Thursday, October 15, 2009

Photoessay #867 - Last performance


Two out of the three plays we saw in Asnland were at the outdoor Elizabethan Theater. Being October, we bundled up to early spring softball standards. Possibly I should have paid a bit more attention to which plays we signed up for. All three were of the boy meets girl, boy loses giel, boy gets girl with the double bind mistaken identity. We saw "Servant of Two Masters", "Don Quixote", "Much Ado about Nothing". I enjoyed Don Quixote's ambiguous ending as well as the expressions on the face of the actress playing the posterior of the horse. Also the extreme comic performances of "Servant of Two Masters"

We experienced a special ceremony after "Much Ado about Nothing" marking the last performance in the Elizabethan Theater for the season (though I only found out about it the next day).

I have no picture (not allowed). At the end of the evening performance in the chill October air, an actor appears in the upper part of the theater and sings a verse of Greensleeves. Then all of the staff members (I assume) including the other actors (you could pick out the ones from "Music Man") and backstage people file in on both sides each carrying a candle. One of the actresses recites something (what?). Then, surrounding the hushed audience, the whole OSF group hums Greensleeves again and then each blows out their candles at the same time.

Such a dramatic moment. A season in the Elizabethen Theater ends.

Picture used without permission

(added later). In the late 70s, Dennis and I went up to Ashland (how many times?) to visit his friend Doug and see a show. I remember seeing a series of several Richard III plays. Prior to the balcony and superstructure addition. Just the stage and a hedge behind the amphitheater style seats. In the gift shop, they were offering old programs and I saw one for 1978 that included Richard III.

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