Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalDistracted  by Lisa Loomer The cacophony of cell phones, bad hip hop, and telemarketing calls is familiar. The witty commentary on our overstimulated life is satisfying and relaxing.  The faux concerned neighbors, teachers, and doctors are so recognizable that they’re disarming. The script is sufficiently pleasant and smugness-producing that it takes a while for the realization to develop that you’re watching a Neil Simon commentary on ADHD, teenage self-mutilation, and some true terrors of parenthood. The dialog nails the thoughts and conversations of today’s educated middle-class.  The Ashland audience is watching itself on stage, [...]

Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalThe Tempest  by William Shakespeare Note to self:  You do not like The Tempest.  You think it is pretty much a waste of time. In the first act one implausible thing happens after another, and the remainder of the play just doesn't have enough pleasurable fantasies or moralistic outcomes to redeem the show. You sucker yourself into seeing this show because the storm and spirits sound frightening and fun.  They're not worth it. Remember the 2007 Oregon Shakespeare Festival production?  It had Derrick Lee Weeden as Prospero and Dan Donohue as Caliban.  They did excellent [...]

Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalThe Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare There’s so much chemistry between Vilma Silva’s Katherina and Michael Elich’s Petruchio that this male chauvinism manual almost escapes its own words.  Silva is a striking, confident, beautiful woman.  Elich is vigorous and sexy in a way that seems unique to wiry bald men.  Together on stage the are in love and lust. This production is a straight-on shrew taming.  No winks, nods, or knowing looks that sometimes indicate that Kate is complicit in a charade.  No, in this staging Kate and Petruchio may be in love, but Kate learns [...]

Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Tartuffe by Moliere, translated by Ranjit Bolt Damn, it’s satisfying when a hoary piece of “accessible” culture is given genuine life on stage.  When I last saw Tartuffe it was played for all of the pretentious fluff possible.  The play had no present meaning, unless you read the scholarly playbill notes.  It was a happy vacuous evening of Theatre.  Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the 2002 translation by Ranjit Bolt, have banished that cotton candy Tartuffe from my memory. They’ve created a production that’s equally good fun and sharp satire. The book is still happily over-populated [...]

Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson The excellence of Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production serves to point out the flaws in this first episode of August Wilson's 10-play series on the Afro-American experience in America in the 20th Century.  The evening oozes importance and great meaning.  The cast rises to the challenge.  Unfortunately, this penultimately written saga tries to do too much and fails to do much.  The play confuses instead of illuminates.  Set in  Pittsburgh in1904, the story deals with the ambiguity of the new de jure freedom for black people which runs up [...]

Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard Either your the type of person who laughs non-stop at silly sit-coms or you're not.  If you're not, then there's no use in someone talking to you about the quality of the script, the acting, the physical humor, or any of the other skills employed in the show.  I am not a sit-com aficionado.  So don't waste your time explaining how right and funny a plot line you saw was. And, that's my feeling about On the Razzle, Oregon Shakespeare's obligatory farce for the season.  It just [...]

February 25, 2007 - Opening Performance Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalRabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire I pushed my way out of the theater at intermission because after only an hour or so, I needed daylight.  I was hoping for bright sunshine, but the obscured sky and the accompanying driving rain actually was probably better. The gloom was less jarring after what we'd been through. The official Oregon Shakespeare Festival synopsis of the play is mechanical and sparse compared to the actual production. It talks about death and colliding grief.  Director Jim Edmonson did a summary that says it better [...]

February 24, 2007 – Opening Performance Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalThe Cherry Orchid by Anton Chekhov Symbolism alert! Or, as redozdachs said as I prepared to come up for opening weekend, “This is your first chance to say ‘good-bye’ to Libby Appel for the last time.” Yes, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Artistic Director Libby Appel is retiring this season. Her very talented but very self-satisfied, self-congratulating Presence will soon no longer permeate through all sectors of the Ashland stage. She choose to direct this Chekhov classic about change, loss, and growth as a parting gift. What a schmaltzy, in-your-face symbolic choice. As much as it pains me to say [...]

February 23, 2007 - Opening Night Ashland, OR at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalAs You Like It by William Shakespeare One of the best aspects of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is its de-monumentizing of Shakespeare.  His plays are put on stage without the pomposity that lets the audience know that they are seeing high culture which is good for them.  The normal OSF attitude is "Shakespeare today, August Wilson tonight, you decide what you like." Well, OSF didn't follow that rule this time.  Not with this As You Like It, and as a result, I liked it very little. The production is [...]