 |
|
|
|
Photograph by Jeff Kearns
Antipholus of Syracuse is caught in a tug-of-war between Adriana, who believes he is her husband,
and his loyal servant Dromio in the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival's production of 'The Comedy
of Errors.' Adriana (Julie Eccles) is unaware that Antipholus (Chad Fisk) is her husband's twin while Dromio (Greg Bryan) attempts to keep his master from leaving with the woman they have never met before.
|
Theater returns to Memorial Park
By Julie Wang
What was enjoyed live 400 years ago in the European theater has endured to become a regular, eagerly anticipated and well-received tradition in Cupertino.
Shakespeare in the Park has once again arrived for a three-week run at Memorial Park. Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Aug. 29.
The annual Memorial Park productions have received such popular community acclaim that Cupertino has incorporated Shakespeare in the Park into its annual funding cycle. This year will be the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival's fourth season in the area.
"They are really audience-friendly shows," says Steve Dowling, director of Parks and Recreation. "It's oustanding quality."
Director Jan Powell's adaptation of The Comedy of Errors--a tale of mistaken identity involving two sets of twins--includes a modern twist and a professional cast.
"It's reset in a New England fishing village, and the director really felt that the setting lent itself to the text, " says Toby Leavitt, the touring company's managing director.
Powell's adaptation of the play also includes a broad range of textual interpretations, and takes a humorous and a farcical look at the effect on sanity of familiarity and stability gone awry.
"I was interested in making this production a play about character," Powell explains. "The characters have a lot of near misses [with each other] and improbable funny happenings. The fun of the production is seeing the small-town characters have their expectations turned upside down again and again, so that in the progress of the play, the feeling changes from a very uneventful world to one in which people are frantically trying to affirm their own sanity."
The play's extravagant set, complete with three main buildings, a moat and even a moving chowder wagon, promises an aesthetically pleasing and intimate atmosphere for Cupertino picnickers, families and theater-watchers.
"I let the play run natural rather than imposing the play onto the space," Powell says. "The atmosphere there [at Memorial Park] is open and sunny. It's warm, and it's very beautiful. That will have an influence on the play."
The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival is one of a handful of organizations that performs professional Shakespeare in parks free of charge.
"It's quite unique," Powell says. "The high-quality production and the high-quality actors made this a very rewarding experience. The level of performance is extremely high."
Prior to 1996, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival performed Shakespeare in the Park in San Jose, but it moved to Cupertino because of funding from the city, said Charles McCue, the festival's producing director.
"We just had an instant huge response here at Memorial Park with overflow crowds every night," he said.
Approximately 10,000 people--900 to 1,000 per show--are expected to participate in Shakespeare in the Park.
"It gets very crowded," McCue said. "We have concessions, and we do advise people to come early to put down their blankets and get a spot."
|
|
|
|
Cupertino, California Since 1947
