A Summer of Shakespeare

Last year, I got season tickets to the Shakespeare Festival but because I wasn't around for two months this summer, I only saw three shows. I missed out on Blithe Spirit and Much Ado About Nothing but even since seeing DT and Catherine Tate perform Much Ado, I could never see see Much Ado again and be fine. 

I did get to see some fantastic shows though with some lovely people. The first show was Sweeney Todd and Bailie and I took a picnic and the dino blanket to enjoy the show. She called me the entire week before singing "Johanna...." and we were both very excited. So excited that we decided to buy a pie to take to the show with us. We felt it was symbolic. The show was phenomenal. This was the first musical I had seen at ISF and they did not disappoint. It helped too that my favorite actress played Mrs. Lovett. They did a great job with a double leveled stage and the costumes and lighting were wonderful. Such a gruesome story but the production still made you laugh and shiver at the same time.

I saw Richard III several days later at an Alumni Event. Caitlin, Greg, Aly and I carpooled out and listened to Dori give a lecture about the history behind Richard III. This production was very different from Sweeney Todd. As you can see, the stage was very sparse. I loved how they hung RIII, EIV, and HVII to represent the reign of each king. It's amazing how the ISF is able to make Shakespeare, which can be so difficult to comprehend, relate-able and understandable. What did confuse me a bit was the costumes. At first, I was sure that the play was being set during the 1930s- however, soon characters had cell phones and so I was a big baffled at what was going on. Also, it didn't help that two of the actors were bald and it was a bit difficult to tell them apart. Richard III was absolutely amazing though. There was also an actress who looked exactly like Helen Mirren. My favorite part though was what they did whenever someone was killed. The Helen-Mirren look-alike would walk on the upper part of the stage and pour a bucket of "blood" down into a bucket on the bottom of the stage. It was a very powerful image. 

Finally, Youval and I saw the Foreigner, which was absolutely hysterical. It was a small cast but the most important thing was how vividly expressive all the actors were. It was a play full of play-on-words, puns, jokes, missed connections and hilarity. The first half was a bit slow but the second half left me breathless because I was laughing so hard. Even with the bits of rain towards the end, I enjoyed every minute of that second half.

 

I can't wait to see what is on the docket for next season!!