Dachs Thoughts

Tonight I saw another of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s original practices productions. It was Henry VI, Part II. Like last year it was interesting to see this rough production where the actors have less preparation, and the stage is very sparse, and a lot of audience participation is encouraged … a bit too much participation for my taste, but it wasn’t too distracting. This play moved Henry’s weak rule along, and it opened up the war of the roses. The audience had been given half red and half white flags to wave and cheer in support for the appropriate side. Another interesting twist was that the leading lady had a vocal problem, so she acted out her part while another actress read her lines.

This completed my CoSF visit for this year, 5 plays in 5 days. I also managed to see two Shakespeare plays that I’d never seen before. Unfortunately today I also got some floaters in my eye, and I suspect I’m going to have to go to the eye doctor when I get back. I guess falling apart just comes with getting older.
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Tonight I saw one of the few Shakespeare plays I’ve never seen before, Troilus and Cressida. I’m not sure why it’s infrequently performed, and I didn’t know what to expect from it, but it was quite good. It’s really a story of the Iliad and the Trojan war, and the plot involving Troilus and Cressida is only one piece of a larger story. As seems to be the case with all the plays at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival the acting and production were very good. The play itself ends a bit unusual as it seems to leave a lot unresolved. Hector is killed, but we don’t find out what happens between Troilus, Cressida, and the guy Troilus is going to avenge himself on. But I’m glad I finally saw it.

I was a little confused at first as I couldn’t remember as the famous names were rattled off which side each of them was on, Trojan or Greek. As I thought about that, I realized where I was sitting in the Mary Rippon Theatre, it was right in the middle of the CU building where I had studied the classic stories four decades earlier. Interestingly back them I don’t think I was even aware of the theater being totally absorbed in my technical studies. Tomorrow night I’ll see one more Shakespeare play I’ve never seen before, getting me very close to having seen the entire canon.
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Tonight I saw a very entertaining production of The Comedy of Errors at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in the outdoor Mary Rippon Theatre. The staging was basically in a french cabaret environment. The beginning included some songs and dancing which basically led into the pre-play announcements. Each announcement was followed by a comedic French transliteration. The play itself was very funny with a twist being all the twins were women instead of men. It seemed to flow seamlessly. The actors for both the masters and particularly the servants were outstanding. All the acting was great. Due to my late purchasing of tickets, I was sitting front row center, but it was a fun place to be for this play. The weather held out and it was a very pleasant night. Three down, now just two to go this trip.
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Tonight I saw my my first play of my somewhat compact visit to this year’s Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Cymbeline. I really enjoyed it, despite some early reservations. The set was beautifully done inside the University Theater, the costumes were great, as was the acting. What initially bugged me was the performance choice in many parts were played for (somewhat over the top) comedy. In the end it worked, but it seemed to me it turned some of the characters into caricatures. The actors themselves were great so this was clearly a production choice. By the end of the play it was a very satisfying experience.

It was a long day getting here, getting up at 4:30 and using public transportation to get to the airport. I thought I might be too tired for the play, but it definitely energized me and kept my attention. I’m glad I made it back to Boulder for another season.
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Tonight I saw this year’s San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s (Free Shakespeare in the Park) production in Pleasanton. It was The Winter’s Tale. It was actually very well done. The production was pretty much traditional, and the acting was solid. The second half, which takes place in Bohemia, featured lots of singing and dancing. Ironically, as it supposedly starts in Sicilia in the winter, the night was an unseasonably cool one for July, so it was fitting. I was joined on this occasion by Bob and Blanca who seemed to enjoy it too. This is going to be a play-heavy month, with two more next week, and CoSF in a few weeks.
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Today I saw the first play of the CalShakes season, an adapted version of Much Ado About Nothing. The gang included Andy and Bill as well as Doug who is back for the summer from Mississippi. I was a bit underwhelmed with the production. The adaptation featured an abridged version of the play framed within a larger story. The play starts peripheral to the aftermath of the wedding of Hero and Claudio, and the servants are cleaning up. They start talking about the back story of the wedding which turns into them acting out the original play, with a twist of some ladies’ parts played by men, and some men’s parts played by ladies. I’ve gotten a bit bored the last couple of years with the gimmick of gender switching of roles. The play within a story device made this a little less gimmicky, but I think the verbal sparing and the sharp language lacked some of the punch of a normal production. It was also quite brief (1:40), cutting out much of the constable comedy, which doesn’t usually work for me anyway.

It was overall a warm enjoyable evening getting back together with some of the old gang. I learned some things about the play I didn’t know during the grove lecture (e.g., multiple meanings for the play’s title). We’ll see how the rest of the season goes with the new Artistic Director.
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My Shakespeare season started early this year with my first trip to Berkeley Rep to see a fantastic production of Macbeth. This was my first trip to Berkeley Rep, and I was motivated by the fact that the play was starring Francis McDormand (from Fargo and Almost Perfect) and Conleth Hill (from Game of Thrones). It also included a couple of familiar faces from CalShakes, including James Carpenter. The acting was really outstanding. For better or worse, I was seated front row center, five feet from the stage, and I could really see the nuance of the acting. You know a play has got you when you catch yourself holding your breath.

The theater is not that large, and the stage fairly compact, but the staging was very effective. Some background image image effects were used with powerful results without being distracting. In one case only one character was at the front of the stage play-running towards the audience, with the background image being like a movie effect; with me being so close to the stage and him right in front of me, it was a very effective effect.

I used BART to go up there, and it was nice to visit downtown Berkeley again. I definitely am going to be following up with this theater company. Considering it’s the 400th birthday year for Shakespeare, this was a great way to start my season.
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