#89 - Belly up to the Bard

A couple of Shakespeare plays to note. Since it is summertime, it was again Shakespeare in The Park. It was the tenth anniversary so they trotted out Hamlet. Ghosts, treachery, incest, suicide, wholesale slaughter - what a bore. Of course, I'm kidding. As always the play, performance, and setting in Shakespeare Glen of Forest Park was a good time.

So, that makes 8 out of 10 park performances I've attended. I missed As You Like It in 2004. My only other miss was the first year, Romeo and Juliet. Which I saw back in February at The Black Rep. Another fine show. It was interesting. The mostly black cast gave the play a bit of a different spin. I thought the Motown song and dance numbers during the Capulet party in Act I were a nice touch. The more that I see various versions of the play, the more I'm convinced that the play doesn't work without a good Mercutio. He really is the lynchpin behind all the action of the play. Without Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet just have standard teenage problems. This production had a good Mercutio in Chauncy Thomas.

So, that's 3 Shakespeare of 5. With next year's festival (The Taming of the Shrew) and one more pick-up, this task will be "bitch-slapped like a cheap hooker at a gangbang". To quote the Bard. Ok, not quite. But still, you get my point.