Oregon Shakespeare Festivel

Day 5 June 10 Ashland and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

A two-play day. Great seats for the afternoon performance, but toward the back for the evening performance. The breakfast in the cramped lobby of the Roadway Inn was ample, but that was all.

We planned to start the day with a visit to the Art Museum on the Southern Utah University campus, but it was closed for a reception. Took a short walk around the campus.

Then drove into town and parked at a 4-hour lot. Picked up our tickets at the box office and as we were walking around the three theatres complex the skies opened again so we retreated to a local brewery for an early lunch prior to the first play. The flights of beer were very good, but they lost our food order and did not bring it until after an hour had passed and we had to leave for the first play. The waiter seemed upset with us that we did not accept the food and offered no consideration for the delay. As a result, think I was a little tipsy going into the play.

The play, Mojada, A Medea in Los Angeles, was a modern take-off on the Greek play Madoc. Jason (yes, he of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece) abandoning his first wife with whom he had two children for a politically advantageous union. The spurned wife kills the new wife and, to especially hurt Jason, also kills herself, and his, children. A major act of rage and desperation.

This play was set in modern Los Angeles and the characters were immigrants. Halfway through the play I thought it was about immigrant abuses and rights, but then it worked its way back to the original. Still a very powerful play about the painful experiences of being an immigrant in America. I wonder how we as a country have gotten to a place where many Americans want to undervalue or deny our layered history? Where does the intense pressure to conform come from and why does it overshadow the opportunity to welcome what can be rich cultural differences? What are we afraid of?

A very powerful play and performances, especially by the female lead. Modern language so I did not have to fight threw Shakespearian language. After the performance, she participated in a discussion group that lasted over an hour. Nice activity, but it cost us a parking ticket as we exceeded the4 hour limit by a wide margin.  However not as high as California penalties and we dropped off the check in the City Hall drop box later that evening.

Still raining so we went back to the motel and ate and drank some more of the prior day’s purchases.

The evening play was a reproduction of the movie Shakespeare in Love. I recall very much enjoying that movie, but I did not enjoy the play as much. It was long and had, for me, difficult language. Nice to see how Shakespeare allegedly got through his writer’s block. He was waiting for inspiration to strike, hoping it will hit him like a bolt of lightning, as he was struggling to write a single word.  All this in the context of gender politics in a decidedly sexist world whose monarch is one of the most powerful women in history. What I think that the play teaches him and us is that the best and most profound inspiration is to be found in the people around you and their unique stories. That is a useful reminder.

After the play in the lobby we by chance met Mr. Amberge in the lobby. He was a well-loved sixth grade drama teacher for my three oldest boys who produced very high-level Shakespeare performances by the students. He did not really remember me, but he recalled the boys and the visit with David in May 2014.

Then we went back to the motel and recharged the car.