Installment 2 (fast & furious)
Four plays and three days have gone by. As usual, I’ve had work issues spring up that have siphoned off some free time, and we’ve been pretty busy. Here’s some tidbits:
Green Show
There are three theatres that the Ashland Shakespeare Festival uses - a large and a small indoor theatre, and the outdoor Elizabethan. They have 2 showtimes each day, one at 2:30 in the afternoon in each of the indoor theatres, and one at 8:30 in all three (it’s too warm in the afternoon for an outdoor performance).
Between the two shows, on a small greensward between the theatres, they present a Green Show, with a troupe of musicians and dancers, with a theme that is at least tangentially related to one of the evening plays. When we first started coming here, the Green Show was a little offhand, performed with acoustic period instruments accompanied by people (not dancers) promenading in period costumes.
The number of spectators grew so large, however, that they had a heartfelt debate about introducing amplification, and did so with some regret. Soon thereafter, they decided to put the whole enterprise on a more professional footing, designating a music director, a cohesive dance ensemble and choreography. Here’s a video clip of Saturday night’s show with an “early music” theme.
