Almost a year to the day later, we returned to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, this time for The Winter's Tale (a title that becomes quite ironic when you consider that yesterday was Day 1 of the "Intense Heat Wave," and it played the part, every minute and inch).
The evening belonged to John Taylor Phillips (Leontes) and Melissa Graves (Hermione): If I still puzzle over the genesis of Leontes' mad jealousy, it is no fault of Phillips, who managed to painstakingly chart his heart's disease and recovery. And Graves' Hermione was the picture -- or sculpture -- of dignity, intelligence, and resolve.
We all agree that Jan Rogge's Paulina deserves acknowledgement, too. Although her role in the fifth act was trimmed to near unrecognizable, her early scenes were a triumph:
Behold, my lords,And, yes, we've squeezed a lot of Shakespeare into the year since our last trip (entries here and here) to the Festival :
Although the print be little, the whole matter
And copy of the father, eye, nose, lip...
❧ Twelfth Night in August and September (related entry here)
❧ Romeo and Juliet in September (somewhat related entry here)
❧ Henry V in October (related entry here)
❧ Macbeth in January (related entries here and here)
❧ The Merchant of Venice in April (related entry here)
❧ A Midsummer Night's Dream in June (related entries here and here)
❧ The Winter's Tale in July
For those interested in this sort of thing...
The Misses began what I consider formal Shakespeare studies (as opposed to the more informal ways in which they became steeped in the language and stories) in the year before the last Festival, having read, studied, and written about Julius Caesar (related entry here), Much Ado about Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It (related entry here), and The Tempest (related entries here and here) in academic year 2009-10.
As for the upcoming academic year, our 2011-2012 subscription to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) includes A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, and Timon of Athens, so we plan to revisit the first two and read and study the third. And instead of re-reading Henry V this October, we're planning to read and study Henry IV, Parts I and II. And the rest of the year? Well, the Shakespeare Project of Chicago is doing Richard II, The Taming of the Shrew, and Troilus and Cressida. Scheduling conflicts have kept us from attending their performances for the past few years, but given how fresh their choices are, I need to see if we can work them in. I will, however, leave the remainder of our 2011-12 selections open to synchronicity / serendipity / synthesis -- and announcements concerning the CST Short Shakespeare! productions and the Illinois Shakespeare Festival 2012 season.
So this is how it all sorts out, to date:
Academic year 2009-2010
❧ Julius Caesar
❧ Much Ado about Nothing
❧ Romeo and Juliet
❧ As You Like It
❧ The Tempest
Academic year 2010-2011
❧ Twelfth Night
❧ Romeo and Juliet (review / revisit)
❧ Henry V
❧ Macbeth
❧ The Merchant of Venice
❧ A Midsummer Night's Dream
❧ The Winter's Tale
Academic year 2011-2012 (tentative plans)
❧ Henry IV, Part I
❧ Henry IV, Part II
❧ A Midsummer Night's Dream (review / revisit)
❧ The Tempest (review / revisit)
❧ Timon of Athens
1 comments:
I wish you could come to Winedale with us --weekend after next: As You Like It, Hamlet, and Henry VI, parts 2 and 3.
I'll let you know on the blog what we thought.
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