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Photograph by George Sakkestad

Fans will be back with their folding chairs at Sanborn-Skyline Park in Saratoga for another Shady Shakespeare Festival Aug. 11 to Sept. 17. 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'The Taming of the Shrew' are the featured plays in this year's free event.

Shakespeare in Saratoga has it made in the shade

Clashing swords featured in this year's production

By Jennifer McBride

Residents of Saratoga may soon start hearing odd clanging noises coming from the nearby hills.

Fret not--it's just a good, old-fashioned sword fight.

Saratoga's very own Shady Shakespeare Festival is rolling into town Aug. 11, and this year the theater company is promising the added element of authentic sword fighting.

Shady Shakespeare began back in 1999 when friends Sara Betts, Dinna Myers and Jeff Day decided to pool a modest $1,000 and put on free Shakespeare for the people of the South Bay and Peninsula communities. After their first performance, the trio had so many people asking what they were doing next that they decided their efforts warranted an official theater company.

Fast forward to the present, and the Shady Shakespeare Theatre Company has been producing free, full-scale Shakespeare productions in Sanborn-Skyline Park in Saratoga for eight years running. Managing director and co-founder Myers says there's no place they'd rather be.

"The stage is nestled in a grove of lovely redwoods, and the temperature up there is always a little less than down in the valley, so it's very cool and comfortable," she says of their home at Sanborn. "And if you want to bring young kids to Shakespeare, it's perfect, because if they get restless you can wander away and play with them in the park for a little while."

Since its modest beginnings, Shady Shakespeare's audiences have grown from around 40 people per show, to as many as 350--and it's likely it will only grow from there.

This year, Shady Shakespeare will present alternating productions of Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew.

Shady Shakespeare is known for putting creative spins on these centuries-old works: Last year's production of Measure for Measure was set amidst the sexual revolution of the hippie 1970s. This year's production of Shrew promises to continue that tradition.

"We're bringing Taming of the Shrew into the Wild, Wild West with bar fights, saloon girls, town drunks and everything that makes a good spaghetti western, " says Myers. "So if you're going to bring your kids out to see Shakespeare this year, it's got to be Taming of the Shrew. [The idea] serves the play particularly well, since it's sort of a vicious battle of the sexes. Petruchio's job is to win over Kate, who's the shrew, and she's a real feisty, Calamity Jane sort of character."

However, for its second production, the romantic Romeo and Juliet, Myers says the group is staying tried and true.

"Romeo and Juliet we're doing in the classic Italian Renaissance style. We specifically chose to do this because it so strongly supports the work the English teachers are doing in the high schools. It's such a widely read play, and we really wanted the chance for [students] to see it the way it would have been produced back in Shakespeare's day," she says. "Too many people are doing it in the Leonardo DiCaprio style, and we wanted the chance to bring it back to its original form."

However, for a special treat, there's always the sword fighting--Romeo and Juliet director Larry Barrott just happens to be a certified fight choreographer who specializes in stage combat with edged weapons.

"So you can definitely expect to see some really good sword fights in Romeo and Juliet," she promises. "They're killer."

Myers says residents are also invited to come and see one-hour abridged versions of the shows at the city of Saratoga's 50th anniversary celebration at Wildwood Park on Sept. 1 and 2 at 1 p.m.

Shady Shakespeare runs Fridays through Sundays from Aug. 11 to Sept. 17 at Sanborn-Skyline Park, 16055 Sanborn Road in Saratoga. All performances begin at 7 p.m. and are free; the park charges $5 for vehicle parking. Concessions are sold. For more information, visit www.shadyshakes.org.