Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2017: The Merry Wives of Windsor

Left to right: Rex Young, Amy Newman, K.T. Vogt, Vilma Silva, Paul Juhn. Photo courtesy Jenny Graham and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

OSF’s 2017 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor is also an ‘80s jukebox musical. This theme may seem strange to traditionalists, but it invites a sense of campy fun into one of Shakespeare’s lightest, silliest comedies. The antics of classical farce combined with bright colors, excellent comedic acting, and cheesy dance music create a remarkably entertaining show.

OSF’s talented ensemble is generally subtle and nuanced, which makes the times they throw caution to the wind and embrace excess all the more fun. (See also their production of The Wiz from last year.) 1980s hits from a variety of genres punctuate key parts of the production: Bardolph (U. Jonathan Toppo) and Pistol’s (Al Espinosa) plot to expose Falstaff is set to Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison,” while the fairy dance at the show’s climax starts with “Thriller,” dance included, and ends with Guns N’ Roses.

At the core of Merry Wives is the bumbling rogue Falstaff, who also makes an appearance in the Henry IV duology that runs concurrently with this show. Standing in his shoes is K.T. Vogt, a nine-season OSF mainstay best known for her comedic roles. Vogt’s performance is outstanding, operating Falstaff with fifty percent ego, fifty percent animalistic lust, and zero percent self-awareness. This impeccable character work is only matched by Vogt’s gift for physical comedy, jumping and air-guitaring across the stage when she makes her appearances.

The rest of the cast keeps up with Falstaff’s buffoonery. Anne Page (Jamie Ann Romero), the ostensible protagonist of the play, resolutely attempts to tie the knot with Fenton (William DeMerritt). As befits the setting of the show, Romero channels the female lead in every John Hughes movie with a sense of earnest, mischievous defiance. Rex Young’s Master Ford, an uptight, jealous stick in the mud, serves as a foil to Falstaff,  but has the same over-the-top comedic energy. Jeremy Peter Johnson’s Doctor Caius, though a side character, nearly steals the show with an outrageous French accent and wild swordplay.

Ulises Alcala’s costume designs help synthesize the updated theme with the original setting of the play, Elizabethan England. Characters are clothed in gowns and doublets saturated with the bright pastels common in the ‘80s, and other throwbacks to that era – including Anne’s hair – appear on occasion. Codpieces play a major part in both the costuming and the comedy, with Falstaff sporting an oversized model complete with a zipper compartment.

In order for Shakespeare’s plays to be relevant to the modern day, they need to be viewed through the lens of goofy camp as much as the lens of serious reenactment. OSF’s 2017 production of Merry Wives is a marvelous execution of the former, making you laugh at the play as much as you think about it. 

The Merry Wives of Windsor runs until October 13th.

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Our Comprehensive Coverage of the OSF 2017 Season

• Coverage Overview
• UniSon
• Hannah and the Dread Gazebo
• Julius Caesar
• Henry IV, Part 1
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• The Odyssey
• Beauty And The Beast

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2016: The Winter's Tale

Left to right: Eric Steinberg, Amy Kim Waschke. Photo courtesy Dale Robinette and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s stranger plays, most notable for its bear-themed stage direction and 16-year time lapse between acts 3 and 4, which marks the pivot from psychological drama into pastoral romance. Director Desdemona Chiang interprets the play through the lens of the Asian-American cultural experience, intensifying the tonal and aesthetic divide felt between the two locations in which the play takes place. By emphasizing this unique split between tragedy and comedy, the production differentiates itself from the rest of Shakespeare’s comedies.

The first part of the play is set in Sicilia, here, the courts of feudal China. To illustrate the grimness and fear that pervades acts one through three, the characters and set are dressed in dark greys; only a few streaks of bright yellow break the solemnity. Interestingly, characters’ dress is based on location rather than national heritage – visiting king Polixenes (James Ryen) wears a muted tunic while residing in Sicilia, yet a more colorful outfit back home in Bohemia.

Sicilian king Leontes (Eric Steinberg) and his queen Hermione (Amy Kim Waschke) are the central characters in the first part of The Winter’s Tale. Steinberg’s Leontes conducts himself with cold, regal bearing, and his descent into paranoia doesn’t seem unexpected – indeed, from the beginning there is a threatening air about his performance that says that something is about to happen. Waschke’s Hermione, so honest and sympathetic that the audience can’t help but take her side, and her lady Paulina (Miriam A. Laube), the passionate, principled voice of reason, may be unable to change his mind, but their performances certainly convince the audience. Also of note is child actor Naomi Nelson as heir to the throne Mamillius – her performance is sweet without being saccharine.

The play is cut roughly in half by the stage direction in which the character Antigonus “exits, pursued by a bear.” I mention this not only because many audience members anticipate this scene, but also because it is easy to fall into a trap and make the bear goofy or melodramatic. Chiang takes a risk in going for a spectacular rendition of the scene, yet it accomplishes what it needs to – it’s scary and unexpected instead of ridiculous. The transition into the land of Bohemia afterward is like a breath of fresh air.

In contrast to the sterile, minimalist sets and dress of Sicilia, Bohemia is filled with bright colors and complex costumes. Loosely based on the American West during the 19^th century, the second part of OSF’s The Winter’s Tale conveys the peace and harmony espoused in pastoral art without being corny. The characters are so inviting, they create nostalgia for a time and place that never existed.

One of the standout performers in the second half is Stephen Michael Spencer as pickpocket and rogue Autolycus. Spencer has a gift for physical comedy, whether it’s snagging coin bags from someone’s purse or acrobatically concealing himself behind a set piece. His appearance onstage – and it occurs frequently – is practically a guaranteed laugh.

As The Winter’s Tale ends famously with a merging of the tragic and the comic, the dramatic and the pastoral, Desdemona Chiang’s OSF production adds an additional layer by merging East and West. Anyone from a theatre veteran to someone just becoming acquainted with the stage could gain insight into one of Shakespeare’s most complex comedies.

Part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2016 season.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2016: Twelfth Night

Left to right: Elijah Alexander, Sara Bruner. Photo courtesy Jenny Graham and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

I happened to see the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s production of Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night on an early trip to the Festival in 2010. This year marked my first opportunity to see OSF produce a play I had seen here once before. Beyond the reframed setting of Twelfth Night, which shifted from a supersaturated Elizabethan era into the Golden Age of Hollywood, multiple adventurous changes in interpretation by the director and the actors demonstrate the versatility of Shakespeare’s language, as well as OSF’s capacity for experimentation.

This season’s setting is a clever choice, playing off Twelfth Night’s themes of music, comedy, and love in fresh ways. Olivia is a calculatingly dramatic film star, Duke Orsino her director, and the remainder of the cast mostly the various hangers-on who have been basking in the light of the Hollywood elite since the first studios were established. Besides supporting the text, these new roles allow for off-script antics – including, of course, the glamorous musical number at the end of the show – similar to those in OSF’s excellent 2012 rendition of Animal Crackers.

Along with the broader themes of the play, many of the individual characters develop in unexpected ways. Chief among these are Danforth Comins’ Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Rodney Gardiner’s Feste. While Shakespeare wrote the character Aguecheek as a gutless coward, Comins portrays him as a careless fop, never without a martini glass in hand, someone who isn't afraid of combat as much as he simply doesn't care for it. The humor in the script shines through with this variation, which allows Comins plenty of room to creatively interpret the part.

Gardiner brings the same nervous energy that made him an incredible Nathan Detroit in last year’s Guys and Dolls. He creates a version of Feste that – surprisingly for one of Shakespeare’s fools – actually cares what other people think about him. Rather than an untouchable fountain of one-liners, Gardiner’s Feste is an average Joe who happens to have a talent for entertaining (and annoying) people. His performance demonstrates the endless permutations to which Shakespeare’s language can be taken, and the actor employs of broad theatrical talent when performing it.

The rest of the ensemble also makes tremendous contributions to the work. Ted Deasy plays a stuffy, formal Malvolio who provides the most physical comedy out of the entire cast. Sara Bruner performs the roles of twins Viola and Sebastian with innocence and cheerful vigor. Elijah Alexander’s Orsino, adopting a German accent, assumes a high status over the rest of the cast – an interesting choice, considering the character is prone to be overcome by bursts of emotion. And Olivia, portrayed by Gina Daniels, hides her true intentions in as many ways as she has costume changes.

Christopher Acebo’s gray-tone set matches the color scheme of 1930’s Hollywood; against this background, lighting director Robert Wierzel plays bursts of red and blue as needed for the emotional needs of the scene. Beyond the spectacle one would anticipate from OSF, Twelfth Night also includes tasteful film effects thanks to Shawn Duan – included throughout the play, the movies evoke the magic that turn-of-the-century audiences encountered when they experienced film for the first time.

OSF’s 2016 production of Twelfth Night finds unique places to grow the text, but doesn’t stray so far from core themes to be unrecognizeable. The production is a symbol of the importance the Festival places on reimagining Shakespeare’s canon on both obvious and subtle levels. This capacity for change and the company's willingness to reinvent their voice each year, makes OSF a fresh experience season after season.

Part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2016 season.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2014: The Tempest

 Kate Hurster (left) and Denis Arndt (right). Photo courtesy Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies, and for good reason: The heavy use of magic, engrossing romance, and hilarious antics of the several intercrossing plotlines make it an appealing play even for those not very familiar with Shakespeare’s work. OSF’s most recent adaptation looks at the play in terms of Prospero’s “ritual of goodbyes," using ritual Japanese dance among other media to bring to light the play’s philosophical questions about forgiveness and endings.

Combining “traditional” Shakespearean settings with more outlandish choices is common to the modern OSF, which combined a 20^th century boarding school theme with traditional Elizabethan dress for last year’s production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban are clothed in Japanese minimalism: For example, Prospero’s magic is indicated by four budo dancers (invisible to the other characters). Budo is a dance form indicated by stillness and economy of movement, and the dancers’ hypnotic motions help bring a sense of magic to the stage, as well as refining the nature of the piece. Prospero himself, played by Denis Arndt, shows remarkable development from intimidating king of the island to repentant brother who seeks a modest conclusion to his life.

Despite the unusual influences on the island dwellers, many of the other characters are approached more traditionally. Festival veteran Richard Elmore teams up with Barzin Akhavan as a raucous Stephano-Trinculo duo – Elmore’s natural gift at making people laugh compliments Akhavan’s more physical approach to comedy, defying the usual joker-foil relationship. The stranded nobles attempt a Shakespearean history while clearly out of their element: Possibly an in-joke referring to the Elizabethan Stage production of Richard III, also running this year.

The set is mostly flat and featureless, allowing the actors to express the scenario through their movements. However, the play frequently toys with light and color, and the sea of red carpet can suddenly change into a confined dark space or a magical evening. The design was not lacking–more to the point, it was devoid of the excess that often occurs in high-budget theaters.

OSF’s new Tempest takes a clear look at Shakespeare’s last play through the introduction of Japanese performance philosophies. The unfamiliar elements force the audience to develop a greater understanding of Prospero’s mission, and in so doing shake the complacency of just sitting through the play. Shakespeare veterans and newcomers alike will find something to appreciate in this play.