Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalImaginary Invalid written by Moliere adapted by Oded Gross and Tracy Young Nothing is more pointless than dragging a 450-year-old social satire on to the stage with the original words, digs, and references in tact.  I was not looking forward to a dusty homage to Moliere, but my expectations were low anyway because Imaginary Invalid was the designated -- and mandatory -- silly farce for 2011. Fortunately, Oregon Shakespeare Festival choose to be faithful to the spirit of Moliere instead of being slavishly bound to the original text.  This Invalid is all about the [...]

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalJulius Caesar by William Shakespeare All the best moments of this production of Julius Caesar come before Shakespeare's words are heard on stage: The banners in front of the New Theater venue and in its lobbies memorialize assassinated leaders from Xerxes in ancient Persia through Indira Gandhi in modern India. Stark and powerful, these black and white statements promise an accessible, strong, and contemporary evening. Before going dark, Vilma Silva (Caesar -- no problems for me with this gender twist) introduces herself and asks that the audience participate in the play by cheering for [...]

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare FestivalMeasure for Measure by William Shakespeare Shakespeare never tired having his lead characters dress up in disguises and hinging plot lines on the fallout of mistaken identity or secret observations.  I, on the other hand, am weary of boys dressed as girls dressed as boys and kings posing as commoners acting kingly.  Too silly.  It doesn't help my enjoyment that most of these stories are comedies with deus ex machina happy endings. Measure for Measure may be officially a "problem play" and not a comedy, but there are enough absurd happy touches for me to decide [...]