Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalAugust: Osage County by Tracy Letts We saw the evening performance of August: Osage County the same day as the matinée of Ghost Light.  With apologizes to the Pulitzer jury and to our many friends who felt that August had the best of all possible characterizations and story, in my opinion August is just too contrived and suffers in comparison to the realness of Ghost Light. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival August production is excellent, and none of my reservations come from the Ashland concepts, designs, or acting.  Director Christopher Liam Moore worked a quality, [...]

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalThe Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan What a silly, talented romp!  I cannot imagine a better production of this classic piece of fluff. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival delivers 200% of the music and action of the show. The production is physically dazzling, inventive, and big.  The voices, especially those of Eddie Lopez (Frederic), Michael Elich (the Pirate King), David Kelly (Major-General Stanley), Robin Goodrin Nordli (Ruth), Robert Vincent Frank (Samuel), and Khori Dastoor (Mable) are socks-knocking-off powerful, expressive, and entertaining.  And, yeah, I said "especially" and then named more than a handful [...]

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalWillful Two days later Willful is still coming up in meal conversations and rides in the car. We're still sharing insights of what we experienced and delighting over twists and conceits that worked for us.  Or, maybe that one didn't even exist except in our own mind. More about the Performance

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalHenry IV, Part II by William Shakespeare The consistently inept directing of Shakespeare at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is inexcusable.  Artistic Director Bill Rauch is brilliant in his own handling of Shakespeare and is visionary about many, many aspects of the festival.  But, his chronic hiring of weak, inexperienced directors for Shakespeare is pissing me off. The outdoor theater looked less than half full when we saw Henry.  Get a clue, Bill.  This mishmash lump of time-consuming theater is not worthy of OSF, most colleges, and many high schools.  The acting company was very [...]