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The Yearly Stratford Pilgrimmage
Just got back from our yearly visit to Stratford, Ontario, where we stay at a lovely B&B, visit some of our favourite restaurants and see far too many plays. We saw five plays this weekend: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Edward II, As You Like It, The Brothers Karamazov and The Tempest. With the exception of Cat, all the plays were good, and three, Edward, As You Like It and Karamazov, were exceptional.
For the slash fans on my list who are within driving distance of southern Ontario, I totally recommend Edward II. The play is being produced in the Studio Theatre, which means it's a very intimate production. The performances are pretty uniformly fantastic, led by David Snelgrove's Edward. And my appreciation of the play was not at all hindered by the fact that the costume designer favoured a lot of black leather. And red leather. And, well, leather in general.
For visual aid of why you should see the production, check out the cut. I've uploaded the production pic of Snelgrove as Edward and Jamie Robinson as Gaveston, his lover.
For the slash fans on my list who are within driving distance of southern Ontario, I totally recommend Edward II. The play is being produced in the Studio Theatre, which means it's a very intimate production. The performances are pretty uniformly fantastic, led by David Snelgrove's Edward. And my appreciation of the play was not at all hindered by the fact that the costume designer favoured a lot of black leather. And red leather. And, well, leather in general.
For visual aid of why you should see the production, check out the cut. I've uploaded the production pic of Snelgrove as Edward and Jamie Robinson as Gaveston, his lover.
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I would love and As You Like It/Edward II double feature.
*sigh*
How long does the season run?
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More info on the festival website: http://www.stratfordfestival.ca
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A propros of nothing - I live about a mile or so from where Gaveston was beheaded. He was taken to a small rocky knoll on a wooded hill outside the town boundaries, and while his body was left there, his head was taken away. He's still supposed to haunt the wood looking for it. I haven't decided if the 'edge' there is real or psychosomatic. *_*
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Wish I could go. Wish wish wish. Spouse and I keep discussing it and never make it over. Hmmm.
Sounds like you had a marvelous time. Leather!? *lick*
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Alas, this will be our last year doing a full weekend. Our fave B&B doesn't take kids till they're 13. Though the owner of my fave bookshop has said there are family friendly B&Bs and babysitting services. Hmmm.
Even if I don't do any other plays next year, there is one I will *not* miss for anything. Colm Feore is coming back to star in Coriolanus. Not only is Feore amazing, but I adore Coriolanus.
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Now that's what I call a perverse Shakespeare pleasure. I don't think I know anyone for whom that is a favorite play, much less a favored play. Hmmm. *stuck with ordinary favorites like Tempest and Henry IV*
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A lot of the big Shakespeares--Tempest, Lear, Hamlet--do next to nothing for me. My favourites tend to be the ones with a military edge and a certain potential for a homoerotic reading. Coriolanus and, less obscurely, Henry IV, Part I, Henry V are my absolute faves, though I also adore Much Ado and Troilus. And if I had to choose a late romance, it would be Pericles or Winter's Tale over Tempest every time.
A number of these choices can be put down my own idiosyncratic taste, but a few can also be put down to having a fab drama lecturer in third year who picked all the weird Shakespeare plays to do. Plus, I've seen three killer productions of Coriolanus over the years, with Charles Dance, Michael Pennington and Tom McCamus, and was heartbroken that I hadn't the dosh to get over and see Toby Stephens crack at the character a few years back.
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And those are definitely killer productions--that would make a believer out of me any day. The power of a good teacher is not to be underestimated. That explains my fixation on Tempest and Much Ado.
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