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Allen Elizabethan Theater, OSF

Allen Elizabethan Theater, OSF

Last night we saw Hamlet.  It was presented at the outdoor theater – Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Allen Elizabethan theatre.  Our seats were perfectly situated in the very center of the first row of the first balcony. The night was balmy; we had no need of the jackets we took ‘just in case.’  And, I felt the extra pleasure of being accompanied by Polonius, himself.

It was just a few months ago that son Charlie played that part at the Archway Theatre in Los Angeles and in one of those weirdly random thoughts I suddenly remembered that Peninsula friend Phil Allen has been in L.A. and had seen him,  Phil Allen.  Allen Elizabethan Theater.  (Oh well.  You had to be there, so to speak.)

Danforth Comins as Hanlet

Danforth Comins as Hanlet

I’ve seen other productions of Hamlet at OSF, but this was the first in the outdoor venue. Somehow, I expected them to make more use of the various levels built into the permanent set.  Except for the single musician (who, unfortunately was also cast as the gravedigger) those upper staging possibilities were reserved primarily for the ghost of Hamlet’s father.  He  could be seen glowing and whooshing from level to level periodically, sometimes seconds after appearing in the audience or on the main stage.  There must have been three or four actors dressed for the part rushing around backstage so that they could be glimpsed simultaneously in those now-you-see-him-now-you-don’t appearances.   And, thinking back on it, it was a perfect bit of stagecraft.

Charlie and Sydney in Ashland

Charlie and Sydney in Ashland

I was interested in Charlie’s take on the production.   In general, he liked it, as we all did.  (‘All’ being the 1200+ audience members who gave a standing ovation at the play’s conclusion.)  Charlie commented on some of the spots where the director Lisa Peterson had trimmed Shakespeare’s original play (which is never run in its four-hour entirety) and said that Derrick Lee Weeden’s Polonius was more avuncular in character than his own.  He thought Claudius (the evil uncle) was well played (I didn’t) and none of us were much enamored of Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother.)  And, he thought Danforth Comins was a dynamic and sympathetic Hamlet.

All of which made me, once again, feel deprived that I couldn’t have seen the production Charlie had been in.  Next best thing, though, was to sit next to him last night under the starry skies of Ashland sharing yet another OSF experience!

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