Festival orientation makes Bard easier to understand

A string of positive and/or negative reviews doesn't do justice to the experience of the Utah Shakespearean Festival. The show may be the thing, but it's the talk that seems to keep a lot of people coming back.

Six plays. Three Shakespeare, three non. Three stages. Plenty of opinions.

An orientation before each production gives viewers an often exciting preview of things to come. It's perfect for those who find Shakespeare confusing. Perhaps the fest's most important accomplishment, for the general public, is that it makes the Bard easy -- without cheapening him.

A discussion in a small grove the morning after a show elicits feedback. And all during the day and early evening, tables, benches and bleachers are busy with attendees passionately debating what the plays are really about.

The festival has its share of regulars and sophisticated educators, but I always run into plenty of virgins. The talks suggest a wide differential in levels of expertise, which makes the give-and-take both nonthreatening and complex enough to be useful. You're constantly reminded how many different ways the same play can be seen by different people.

At intermission, I approach 15-year-old Josh Lipman from Salt Lake City and ask him if the thinks "The Merchant of Venice" is anti-Jewish. I expect a very simple answer. Instead, I get, "That all depends on how the role is played. I've seen shows where Shylock (a Jewish moneylender) was the villain, and I think tonight he's more of a real person. You feel sorry for him." Winds up Lipman is a die-hard theater buff and a budding actor.

Some feel the title role in "Macbeth" is portrayed here by too young an actor. David and Liz Dameron, frequent Vegas theatergoers, disagree.

"Shakespeare doesn't say how old Macbeth is," Liz points out. "And he has to be young enough to be a good soldier, and in Shakespeare's day, I imagine he'd be even younger than he would be now."

I overhear a table of heated discussion about "Pride and Prejudice."

One woman says, "I don't know, it was OK, but it just wasn't Jane Austen to me." Another woman replies, "But you can't compare the novel with the play. They're two different things. I thought this was very good, but it wasn't the novel. I wouldn't expect it to be."

In a grove chat, moderator Ace Pilkington argues that lead "Pride and Prejudice" characters Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam are in love from the moment they see one another. An audience member takes an opposite viewpoint, claiming that only until the two recognize and tame their faults that they are able to be together. (Pilkington is obviously a knowledgeable scholar, and I enjoy his facts. But I wish he'd elicit more opinions from the audience. He sometimes discourages views differing from his.)

One of my favorite events is watching the outdoor Greenshow vendors hawking their wares (chocolates, souvenir programs, beverages). They walk about in accent, costume and sunny disposition. What does management do to keep them so happy?

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas NV 89125.