The Play's the thing . . .
>> Tuesday, July 1, 2008
This is where we went this past weekend.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon.
We saw two plays this trip. One was great - the other not so much.
We saw two plays this trip. One was great - the other not so much.
The Comedy of Errors was entertaining enough, but not nearly as good as the production they did a few years ago. This year’s version was heavily adapted. 
They changed a lot and turned it into a semi-musical. I’m not a big fan of adaptations like this. I love the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and it’s rare that I don’t enjoy a production, but I like my Shakespeare pretty true to the way it was written. I enjoy seeing the original dialogue but in interesting staging and settings. Julius Caesar with the cast in WWII era dress is powerful. The Winter’s Tale with Bohemia looking like something out of the 1960’s flower power era complete with daisy painted VW bug was fun. The Comedy of Errors turned into Annie Get Your Gun didn’t do it for me.
They changed a lot and turned it into a semi-musical. I’m not a big fan of adaptations like this. I love the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and it’s rare that I don’t enjoy a production, but I like my Shakespeare pretty true to the way it was written. I enjoy seeing the original dialogue but in interesting staging and settings. Julius Caesar with the cast in WWII era dress is powerful. The Winter’s Tale with Bohemia looking like something out of the 1960’s flower power era complete with daisy painted VW bug was fun. The Comedy of Errors turned into Annie Get Your Gun didn’t do it for me.The next night however, made up for it. Othello was wonderful. Some of my favorite actors from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Acting Company gave great performances. It was well cast and well performed.
Dan Donohue’s Iago was fabulous to watch. His almost hypnotic manipulation of the other characters was an impressive performance.
No stars – I couldn’t even finish it
1 star – I didn’t like it but I managed to finish it.
2 stars – It was OK. Not good, but seriously just OK.
3 stars - I liked it. I didn’t think it was great, but I thought it was good entertainment.
4 stars – I really liked it. I really think you might like it too.
5 stars – It was amazing. I’d recommend this to just about anyone.
2 comments:
You need to come down to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. I hear there are very nice folks who live near it, and I also hear there are amazing golf courses....
;-)
Messin' with Shakespeare bugs me, too, although I have seen some interesting adaptations...
El: One of these days, I'll get The Hubster there!
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