Ashland
June 12 - June 15
Wednesday - Day Three |
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Today both shows are in the Bowmer and the matinee is a piece called "Force of Nature". Of course the set is different, as all of the 'Iguana' hotel stuff has been removed and we are now in a more open flexible space. The play is interesting and reminds us all of things we have seen before. There were distractions in this production however. We can only assume that an actor must have been sick or unavailable for some reason because understudies were used, but for some reason these understudies did not fully know the play. For the first time ever in our theatre going experiences an actor (in this case two actors) was on stage carrying a copy of the script. I must say that both actors gave very good stage readings but it was very distracting knowing that they were reading lines. Also distracting was the movement of set pieces behind a curtain when the action was happening down stage. The piano and violin used for mood and scene changes was not enough to cove the noise of these set changes. This was by no means a bad play but I'm sure that it will not be the highlight of our viewing here at the festival. |
David and his camera |
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A number of the actors we saw in this production, we had seen in the past two years and we came to the conclusion that at least some of the actors here do the same type of roles over and over again while others seem to try and never repeat the same kind of part. Anyway, that was "Force of Nature" and we now looked forward to this evening's offering which was going to be the first and only full out comedy (most plays had humor) of our trip.
* Philip heads back to the hotel as Nico looks for shoes (always a difficult task for such small feet) and David looks to do some banking via ATM machines. We arrange to meet back at the Bowmer and head off to dinner. (Nico continues) The day is not cool, but there is a good breeze that keeps it from being a real scorcher. David and I walk slowly around town. I find a shoe store that sells Docs, and that sells Docs sandals, so I decide to check to see if they carry size 4 US, 2 UK, or 35/36 European. There is a sign on the door: PLEASE DON'T LET ERNIE THE CAT OUT and sure enough, just inside, lying on a display table full of shoes is a large, beautiful tabby cat. David and I go on in, and I find some mouth-watering shoes that I know they don't have in my size, but I ask them anyway, and while the sales clerk disappears into the depths of the store, David and I play with Ernie. David takes photos of the cat with his digital camera while Ernie poses. The owner - whether of the store, the cat or both - sees us and comes over, and then he tells us that if we call the cat, he will look up. So we do, and sure enough, Ernie's eyes open, his ears go up, and he looks hopefully (hungrily?) at us. Then we leave. |
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After some window-shopping we meet Philip at the Bowmer. We eat dinner in the Kat Wok restaurant, which serves Asian dishes, and enjoy it. The Green Show is on when we come out - we had seen it in rehearsal earlier, before dinner - but now there is a crowd on the grass around the outdoor dance stage, and the dancers are all costumed. This show is a carnivalesque performance, with lots of steel pan and calypso music. Again, David experiments with his camera, which not only takes stills but records audio clips as well. All of a sudden, after a few numbers, the music changes, becomes familiar. When the singer comes in, we realise that it is an arrangement of Bahamen's Junkanoo!!! Well. It is likely that we're the only Bahamians in the crowd, and we can't get over the fact that these people are dancing to Junkanoo on a stage in Oregon. David took lots of audio clips, and with luck we will be able to load some of them onto this site.
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 Ernie the shoe cat |
 The Green Show does Junkanoo |
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| Then we strolled in Lithia Park, going to see what the birds in the duck pond were doing and to try and wander behind the Elizabethan theatre to see if we could peer in. As we were walking past the duck pond a flight of ducks (mallards, normal ducks) took off. They flew really low (because they are so fat) and we all had to duck (haha). One of them even knocked into a bench on the way, but flew on unhurt. David and I both tried to get photos of the flying ducks but who knows if we succeeded? Then the swans swam up and honked, geeselike, at David, who kept trying to get them to honk while he was getting an audio clip. And then it was time for the show. |
Shooting the paparazzo |
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"The Man Who Came To Dinner" is a 1930s comedy about the houseguest from hell - Sheridan Whiteside, a radio personality (based on a real person from the Thirties). The idea is this: while visiting the house of some fans in Ohio, he slips on a patch of ice on their doorstep and breaks a hip. So he is confined to a wheelchair in this house not long before Christmas, and he takes over the entire downstairs, turning it into his office-away-from-home, making long-distance phonecalls to celebrities (i.e. Walt Disney for a Christmas wish from Donald Duck, or the Mahatma Gandhi, otherwise known as Boo-Boo) and being visited by people like the great British playwright and actor, Beverly Carlton (based on Noel Coward), or the insane comic actor Banjo (based on Harpo Marx). It was hilariously funny, with excellent timing, over-the-top characters, and endless name-dropping. The cast was huge - 24 characters, according to the playbill - and everyone was excellent. The guy who played Oberon in 1998 (and Pericles' closest friend in 1999) had a small part in this, a bug professor who came and gave Sheridan Whiteside a colony of cockroaches. He modelled his character on a West Indian/West African Al Sharpton - quite a performance! One of the best characters was an overdone actress by the name of Lorraine Sheldon, played extremely well by a relative newcomer to the festival, who interpreted her as an unintelligent, manic Bette Davis. A good time was had by all.
Tomorrow night, the Shakespeare - Henry V, again at the Bowmer. We are naturally looking forward to it! |
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