Saratoga Stereopticon
Shakespeare in Saratoga is a family affair
By Willys Peck
It seems like pretty much of a reach, but that makes it all the more an intriguing concept: Saratoga Creek must cast some kind of a Shakespearean spell. The idea came to me a few weeks ago as I watched a group of seventh-graders perform "As You Like It" in its virtual entirety in my backyard amphitheater, overlooking the creek.
The sheer task of memorizing all those lines is, in itself, a daunting one. Add to that details of inflection, gestures, blocking and stage "business" and you have a formidable assignment for a young teenager. They acquitted themselves with distinction. Enhancing the performance were musicians, who played their recorders and sang from Juliet's balcony overlooking the stage.
The class was from the Waldorf School of the Peninsula in Los Altos, where my daughter, Anna Rainville, teaches first grade. Waldorf Schools are private institutions, based on the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, that got their start in Germany. In addition to the Three R's, pupils from the first grade on study a foreign language, musicianship, eurythmy and practical skills such as handwork and gardening. In such a context, Shakespeare comes naturally.
I was particularly struck by the performance of one of the two girls who alternated in the lead role of Rosalind. Her performance wasn't just the result of good directing; this kid was a natural. She had it all: voice, movement, the works.
As I watched, I thought of another young girl with natural acting ability, who performed several decades ago in a theater alongside the creek a couple of hundred yards upstream. Olivia de Havilland, of whom I wrote in a previous column, was only a few years older when she played Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; she went directly from Saratoga to Hollywood. I don't know what's in store, theater-wise, for the seventh-grader, but future stardom would come as no surprise.
While lingering in the Bard yard, I can't resist calling attention to the Bay Area Shakespeare Camp, which my 11-year-old granddaughter will be attending this summer. Sponsored by the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, this day camp, conducted in Los Altos, includes such topics as "Discovering Shakespeare," "Voice and Movement" and "Behind the Scenes: Production and Design."
Tying the above day camp to Saratoga gets me back to Dorothea Johnston's Theater of the Glade, described in a previous column. In its seven years, from 1934 to 1941, this enterprise drew audiences and some top talent from throughout the Bay Area. It was also an opportunity for several of Saratoga's "friendly yokelry" (see Life magazine, June 10, 1946) to tread the boards. Or, in this case, tread the sod.
In 1935, the Glade production was "As You Like It," and as a 12-year-old, I had not a speaking but a chirping part. This was because of a laryngeal quirk that, in my younger years, enabled me to imitate bird calls. In "As You Like It," I was off in the bushes providing sound effects for the Forest of Arden. I also carried on a sign between scenes, telling the audience what was next. I noticed the seventh-graders also had a sign-carrier, but I couldn't detect any bird calls.
As I look back on those experiences--as a teenager I had bit parts in a later "Dream" production, and in "Romeo and Juliet" and "Merry Wives of Windsor"--I can't help but think that we had a Shakespeare Camp right here in Saratoga on the banks of the creek. And there was no tuition fee.
As to my own theatrical venue, which I call the Theater on the Ground, it was the launching pad for another enterprise with Shakespearean overtones. This was the Valley Institute of Theatre Arts begun in 1975 by my son, Bill, and his high school drama teacher, Judith Lyn Sutton. In its heyday, Valley Institute of Theatre Arts produced a highly successful summer Shakespeare Festival at the Mountain Winery.
In 1981, the production was "Romeo and Juliet," in which my son played Romeo. Juliet was played by Annette Bening, who has been heard from more recently in films. Professional jealousy has no place in families, but I couldn't resist reminding Bill that he may have played Romeo to Annette Bening's Juliet, but I played the duck to Olivia de Havilland's Alice. This was in 1933, when Dorothea Johnston produced "Alice in Wonderland," the year before starting the Theater of the Glade.
All told, the recent seventh-graders' effort was the fourth "As You Like It" production in Saratoga. There was a second Glade production in 1939, and in 1983, it was part of the Valley Institute of Theatre Arts Mountain Winery repertoire, with my son playing Orlando.
So where does Saratoga Creek figure in all this? Just ask Shakespeare. "We see which way the stream of time doth run." (King Henry IV, Part II)
|
Saratoga, California Since 1955
