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Oregon Shakespeare Festival Review: Our Town

Our Town is the first 20th century play to be produced on the Elizabethan Stage at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival . Given this year’s production, I’d say it’s a safe bet to expect more. This well-acted production takes no "chances" with the source material, Thornton Wilder’s 1930’s play, and contents itself with giving us the play as it was intended.

That’s fine by me. With Anthony Heald ably conducting our tour of Grover’s Corners as the Stage Manager, we get a fine and nuanced performance by the OSF company. As George Gibbs, Todd Bjurstrom is actually quite affecting - it’s a role that can be dreadfully earnest, but Mr. Bjurstrom plays George as he is: a callow young man, yes, but a regular one because of it. He’s in his second season now, and I’d expect him to be here for the long haul assuming that’s what he wants. Mahira Kakkar , as Emily Webb, is almost disturbingly young in her role. She isn’t, and clearly it’s a conscious decision to emphasize her youth, for her appearance in the graveyard in Act III is shocking. In all, that play is well-cast and flows without that horrible "ew really?" feeling that you sometimes get when an actor just doesn’t suit you. I’m absolutely not talking about the Queen of the Amazons in this year’s Midsummer . Nope, absolutely not.

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14Jul2008 | John | Comments Off | Continued
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Oregon Shakespeare Festival Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Oh. My. God.

If you’ve already seen one or six productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and you’re thinking that you can skip this year’s production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival … wrong wrong-y wrong wrong. Assuming you can still get tickets, buy two: one to see the show, and one to sacrifice to Dionysus as an apology. There is so much good about this production that I have to start the kudos with Mark Rucker, a new director to the Festival. He is absolutely fearless in the chances he takes, embracing them rapturously rather than mincing them for fear of rejection.

This will sound ridiculous about a production of a play from the 1590’s, but I’m going to place details behind a "more" link to avoid spoilers in case you’re going to see it later. Damn right, spoilers. Tantalizing, ain’t it?

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10Jul2008 | John | Comments Off | Continued
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Oregon Shakespeare Festival Review: Othello

This year our trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival began with Othello . My experience with the play only goes so far as a reading and a movie, so I was excited to have a company I’m fond of introduce me to the work.

Well.

Many individual components of the production were very good. First and foremost Dan Donohue , as Iago, was fantastic; he impressed as Horatio in last year’s Romeo and Juliet , and with this role has cemented his status in the incredibly prestigious List of Actors John Enjoys Seeing . (If you listen close, you can hear the off-stage trumpets sing their fanfare…) Hopefully Mr. Donohue stays this time - he’s got an active career above and beyond Ashland . Sarah Rutan gives a warm and rounded Desdemona without trying to shoehorn an entire post-feminist rewrite into the role. I agree that the character is difficult to accept from a modern perspective and is not terribly deep, but… well, there you have it. Also of particular note, Danforth Comins was a soulful Cassio. The costumes were lovely; the set was spare but effective.

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4Jul2008 | John | Comments Off | Continued