Caesar & Henry meet at last

I arrived in Ashland, Oregon, for the Shakespeare Festival late last night. On a Monday evening there is little to do in Ashland. The theatre is dark and most of the businesses are closed. However after a light meal in Medford I nourished my body and looked forward to nourishing my mind with the next day’s activities.

The first event of the day was the official Backstage Tour. However, this turned out to be less of a “tour” and more of a history lesson regarding the origins of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The only backstage area really visited was backstage on the Elizabethan Stage and the underground common Green Room. I would have liked to have seen the facilities in the Angus Bowmer as well, but alas! Onward to Julius Caesar!

A few words about Julius Caesar…

Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Julius Caesar is stripped down to the raw element. It is a new revisioning, spare, and fast-paced production. The director, Amanda Dehnert, took great care to create a show which involved the audience as part of the action (the citizens of Rome) and highlights the humanity of the play. Through political manipulation a would-be tyrant is toppled only to be replaced by civil war and the rise of yet another sole power.

Is Caesar, the conquering hero, propelling Rome from a republic into a monarchy? That is what Cassius claims. Brutus, close friend of Caesar, is not quite sure. He is disturbed by how Caesar has filled the power vacuum and he's wary of Caesar's popularity. But Brutus is reluctant to cast Caesar as a tyrant.

Most interesting is the choice to cast a woman, Vilma Silva, in the role of Julius Caesar. What does this say about the play? How does this redistribute our vision of power? Does this create a platform for which Caesar is more of a victim? All valid questions as the play unfolds before its audience.

Gregory Linington's Cassius perfectly embodies a man with a "lean and hungry look," the type of man that Caesar explains "thinks too much." It is difficult to tell at time whether Cassius is driven by visions of a new democracy, or his own ambition. In contrast, Jonathan Haugen's Brutus is tortured by his thinking. He is a sophisticated thinkers, but not impenetrable to the plots of Cassius. Danforth Comins as Mark Antony plays are much larger role in the play then typically presented, as he recants the dialog of Calpurnia, who has been removed from the play. In a scene normally between husband and wife, Caesar and Antony council each other friend-to-friend moments before Caesar is assassinated.

In this new, cut, and remolded edition of Shakespeare’s play there is much to debate. Julius Caesar proves a truly thought-provoking afternoon at the theatre.

A few reflections of Henry IV part 2...

I had the pleasure of seeing the last “preview” performance of Henry IV, Part Two, directed by Lisa Peterson. Part Two is the middle play between Part One and Henry V, a lesser known play and certainly less popular. However it is much needed and as Peterson calls it "the meat of the sandwich”. This is the play where Prince Hal makes his final transformations into King Henry V and Fallstaff falls out of favor.

Many of the actors from last year's Part One have returned, with John Tufts as Prince Hal, Richard Howard as King Henry IV, Christine Albright as Lady Percy, Howie Seago as Poins and Brent Hinkley as Bardolph. However, we are given a new Fallstaff, Michael Winters, and a new Mistress Quickly, Kimberly Scott. Both attack their roles, but were not as vibrant to me as last year’s players.

A combination of modern and period dress presented itself on the stage, making it difficult to dercern time and place. Yet, in comes Rumor to set us straight…. Or not. After all, rumors cannot be trusted, as is suggested many times throughout the play.