SGN Page 25

Friday
June 22, 07
V 35 Issue 25

search only SGN online

Sunday, Sep 07, 2008

New levels of magic at Oregon Shakespeare Festival

New levels of magic at Oregon Shakespeare Festival
by Marian Michener - SGN A&E Writer The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) opened their summer season last Friday with The Tempest on the outdoor Elizabethan stage. This production was directed by Libby Appel, who is leaving the job of Artistic Director for the festival after 12 years. She has created a Tempest that gives us a chance to celebrate the magic she has brought to the position. Appel gave Derrick Lee Weeden, who has great presence in the role of Prospero, a dance of sorcery, at the beginning. Nancy Rodriguez plays Ariel, lithely, with an element of flirtatiousness toward Prospero. Appel has added actors she identifies as Ariels shadows, who sing the storm into being. They are an eerie and musical addition. Another thing that makes this Tempest different is that Appel changed the gender of the usurping brother Antonio, renaming him Antonia, and casting Greta Oglesby, who plays the part sonorously. James Edmundson and Armando Duran stand out as Gonzaolo and Alonso. Dan Donahues Caliban is chilling. Christopher DuVal and Michael Hume are funny as Trinculo and Stephano. Nell Geislinger and John Tufts convince us they are discovering first love as Miranda and Ferdinand. Another of Appels happy changes is substituting Shakespeares alteration sonnet, sung by shadows hanging amusingly on ropes for the wedding masque. Deborah Drydens sylphlike costumes for Ariel, include handcuffs, and Calibans costume made of rope manacle his legs, until Prospero frees both of them. This is an interpretation of The Tempest that centers in the theme of liberation. We feel Appel is approaching her retirement from the helm of OSF with an air of liberation, too. (We are happy to note that she is going to direct The View from A Bridge, at OSF, next year.) The second of the summers new offerings is The Taming of the Shrew. Kate Buckley directs this and achieves the balance required for the play by focusing on the relationship between Kate and Petruchio. Vilma Silvas Kate is beautiful and spirited. Michael Elichs Petruchio is quick and witty. The audience sees the attraction between the two from their first meeting, which makes the taming more mutual, as does the fact that Kate gets the last ear pull, as they exit. Silva pulls off making Kates instruction to the other wives include the implication of instructing the husbands, as well. Buckley cross cast Robin Goodrin Nordli as Grumio. Nordlis comic turns in the role get a lot of laughs. Shad Willingham, James Edmundson and Tony DeBruno are funny as Gremio, Hortensio and Vincentio. David Kay Mickelsens Italian renaissance costumes are lush as is Todd Bartons music. The third play to open was Romeo and Juliet. The director for this production, Bill Rauch, is also the new Artistic Director for the festival, hired to replace Libby Appel. Seeing what he has done with Romeo and Juliet makes us look forward to future seasons under his leadership. Rauch broke up the Chorus opening lines among the company, standing around two caskets. This set the tone for a fast and fresh look at the play. He decided to dramatize the difference between the generations by putting the parents in Italian renaissance costumes and using the music of that era for their scenes, while the children wear contemporary costumes and listen to current music. This was an interesting dramatization of the gap, Another happy invention of Rauchs is intercutting lines from two scenes, so that Romeos argument with Friar Lawrence and Juliets with her nurse about Romeos banishment become a fugue. Rauch moved the scene where Juliets father insists she marry Paris into her bedroom, so that it follows Romeos departure deliciously. He also put the final reconciliation between the parents in the crypt, which condenses the movement from grief to forgiveness. Liisa Ivarys Juliet looked almost as young as the 13 years old the character is supposed to be. She manages to make all those well worn lines seem new, because she convinces us she is discovering them for the first time. John Tufts Romeo is equally innocent and passionate, Mark Murphey as Friar Lawrence and Demetra Pittman as the nurse give big voices and big hearts to the roles. More good news about Bill Rauch is that he is a gay man in a 22 year relationship. It will be good to have an out gay man in that position at OSF. The Green Show before The Tempest was a meditation on dreams. Sue Carney set Yeats poetry to wonderful Irish sounding music. The dancers under David Hochoys direction took flight. The Green Show before The Taming of the Shrew was songs by Kurt Weill and his contemporaries. The cabaret style music inspired smoky dances. The Green Show before Romeo and Juliet was renaissance music and romantic dances. Unfortunately, the Green Show is going to evolve, next year, under the new artistic director into a more community based venue with a variety of performers. So, the Terra Nova Consort and the Kaleidoscope Dance Company will not be in residence at OSF, any more. We have particularly followed Sue Carneys composition, musicianship and singing in the Green Show. To find out more about where she goes next, go to suecarney.com. The Tempest runs through October 6; The Taming of the Shrew runs through October 7; and Romeo and Juliet through October 5. To buy tickets, go to www.orshakes.org or call 800-219-8161.

post your own information on
the Seattle Gay Blog