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neadodsWho did Graham Abbey piss off? For several years he's been the headliner, and this year he's in two small roles and is an understudy. An important understudy, but still!
I ask because he was Jaques in As You Like It - a brilliant Jaques, but an oddly small role. Although Bill Needles and Brian Tree also had small-but-important roles. I dunno.
I do know that the play rocked!
Unlike the cold and clinical version of 2000 (in which Juan Cherion's Jaques and whoever's Touchstones were the only watchable parts), this one was warm and silly. Set in the Summer of Love, the previous Duke and his men hadn't been banished so much as they had tuned in, turned on, and dropped out to sing a lot of Barenaked Ladies music and get in touch with their inner selves, maaaaaaaan!
Some interesting casting & directorial choices. Sara Topham made a fantastic Rosalind; young, impetuous, and something of a drama queen. You just knew that her diary was full of underlinings and exclamation points in sets. Dion Johnstone (Orlando) was the only black guy in the cast, which added an unspoken suggestion of bastardy to his brother's dislike for him. And Jaques' costume and cane marked him as a crippled Vietnam veteran, which not only explained his sarcasm and cynicism among the castaways, but gave Graham a chance to add serious undertones to the "Soldier, bearded like the 'pard" verse of the 7 Ages speech.
All wonderful stuff. They weren't shying from the double-entendres in the dialog either; half of them were acted out so people wouldn't miss them. (There's a book in the stores here, Searching for Sex in Shakespeare. You have to be pretty blind to need to search for it, since Shakespeare served it up on a platter for the groundlings.)
The woman who runs my B&B says that the best thing is that when the school groups come through the kids are so mesmerized that they shush each other, rather than needing to be shushed by the ushers. Certainly the Festival was... almost... full. Even with their new rush ticket program - hey kids, Strat now sells rush tickets - there were some empty seats. But very, very few ones.
Another great play - and a production that well wipes away the memory of the 2000 fiasco.
On another note, I managed to space Meet the Festival this morning. I would have liked to see Johnathan Goad speak, too. At least I didn't carelessly miss the one with Scott (that's next week, when I'm gone) or I would have been crushed.
Speaking of whom, in a couple of moments I have to scoot to the Patterson for Karamozov Brothers. It's probably my last chance to talk to him after a play I've seen, but odds are good I'll let it pass. I'd like to say "hi" to him, but for some reason I don't like waiting at the stage doors to the Patterson or the Avon. The Festival gives enough space that you can hang back and call while still giving 'em room to nod and run if they don't want to talk, and the Studio has only the one exit so you're not so obviously lying in wait for an actor. Nor do I have the energy to make the usual bribe of a beer after work.
So if anyone does get to have a few words with him, or did (y'all know who you are!), drop me a line, eh?
ACK! Late to Patterson!
I ask because he was Jaques in As You Like It - a brilliant Jaques, but an oddly small role. Although Bill Needles and Brian Tree also had small-but-important roles. I dunno.
I do know that the play rocked!
Unlike the cold and clinical version of 2000 (in which Juan Cherion's Jaques and whoever's Touchstones were the only watchable parts), this one was warm and silly. Set in the Summer of Love, the previous Duke and his men hadn't been banished so much as they had tuned in, turned on, and dropped out to sing a lot of Barenaked Ladies music and get in touch with their inner selves, maaaaaaaan!
Some interesting casting & directorial choices. Sara Topham made a fantastic Rosalind; young, impetuous, and something of a drama queen. You just knew that her diary was full of underlinings and exclamation points in sets. Dion Johnstone (Orlando) was the only black guy in the cast, which added an unspoken suggestion of bastardy to his brother's dislike for him. And Jaques' costume and cane marked him as a crippled Vietnam veteran, which not only explained his sarcasm and cynicism among the castaways, but gave Graham a chance to add serious undertones to the "Soldier, bearded like the 'pard" verse of the 7 Ages speech.
All wonderful stuff. They weren't shying from the double-entendres in the dialog either; half of them were acted out so people wouldn't miss them. (There's a book in the stores here, Searching for Sex in Shakespeare. You have to be pretty blind to need to search for it, since Shakespeare served it up on a platter for the groundlings.)
The woman who runs my B&B says that the best thing is that when the school groups come through the kids are so mesmerized that they shush each other, rather than needing to be shushed by the ushers. Certainly the Festival was... almost... full. Even with their new rush ticket program - hey kids, Strat now sells rush tickets - there were some empty seats. But very, very few ones.
Another great play - and a production that well wipes away the memory of the 2000 fiasco.
On another note, I managed to space Meet the Festival this morning. I would have liked to see Johnathan Goad speak, too. At least I didn't carelessly miss the one with Scott (that's next week, when I'm gone) or I would have been crushed.
Speaking of whom, in a couple of moments I have to scoot to the Patterson for Karamozov Brothers. It's probably my last chance to talk to him after a play I've seen, but odds are good I'll let it pass. I'd like to say "hi" to him, but for some reason I don't like waiting at the stage doors to the Patterson or the Avon. The Festival gives enough space that you can hang back and call while still giving 'em room to nod and run if they don't want to talk, and the Studio has only the one exit so you're not so obviously lying in wait for an actor. Nor do I have the energy to make the usual bribe of a beer after work.
So if anyone does get to have a few words with him, or did (y'all know who you are!), drop me a line, eh?
ACK! Late to Patterson!
