Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2018 Season

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, located in peaceful and scenic Ashland, Oregon, produces 11 plays in repertory each year from February to October. Only half are the works of Shakespeare, while the rest are a mixture of classic American plays, world premieres, and musicals that do justice to Shakespeare’s all-encompassing themes and love of language.

The town of Ashland boasts numerous quality restaurants with fresh ingredients, plenty of opportunities for a hike, and a thriving visual arts scene. It’s a perfect destination for a weeklong getaway.

Here are some of the most exciting plays of OSF’s 2018 season:

Othello (Directed by Bill Rauch)

Othello is the most cerebral and slow moving of Shakespeare’s most popular tragedies, observing Iago’s psychological torment of the proud and jealous Othello in uncomfortable detail. The 2018 production moves the play into the American military apparatus and casts Chris Butler as Othello and Danforth Comins as Iago.

Sense and Sensibility (Adapted by Kate Hamill, directed by Hana S. Sharif)

Kate Hamill’s adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel ran for over 265 performances off-Broadway and won several awards. Now, fellow Austen lover Hana S. Sharif directs the play, which features Kate Mulligan (Queen Elizabeth from last year’s Shakespeare in Love) as the formidable Mrs. Dashwood.

Destiny of Desire (By Karen Zacarías, directed by José Luis Valenzuela)

Destiny of Desire pays tribute to the beloved Mexican telenovela with a raucous musical comedy featuring twins separated at birth, conniving beauty queens, and other outlandish twists. OSF cornerstones Vilma Silva, Armando Durán, and Al Espinosa make up part of the play’s ensemble cast.

Henry V (Directed by Rosa Joshi)

Henry V completes the three-play cycle that OSF began last year with Henry IV part 1 and part 2. Daniel José Molina continues as Prince Hal – now a fully-fledged king – as he demonstrates his growth from a carefree party boy into a cold, practical ruler. Rosa Joshi, OSF newcomer and founder of the all-female theatre troupe upstart crow collective, directs.

The Book of Will (By Lauren Gunderson, directed by Christopher Liam Moore)

Lauren Gunderson, notable for her modern plays that twist familiar Shakespearean plots, examines the creation of Shakespeare’s First Folio in this lively dramedy directed by Ashland veteran Christopher Liam Moore. A group of Shakespeare’s friends and actors attempt to keep Shakespeare’s words accurate after his death in the face of pirated scripts of dubious accuracy.

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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• The Merry Wives of Windsor OSF Show Page
• Purchase Tickets

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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 2017: Henry IV, Part 1

Left to right: Daniel José Molina, Jeffrey King. Photo courtesy Jenny Graham and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Prince Hal, soon to inherit the throne of England, is busy living a hedonistic life with Falstaff and his band of merry rogues. But as Henry IV, Part 1 sets the stage for Shakespeare’s epic trilogy about the soon-to-be Henry V, the weight of the crown becomes increasingly heavy upon Prince Hal’s head. OSF’s 2017 production, continuing with Part 2 this season and Henry V in 2018, brings this classic tale of royalty into a modern setting.

Bringing Shakespeare into the current day is fairly common, most famously (or infamously) represented by Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo + Juliet. However, with a modern setting comes a difficult balancing act. If the direction is successful, the themes and meanings within the play become more evident. However, if the adaptation gets too cute, it could spell major problems for the production. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz, however, displays good judgment in her adaptation. Falstaff’s carousing makes more sense to us in a trendy club, and it doesn’t detract from the language or original plot.

Daniel José Molina portrays the part of Prince Hal, which he inhabits with spectacular versatility. His drunken antics are frequently too much, even for his drinking buddy Falstaff (G. Valmont Thomas), but Hal respects his own limits, quietly avoiding actions that would actually hurt his reputation as an heir to the throne. Molina’s Hal becomes princelier when he’s thrust upon the battlefield – not, perhaps, nobler, but matured by the reality of war. Thomas’ Falstaff, conversely, hardly develops at all: He’s the big fun friend who’s useless in a crisis. His antics change from entertaining in the bar to pathetic on the battlefield.

As Shakespeare wrote the play, King Henry IV (Jeffrey King) has a surprisingly small number of on-stage appearances. Yet it’s his interactions with Prince Hal and his ongoing struggle against Hotspur (Alejandra Escalante) and her aunt, rebel leader Worcester (Kimberly Scott), that drive the plot of the play forward. King’s portrayal is troubled and serious, splitting his attention between problems ranging from Hotspur’s military rebellion to Prince Hal’s adolescent one. His actions aren’t driven by emotion, but by a sense of self-preservation for his bloodline and his country. Hotspur and Worcester are as righteous as Henry IV is resigned; Escalante injects a powerful passion into both Hotspur’s battles and love life, and Scott’s Worcester possesses a cold, powerful indignation.

The technical element of Henry IV, Part 1 keeps pace with the constantly changing tone of the play. The scene introducing Falstaff’s gang makes use of garish neon colors and pulsating music, while the climactic Battle of Shrewsbury is executed with a brutal military grittiness not seen on the Ashland stage since 2012’s incredible Troilus and Cressida. Accolades go to the technical team (scenic designer Adam Rigg, costume designer Dede M. Ayite, lighting designer Yi Zhao, and composer/sound designer Palmer Hefferan, among others) for their adept navigation of a difficult text: They know when to go over-the-top and when to let Shakespeare’s writing speak for itself. The ever-present back wall, featuring a torn mural of King Henry, writes volumes on its own.

Henry IV, Part 1 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a more balanced view of the weight of royalty than Macbeth or Richard III, which descend quickly into madness and betrayal; rather, it looks at the weight of character needed to be an effective ruler, and the vast gulf between “prince” and “king.” Despite being the first in a trilogy, OSF’s 2017 production of Henry IV, Part 1 possesses the deep meaning and character development required to stand on its own.

Henry IV, Part 1 runs until October 28th.

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• Henry IV, Part 1 OSF Show Page
• Purchase Tickets

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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 Shakespare Festival 2017: Julius Caesar

Left to right: Stephen Michael Spencer, Rodney Gardiner (kneeling), Armando Durán, Danforth Comins. Photo courtesy Jenny Graham and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar has a misleading name. Although the Roman leader does play a significant role, and his assassination is what sparks most of its action, we never learn much about him or see him develop. Rather, Julius Caesar is an examination of political ambition, public opinion, and how the worst acts are often paved with good intentions. Shana Cooper’s bare, unsettling production strips away the formal veneer of ancient Rome to expose the action as men committing acts of horrific violence for unclear reasons.

Armando Durán portrays the role of Caesar in this production. His interpretation is very different from that of Vilma Silva, who played the same part in OSF’s 2011 production: While Silva was composed and quiet, Durán has a casual, Reaganesque charisma that makes it easy to see why the Roman public adores him. Vaguely aware of the plot to assassinate him, Durán’s Caesar resigns himself to his fate: He accepts that Caesar the public figure is something that has eclipsed Caesar the man, and that his death is no longer anything over which he has control. The objections of Calpurnia (Amy Kim Waschke), his wife, complicates the topic, however: As her sincere, emotional dialogue work correctly notes, Julius Caesar is still a human being, regardless of where history has seated him.

After Ceasar is assassinated, war ignites between loyalist Mark Antony (Jordan Barbour) and the turncoat senators led by Marcus Brutus (Danforth Comins) and Cassius (Rodney Gardiner). Barbour’s emotional interpretation of Antony, combined with our perspective of the events mainly coming from the senators, leads one to believe that he is strong but straightforward; however, his famous “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech is so terrifyingly persuasive that it undoes not only the hold the Senators had on the common people, but the audience’s conception of Antony himself.

Cassius has the clearest conscience about killing Caesar, but because the audience is never given a clear vision of Caesar’s actions, we don’t know if  this is a mere power play or done out of some kind of conviction. Rodney Gardiner’s performance leads us to believe Cassius’ motives are more on the selfish side, as his preparations for the killing are tinged with an almost innocent enthusiasm. Comins’ Brutus is a fairly standard handling of the role – a conflicted man who doubts his actions from the start of the play – but his performance is heartfelt and powerful.

Sibyl Wickersheimer’s set, and Cooper’s direction of the Roman public, is what gives the play new meaning. The set is somehow both sterile and destroyed, making use of wooden slats, folding chairs, and a statue covered with cloth and packing tape. The members of the public caper about dressed in Greek chorus masks, reminiscent of a gang of cannibals in a Mad Max movie. Nothing we are presented onstage implies that ownership of the Roman empire or of the hearts of the people has any value whatsoever, and that the entire course of the play is a series of pointless acts of violence.

Julius Caesar at OSF’s 2017 season strips away the majesty of ancient Rome from the story of several people who murder thousands for vague reasons. It’s a filthy, bleak, depressing rendition that reveals more about Shakespeare’s original text than any production draped in togas.

Julius Caesar runs until October 29th.

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

• Julius Caesar OSF Show Page
• Purchase Tickets

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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 2017: Coverage Overview

Julius Caesar at OSF. Left to right: Rodney Gardiner, Armando Durán, Danforth Comins. Photo courtesy Jenny Graham and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Check here to see our comprehensive coverage of the OSF 2017 season as it is posted.

Introducing the Season:

Season Preview

Coverage Overview

Visiting the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (coming soon)

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The Plays We've Covered:

UniSon: UNIVERSES adapts the poetry of August Wilson to the stage.

The performance troupe UNIVERSES, also responsible for 2012’s intriguing Party People, adapts to the stage the little-known poetry of August Wilson (Fences, The Piano Lesson.) This daring piece reinterprets the work of one of the greatest minds of African-American theatre by combining the classic language of the 20^thCentury with the structure of the 21^st.

Hannah And The Dread Gazebo: A world premiere about family, identity, and the ghost of Kim Jong Il.

This world premiere from playwright Jiehae Park grapples with questions of family and national identity in a tight 90-minute show. Much of the action concerns the tensions between North and South Korea and the DMZ in between them.

Julius Caesar: Shakespeare’s legendary tragedy about leadership, violence, and betrayal.

Shakespeare’s political thriller Julius Caesar occupies a position among his greatest tragic works, alongside such plays as Hamlet and King Lear. While OSF’s previous production, in 2011, was a general look at leaders whose deeds were both great and terrible, the 2017 version, as described in the “From The Director” statement on OSF’s website, more specifically examines the culture of American violence and politics. Armando Durán, who also played roles in Hamlet, King Lear, and The Tempest in his 18-year residency at OSF, takes on the part of Caesar.

Henry IV, Part 1: A young Prince Hal is torn between duty to his country and his rollicking life with Falstaff.

The first part of the Henry V trilogy features a youthful, irresponsible Prince Hal (Daniel José Molina) beginning to choose between the responsibilities of leading a country and the pleasures of tavern life with his friend John Falstaff. OSF is producing the entire trilogy over two seasons, performing Parts 1 and 2 of Henry IV this year and Henry V as part of the 2018 season.

The Merry Wives of Windsor: A small town conspires to trick the mischievous Falstaff (yes, the same Falstaff).

This classic comedy features the lecherous drunk Falstaff, a returning character from the Henry IV cycle. K.T. Vogt, who appeared in other OSF comedies like Animal Crackers and The Yeomen of the Guard, assumes the role in this production, which uses the play’s original setting of Elizabethan England – a place and time Shakespeare rarely used. This is the first time since 2006 that OSF has produced this play, though the company produced a modern adaptation called The Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa in 2012.

The Odyssey: Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Homer’s epic story of adventure.

Director Mary Zimmerman (see my reviews for two other plays she directed, Guys and Dolls at OSF and Treasure Island at Berkeley Rep) brings one of the oldest adventure stories known to humankind to the Ashland stage. The Odyssey is set in the Elizabethan Theatre, which possesses significantly more vertical space than OSF’s other two venues; Zimmerman's movement-oriented direction should put this extra room to great use. 

Beauty And The Beast: The classic Disney musical, brought to the outdoor Elizabethan Theatre.

OSF’s musical this year is a stage adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, an animated movie from Disney’s early-90s renaissance. Though the decision to run a Disney musical may raise some eyebrows, the show boasts a score from the legendary Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors). This music, combined with OSF’s ability to breathe new life even into Broadway’s most venerable standards, promises an exciting show.

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Restaurants We've Enjoyed:

Morning Glory

Smithfields

Thai Pepper

Flip