare. Too much stress worrying about it, but I made it home about the time I had planned, a little before midnight.

It was a fun adventure down to LA for the long weekend with lots of firsts: west cost train trip, Uber, Airbnb. Gotta plan on keeping this fun level up.

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TCOL Workshop

Posted on September 3, 2017 by djnpub

TCOL groupI spent all day Saturday and Sunday at Matt Granger’s Take Control of the Light portrait photography workshop. The studio was located in a nondescript business area in central urban LA. It was fun to learn some of the lessons in person, and to get some hands on practice with different equipment. It was also a chance to work with some talented models. There were eight students with a range of experience. One guy was a professional portrait photographer and he knew how to take charge and work with the models. Anakaren TCOL 2017After two days, I was exhausted, crouching up and down trying to get shots and felt like I’d been working out. I was happy with a number of shots I came away with, but I could have been less timid working with the models. Something to learn more about in the future. A good approach was to assign us to identify some images and then to try and reproduce them. My favorite shot was inspired by an image I saw, but it’s very different too.

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Slow choo choo to LA

Posted on September 1, 2017 by djnpub

After getting up early and taking the Bus to BART, and BART to Oakland, I walked down to Jack London Square to catch the Amtrak train, the Coast Starlight, from Oakland down to LA. It was supposed to be a 12 hour trip (contrasted with the 5 1/2 – 6 hour drive), and I’d hoped for some scenic views and a relaxed ride. The thing is, the reason it takes so long is that they go really slow. Add to that they had some track difficulties down south so they were constrained to a single track. This meant two things: we had to wait twice on sidings for more than an hour each to let northbound trains go past, and we had to stop at a bunch of extra stops to pickup and let off passengers from trains which were prevented from coming up. As a consequence we were almost 2 1/2 hours late getting into LA (making it a 14 hour trip). There was some nice scenery, and we actually went past a major fire as we got down into the LA area, but having done the train once I can check it off my list and plan to drive in the future.

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Two Gentlemen of Verona

Posted on August 20, 2017 by djnpub

Two Gentlemen of Verona - SCS17Today I trekked down to Santa Cruz to see another Shakespeare play I haven’t seen in a while, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. It was a nice warm day when I left home, but it was foggy and a bit cool when I got down to Santa Cruz. This is the first time I’ve been to Santa Cruz Shakespeare since they moved to The Grove at DeLavega Park. It’s a nice venue, surrounded by a beautiful park and golf course, which seems only slightly smaller than the last place.

The acting was pretty good, but this seems to be one of my less favorite plays, both in structure and in story. It’s apparently one of Shakespeare’s earliest, and most talking is either single speeches or dialog between a pair of people on stage. I’m glad I went down to see it, and it was an enjoyable, if not mind-blowing, production. The stop-and-go traffic all the way back through the Santa Cruz mountains reminded me why I think this is a tough venue to visit.
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Black Odyssey

Posted on August 17, 2017 by djnpub

black odysseyTonight I saw an interesting contemporary play, based on a very old story, at CalShakes. It was Oakland playwright Marcus Gardley’s black odyssey, a melding of Homer’s tale of The Odyssey with the African-american experience. It was an interesting way to present both individual self discovery, and cultural self discovery, hung upon an ancient story framework. They also incorporated some great music, ranging from negro spirituals to Motown. It did bounce around a bit from sad and poignant to strident to comic with great use of music, but overall it was a very good play. And it ended happily with a well carried out emotional ending.

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Canon Completed

Posted on August 6, 2017 by djnpub

Henry VI, Part 3 - CoSF 2017By my best recollection, I attended my first live Shakespeare play at the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival in John Hinkel Park in 1986 at the instigation of Tina, where we feasted and drank and watched the plays along with Mike and others in our Berkeley group. I enjoyed the camaraderie, the food, and the plays, but it took me a number of years before I realized how much I have a passion for live theater, and Shakespeare in particular. For many years my only annual dose of theater, or Shakespeare, was through CalShakes, but then after my time in DC, where I was exposed to lots of theater, and lots of Shakespeare, I’ve been on a tear seeing a lot of theater every summer (at least for me). A few years back, out of curiosity I went through my old playbills and tickets (because of course I never throw anything away) to see which of the Shakespeare pays I’d seen, and which one’s I hadn’t. There were only a handful that I hadn’t, and that set me on the path to see if I could see them all. In doing so, I haven’t gone to any theater companies that I wasn’t already attending, and over the last few years I managed to see all but one.

Henry VI, Part 3 - CoSF 2017Tonight, despite some iffy forecasts, the weather cooperated, and I saw a wonderful original practices production of Henry VI, Part 3, at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. This was the last play I hadn’t previously seen in the core canon of 37 Shakespeare plays. This was a triply special event: 1) it allowed me to complete the canon, 2) it also marked the Colorado Shakespeare Festival completing the canon twice since they started, and 3) it was at my Alma mater. The play itself was very high energy and exciting due to the original practices approach, where actors are less polished in their lines, and things happen in the moment that aren’t always well practiced. This play sets the groundwork for the more often performed Richard III. It was a great milestone for me, and I had a great evening seeing the play. What’s next?
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Rainy Taming of the Shrew

Posted on August 5, 2017 by djnpub

Taming of the Shrew - CoSF 2017Tonight I saw one of my favorites, The Taming of the Shrew, at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. It was a wonderful production, set in New York’s Little Italy right after the end of WWII. The evening started with some weather challenges. It started raining pretty hard before the play started, and they had a 30 minute rain delay. I wasn’t smart enough to go inside early, and I didn’t have any water resistant gear, so I started the play pretty soaked. I managed to get to the end without getting too frigid. (I’m still trying to warm up as I write this.) The play was well acted, and had a great energy. Petrucio was played by the same commanding actor who played Brutus in Julius Caesar. It ended with a big dance number reminiscent of the swing era. A very enjoyable play. I’ll plan better for wet weather tomorrow.
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Rosencrantz & Guildernstern Are Dead

Posted on August 4, 2017 by djnpub

R&G Are Dead - CoSF 2017OK, now I get it. I now understand why the two characters of Rosencrantz & Guildernstern seemed so discordant to me when I saw Hamlet two days ago. Tonight I saw Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildernstern Are Dead at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. I really lucked out without planning it, I saw their production of Hamlet first. In this production of the play, which involves a different perspective on the Hamlet play drops the scenes and actors from the Hamlet production into Rosencrantz & Guildenstern. It was quite effective.

It took me a while to warm up to the play. I’d heard about it but never seen it before. It’s supposed to be an innovative comedy based around two minor characters from Hamlet. The first part involved lots of talking and academic philosophical questions along with some inside jokes. I wasn’t guffawing to start with, maybe expecting something different, but eventually it pulled me in. What became impressive, the two main characters remain onstage (a mostly empty stage most of the time) for the entire play, and elements from the external world come in and effect them, but they never seem to have any control over what’s going on. They are led inexorably to their destiny. All the actors were fantastic, particularly the two leads. And while a comedy, while the final scene abruptly drops into the final Hamlet scene, it is quite sad and moving. It was carried out interestingly as bright lights flashed at the audience, momentarily blinding us, then in a moment the scene at Elsinore appeared with all the Hamlet actors (mostly dead). I’m quite glad I saw it, particularly as it was closely tied with the Hamlet production preceding it.
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Julius Caesar

Posted on August 3, 2017 by djnpub

Julius Caeser - Colorado Shakespeare Festival 2017Tonight I saw another wonderful play at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Julius Caesar. It was performed outdoors in the Mary Rippon theatre and it was done in a completely classic setting. It was wonderfully acted and very powerful. I was a little worried about not having enough warm clothes as the afternoon was unseasonably cool and it was rainy. Fortunately by the time the play came on it had cleared up and was pleasant. My seat was front row center, which was a little intense, but you could see some fine details in some of the acting. They even came down off the stage and performed into the audience. A very enjoyable production.

An interesting side note, I ran into Charlie McMillan who was in the audience with his wife. It was the first time he’d come to the festival. Apparently he’s friends with the actor who played Julius Caesar, Robert Sicular, through his musical performance activities in the Bay Area.
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