This year I ended up taking a quick trip to the Utah Shakespeare Festival by myself. There was only one play that I really wanted to see and it was only scheduled on weeknights so that made it difficult for my sister to arrange a time to go. Even though I was only at the festival for one day, I ended up seeing two shows and I had a great time!
My first show was a matinee of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder in the Randall L. Jones Theatre. I wasn't particularly interested in seeing this again because I've seen it so many times but I am glad that I did because this production is very different and I thoroughly enjoyed the innovative staging! The set is configured as a music hall in the early 1900s complete with old fashioned footlights at the edge of the stage and a dramatic curtain upstage. There is even a piano player (Brad Carroll) on stage for the whole show! The props include suitcases, large steamer trunks, canvas laundry carts on casters, moving staircases, scaffolding, screens, and racks of costumes and these items are configured and reconfigured to become various locations by an ensemble dressed as vaudeville performers. There are no projections so all of the members of the D'Ysquith Family (Graham Ward) who are ahead of Monty Navarro (Rob Riordan) in the succession to the earldom are killed using practical stagecraft that would have been available in the early 1900s (I especially loved the Reverend Lord Ezekiel D'Ysquith's fall from the cathedral tower and Asquith D'Ysquith Jr.'s skating accident because they are so clever). The costumes are really fun and, as usual, I loved the gowns worn by Sibella Hallward (Katie Drinkard) and Phoebe D'Ysquith (Nicole Eve Goldstein) but I was more impressed by those worn by Lady Hyacinth D'Ysquith and Lady Salome D'Ysquith Pumphrey! The D'Ysquith family crest worn by all of the members of the family is also very amusing, especially Lady Eugenia D'Ysquith's because it is so big. I laughed out loud at Ward's distinct characterizations for each member of the family (especially his doddering Ezekiel) and I loved Riordan's over the top facial expressions. Both Drinkard and Goldstein have beautiful voices and their renditions of "I Don't Know What I'd Do Without You" and "Inside Out," respectively, are highlights. I'm not often surprised by a show I've seen so many times but this put a huge smile on my face and I would definitely recommend it.
The play I most wanted to see at the festival this year was Macbeth in the Engelstad Theatre because it is one of my favorites by William Shakespeare (second only to Hamlet). This production is absolutely amazing and I loved how it really leans into the supernatural. The set features a large stunted tree that dominates the stage and I think this is a perfect symbol for the theme that unnatural deeds lead to unnatural consequences (which is really emphasized in this production). The Weird Sisters (Evelyn Carol Case, Kayland Jordan, and Kat Lee) appear as Druids, dressed in muted greens and browns with headdresses made of twigs, and they can manipulate nature with their powers (they are atmospheric and otherworldly as they haunt different areas of the stage). Hecate (Caitlin Wise), who rules the Weird Sisters, is often omitted from modern productions because the character is so intense and, in this one, she is terrifying because she appears to hover above the stage by using her iridescent wings (each one is manipulated by two puppeteers and the effect is quite unsettling) and her voice is incredibly strident. She appears in the usual scenes where she chastises the Weird Sisters for acting without her permission (they cower before her as if they are in pain) and where she instructs them to create illusions for Macbeth (Walter Kmiec) but she also appears in several other scenes including the final confrontation between Macbeth and Macduff (Lavour Addison) which is so dramatic. The sound design, which features staccato drums and droning pulses, is ominous and the lighting design often mimics stormy weather (I wrote a paper about the weather in Macbeth in college). Both Kmiec and Cassandra Bissell (as Lady Macbeth) give powerful performances because they visibly come undone from their guilt and paranoia. The rest of the cast is outstanding with shoutouts going to Chauncy Thomas as Banquo (especially when his ghost haunts Macbeth) and Addison as Macduff because the scene where he reacts to the death of his children is very moving. Finally, the fight choreography is really cool because, other than the fight between Macbeth and Macduff, the soldiers seem to be battling invisible opponents. I loved this production so much and I think it is one you do not want to miss! These shows are performed in repertory along with Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Steel Magnolias through October 4 (go here for tickets).
Note: Other highlights of this trip include eating *ahem* several tarts and running into my friend Joe (it was so fun to talk to him).
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