We saw 12th Night at the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival at Sand Harbor last night. First of all, Dean and Scot, the man of the couple who went with us, decided we would go early as usual but this time we would eat on the beach. I was a little hesitant, traditionalist that I am, because I have always enjoyed eating in the venue. However, here begineth the list of "bests" ~
Eating on the beach was Delightful. We had the best parking space we have ever had - several steps to the entrance to the beach and about twice that in the other direction to the entrance to the theatre area. Linda provided food and we sat on the beach for a little over an hour and ate and talked (and I outlined the plot of the play) and enjoyed the time. Then at about 6:30 we put everything back in the car, got out our hoodies and blankets and headed just a little further up the hill to the theatre.
It was the best performance of 12th Night I have ever seen. Of course I kept seeing Meredith as Maria. She could have done this one as well or better. And - Viola, who really carries the play I discovered, was Excellent. Both physically and in articulation and enunciation. I understood Every word without her ever sounding like she was pushing. The sound system may have something to do with this as well - and truthfully, I understood it all and she was just outstanding.
Malvolio was the best I have ever seen. Finally someone directed and acted him like the humorous, pompous ass he is and gave us reason to understand what the pranksters do to him. The cast reaction to his final "I will be revenged on the whole lot of you" was also good enough to help carry what is often a let down.
Viola and Sabastian, although different in height as is usually the case, looked enough alike that it was plausible that they might be identical twins - although I have never quite understood how a male and female can be "identical" no matter how close they look alike. :) Of course the twins in Shakespeare's company were both boys and identical.
I was interested in the fact that Maria did not just disappear. She and Sir Toby had a very obvious thing going and she was brought back on stage at the end (never having really left in the disappeared sense) and was part of the revelations and given the line about Toby's marrying her - with great excitement on her part rather than like a punishment which is what it is easily read as.
Usually, although the stage backs up to the lake, there is a back drop between the stage and the lake. For this one, set on the shores of Illyria, the back was open to the lake. Gorgeous. They switched the first two scenes so that there was a sand colored cloth covering the center part of the stage and Viola was brought on to it by the sea captain and her scene was run. Then the cloth was pulled off stage and Orsino's house appeared and they played the "If music be the food of love, play on" scene.
I was very impressed with the setting. Smooth changes - use of the entire theatre - so much so that the director made a speech ahead of time in which he told people if they got up during the play to watch for the actors because the actors were running to make a cue and would not stop for them. And then bless him, among the other announcements he made including of course turning off cell phones and no photography, he had to remind folks NOT to leave seconds before the show ended, saying "imagine if you are an actor and have just spent two hours performing and just as you start to take your bow, you see people leaving the theatre." We all laughed politely - and Still there were several folks who left. Please, realize that this is a very casual setting - we are outside, on beach chairs on the sand, with our coolers or our food from the catering facility, dressed in layers with blankets over our knees - so there is a sense of being able to move about and do whatever you want. Still - I felt sorry that the man had to add that to his pre-show speech.
Even with really good articulation from the actors and an excellent sound system, Dean only understood about every 4th word. And even at that, he said this morning, "I think we should try to go to at least one every year."
The other negative was that my chair split down on side so that I had no seat. Fortunately it happened just as I sat down after Intermission and the people next to Scot didn't return (????) so I moved down. When I circled my seat number on my ticket and handed it to a staff person after the show to say it needed replacing, he told me it had been happening all season and mine was the 5th he had dealt with just last night. Made me feel better - knew I hadn't gained That much weight!! All I had was one extra piece of Linda's banana bread - :D :D :D
I was the Shakespearean guru last night and although I made it clear I really knew very little, it was obvious I knew a lot more than the other three in the party and they were very appreciative of my tutoring - and it was fun of course. I even wore my "Will Power" shirt from Stratford-on-Avon ~ ancient shirt and I still love it and of course like it when the Bard is being performed. It was really good to see really good professional theatre again. It has been a while - well, a year since the last time I was at the Shakespeare festival at Sand Harbor. I guess if I see only one professional show a year, having it be Shakespeare is a really good idea. :D
No comments:
Post a Comment