On the Road Again!

Willy and I will be on vacation traveling for the next few weeks so you won’t see any blog postings for the rest of July BUT when we get back we will have lots to share. As my journey with Shakespeare continues we will be hitting a few significant and fun Shakespeare sites in North America.

STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

First up – The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the largest classical repertory theatre in North America. Stratford is the “grandmother” of Shakespeare festivals in America. On the night of July 13, 1953, the Festival presented its inaugural performance - Tyrone Guthrie’s production of Richard III, with Alec Guinness in the title role - and 59 seasons later it is still going strong.

(This will be our view of the stage!) We have Front Row Center Mezzanine seats in the Festival Theatre for The Merry Wives of Windsor directed by Frank Galati.

Merry Wives centers around one of Shakespeare's greatest characters, Sir John Falstaff, who gets more than he bargained for when he simultaneously pursues two wealthy married women. Upon receiving identical copies of Falstaff’s love letter, the spirited Mistresses Ford and Page cook up a scheme of their own to teach the fat knight a lesson, with uproariously funny results.

I am truly looking forward to this event and visiting Stratford for the first time!

THE AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER

From Stratford we travel south to Staunton Virginia, home of the American Shakespeare Center where the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's original indoor theatre - the Blackfriars Playhouse - stands.

This is a working theatre that presents professional productions of Shakespeare's works under their original staging conditions -- on a simple stage, without elaborate sets, and with the audience sharing the same light as the actors. ASC’s Blackfriars opened its doors in September 2001 and has already delighted tens of thousands of enthusiastic audience members from around the world and is being called “one of the most historically important theatres in the world.”

SHAKESPEARE ON THE SQUARE

The last stop (so far) on this journey we will a night of comedy at Shakespeare on the Square in Knoxville, TN. Presented by the Tennessee Stage Company, we will be seeing Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors. One of Shakespeare's earliest plays, the farce is based on Plautus’ The Menaechmi written around the first century BC. The plot centers on two sets of identical twins with the same names - Dromio and Antipholus - who were separated as infants and grew up in rival cities, Ephesus and Syracuse, with no knowledge of the others whereabouts; that is until the twins from Syracuse pay a visit to Ephesus. From that point on it is a “comedy of errors” with mistaken identities, hilarious blunders and slapstick farce with every turn. It will be a fun night of Free Shakespeare in Market Square and a great way to end this trip!

So while we travel, we hope you have a great July and look forward to getting back to you with lots of new “stuff” from my Travels with Willy.

Happy Fourth of July From Willy and me!

In honor of our nation’s 235th birthday, I share with you some words on Liberty and Freedom from the Bard (who would have been 212 years old in 1776.)

Happy Fourth of July!

I am a foe to tyrants, and my country's friend.
Julius Caesar
Act V Scene iv

Having my freedom, boast of nothing else.
Richard II
Act I Scene ii

I must have liberty withal, as large a charter as the wind.
As You Like It
Act II Scene vii

Let's all cry peace, freedom, and liberty!
Julius Caesar
Act III Scene i

This liberty is all that I request.
The Taming of the Shrew
Act II Scene i

Now show yourselves men; 'tis for liberty.
King Henry VI - Part II
Act IV Scene ii

If I had my liberty, I would do my liking.
Much Ado About Nothing
Act 1 Scene iii

Freely will I speak.
Pericles
Act 1 Scene ii

Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free for me as for you?
Taming of the Shrew
Act 1 Scene ii

Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom, hey-day, freedom!
The Tempest
Act II Scene ii