plays | Dangerous Common Sense

Hannah and the Dread Gazebo

By Galen|2017-04-23T12:54:51-07:00April 23, 2017|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Hannah and the Dread Gazebo :: Photo OSF Hannah and the Dread Gazebo by Jiehae Park WORLD PREMIERE At least half of the audience has a wonderful time seeing a fun show with amusing characters. But, make no mistake about what's amusing: Asian stereotypes speaking pigeon English while committing cultural faux pas that annoy the very "American" 20-something children of the butt of the jokes. 2017 audiences would not put up with a performance whose entertainment value hinged on older African Americans portrayed as lazy Stepin Fetchit's. That racism would not be considered amusing. But, apparently it's [...]

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Henry IV, Part One

By Galen|2017-04-23T17:10:02-07:00April 22, 2017|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Henry IV, Part I :: photo by OSF Henry IV, Part I by William Shakespeare Writing about a performance you saw two months ago gives the "review" a different perspective. I have been slammed and until now unable to spend an hour or so detailing my thoughts of the plays I saw opening weekend. So now I remember only the more important parts of the time I spent in the theater. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it will result in shorter and snappier commentary! What I don't clearly remember about Henry IV, I is [...]

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Great Expectations

By Galen|2016-09-05T12:25:34-07:00September 5, 2016|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Great Expectations adapted by Penny Metropulos and Linda Alper from the novel by Charles Dickens directed by Penny Metropulos Benjamin Bonenfant and Judith-Marie Bergan in "Great Expectations". OSF photo. Sadly, spectacular acting cannot overcome a flawed script, and this world premiere adaption of Dickens' Victorian masterpiece novel feels more like a well done intellectual exercise instead of engrossing theater. Adapters have to be ruthless. They have to identify what can be communicated in the new medium and then transform the storytelling to work on stage. No doubt that beautiful plots and characters present [...]

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The River Bride

By Galen|2016-09-05T11:56:59-07:00September 5, 2016|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival The River Bride by Marisela Treviño Orta Some plays are so mystical and rich with meaning that I feel inadequate. I know I should be getting more from the plot, from the language, from gestures, from everything. I am not worthy to be viewing the performance and should only be allowed back in the theater after completing a refresher course of Symbolism 201. Either that, or the play itself actually is thin, obvious, and over hyped. My ego makes me choose the later reason for my reaction to The River Bride. Ensemble from "The River Bride". [...]

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Twelfth Night

By Galen|2017-01-02T14:28:10-08:00September 5, 2016|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare Director Christopher Liam Moore invented a brilliant, fun concept for this workhorse comedy: set it on a 1930's movie musical set. Emphasize the scripted music and add more song and dance! Unleash the voices and tapping toes! Keep the Shakespeare give it 20th Century Foxiness! Scenes are sharp, funny homages to classic the musical films of the day. Susan Tsu's costumes are elegant and completely right. You get your ticket's worth from the fashion show alone. Twelfth Night - photo by OSF You will be talking for years about Moore's [...]

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“A Song at Twilight”

By Galen|2016-01-24T11:00:12-08:00January 23, 2016|plays|

San Francisco, CA at Theatre Rhinoceros A Song at Twilight By Noël Coward Theatre Rhinoceros’ A Song at Twilight is an excellent production in every way. Its short, two-week run is almost half over, and I say grab a ticket. (They're cheap, too!) First, I need to address the lingering, decades-old stigma of Theatre Rhino's productions. Too often in the distant past, going to The Rhino was a duty of gaydom/lesbianness. We went to support queer theater, and we often suffered through embarrassingly poor plays and unskilled actors. We went to show solidarity, but we rarely went expecting much or left [...]

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The Happiest Song Plays Last

By Galen|2015-08-26T15:05:37-07:00August 25, 2015|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Alegría Hudes Daniel Duque-Estrada (Elliot) and Barzin Akhavan (Ali). Photo by Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Happiest Song Plays Last, the third installment of Iraq war veteran Elliot Ortiz's struggle with his combat experience and aftermath, fulfills the promise of the complex emotional saga. While nominally about Elliot, three characters have legitimate claim to be considered the lead: Elliot (Daniel Duque-Estrada), his cousin Yaz (Nancy Rodriguez), and Yaz's neighbor Agustin (Armando Duran). Even then, some of the deepest scenes center on other characters, Ali (Barzin Akhavan) [...]

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Head Over Heels — World Premiere

By Galen|2015-08-23T16:50:34-07:00August 23, 2015|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Head Over Heels Play by Jeff Whitty Music and Lyrics by the Go-Go's Jonathan Tufts and Ensemble. Photo by Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Head Over Heels is the latest saucy work from the razor-sharp, careful, sensitive, and insanely clever mind of Jeff Whitty. His inventive approaches to story telling are twisted and brilliant, and this Oregon Shakespeare Festival production exquisitely delivers pure fun. The play uses the Go-Go's songbook as the source of its music, although Music Director Geraldine Anello has dramatically freed some of the arrangements from the original signature driving beat when Whitty's [...]

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Anthony and Cleopatra

By Galen|2015-08-23T16:00:53-07:00August 23, 2015|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare Derrick Lee Weeden and Miriam Laube. Photo by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival By far the best aspect of Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2015 production of Anthony and Cleopatra is the set. Scenic designer Richard Hay creates a clean, beautiful, symbol-filled space for the Shakespeare tragedy. The golden-royal triangles reprised in various forms work as ships, pyramids, and boundaries. The triangles are bold and colorful, and vivid Egyptian-themed props enhance the feel of empire and luxury. Hay does a great job. He skillfully keeps the physical on-stage material to a [...]

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The Count of Monte Cristo

By Galen|2015-08-23T12:15:12-07:00August 22, 2015|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas Raffi Barsoumian (Danglars) and Al Espinosa (Dantes). Photo by Oregon Shakespeare Festival Who knew that a revenge melodrama could be so much fun? Oregon Shakespeare Festival presents a sharp, finely timed, excellently acted, satisfying evening of a classic payback story written as a book by Alexandre Dumas in 1844 and adapted for the stage as early as 1848. The version of the play OSF picked to perform is meaningful. This Count stems from an adaption by Charles Fletcher in 1868. The play was further adapted by James O'Neill who bought the rights to [...]

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