Hi friends! I’m back in Draper after a nice little 5 day trip down to Cedar City to attend this year’s Utah Shakespeare Festival. This year I went with a group from Utah Theatre Lovers and had a fantastic time. They are a very welcoming group and the airbnb we rented was perfect for our needs. Make sure you check out my log of the first 3 shows I saw here. Here are the remaining 3:

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING- UTAH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, CEDAR CITY

I enjoyed the festival’s production of Much Ado About Nothing so much I decided to see it a second time at the matinee on Saturday. This time I was in the cheap seats in the gallery but I think I actually preferred the experience as I could get the scope of the entire production better and I didn’t have air conditioner blasting on me like in the first row.

I don’t have much more to say about it this time as the cast is the same as my first log but just want to reiterate how well directed the production is by Brad Carroll, not sparing any details to make a gag funnier or a sequence work better. For example, when the gulling scene happens Benedick has a pail attached to his foot and him maneuvering around the stage with a pail makes an already funny scene even funnier. Walter Kmeic is outstanding as Benedick and I’d see anything he does after this I enjoyed his performance so much.

In the after-performance seminar they said part of the reason Much Ado About Nothing is so accessible is because it has a higher prose to poetry ratio than most of Shakespeare’s text and that makes sense because there are so many long sections of monologuing particularly with Benedick. I guess some people debate whether Beatrice or Benedick is the lead protagonist and I think at least in this production it’s definitely Benedick. He has a lot of scenes where he is either alone or with just Claudio or the Prince. More so than Beatrice.

Since Much Ado About Nothing is playing in the Randall I think it will be continuing through the festival which ends October 5th. I highly recommend checking this one out and bring the whole family. This is a terrific introduction to the Bard and everything the festival has to offer.

THE WINTER’S TALE- UTAH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, CEDAR CITY

I’m not sure why but going into seeing The Winter’s Tale I was worried it wouldn’t be a Shakespeare I’d enjoy much. Maybe because it’s not performed often and the plot sounds a little dry I was prepared to be entertained but bored. Imagine then my surprise when it turned out to be a thoroughly absorbing play put on with great skill and craftmanship by the team at the festival.

In truth I’m not sure why The Winter’s Tale isn’t put on more as it’s a nice mixture of elements. It has the drama of jealousy and revenge but it can also be quite funny and romantic as well. In addition, it has the whimsy and magical realism of some of Shakespeare’s other plays like A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The story focuses around a King Leontes who becomes fixated on the idea that his pregnant wife is having an affair with his best friend and that the child she is caring might not be his. His jealousy tears his marriage and family apart and her repeated denials do nothing to satisfy his desire for revenge.

Tracie Lane plays Queen Hermione and her performance is very impressive especially late into the show where she has to hold a pose as a statue for a very long time. The makeup and costuming given to her adds a lot but still the regality she holds even while remaining still is wonderful to watch. Chauncy Thomas is devastating as Leontes and he really sold the scenes where he realizes the mistakes he has made.

The play, however, is not a heavy production or at least it doesn’t feel so with humorous segments with silly characters like Autolycus who literally steals the clothes from off the back of characters. The costumes by Raven Ong add a lot to each scene making the entire production feel lush and full of imagination.

But mostly The Winter’s Tale is a great mixture of light and darkness, full of compelling characters and a story that never fails to entertain. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone attending the festival.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW- UTAH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, CEDAR CITY

My last of the festival, The Taming of the Shrew, I can’t fully comment on because unfortunately we only made it through the first half and then we were canceled (after a mighty effort to try and restage) because of repeated lightning strikes. Nevertheless I will share my thoughts on the first act.

The team behind this version of The Taming of the Shrew decided to use an introduction with a company putting on a play for the drunk Christopher Sly (Topher Embrey who is such a talented comic actor) and then everything becomes a play within a play. This is a true version of the play and I didn’t mind the choice. I also understand the desire to paint The Shrew story as something in a heightened reality as a way to make the problematic elements more palatable to modern audiences.

That said, I think they went a little overboard in the fantastical elements with hair, costume and background choices that were distracting more than compelling. For example, Bianca is supposed to be a great beauty that all the men desire after and yet she has a bizarre hairstyle with braids that made her look like Cindy-Lou Who from the Grinch not something from Shakespeare. All of the costumes are bright strange colors and the hairstyles strange with a background that really did look more out of Seuss than Shakespeare. It kept me from getting immersed in the story.

That said, the performances were all full of energy with Cailtin Wise selling the most unhinged Kate I’ve ever seen and John DiAntonio unleashing a charm machine as Petruchio. They are both pretty crazy characters so it makes the violence they unleash on each other a little more even-keeled than the text might imply.

It’s too bad I didn’t get to see the second act of The Taming of the Shrew but they did give me a credit to return so maybe I will get a chance to see it another time. As what I did see I’m not sure the choices worked for me, but I suppose better to have swung and missed than not tried anything creative at all. If you got to see the entire production I’d love to hear what you think?

So there you have it! It was a terrific trip and a wonderful festival. I hope to return next year and see more professional theatre in Cedar City. Have any of you been to the festival? What are your favorites from this year or other years?

All of the shows logged here I paid for out of pocket. I’d love to cover as many local shows as possible but I need your help to do so. If you’d like me to review more theatre and appreciate what I do please check out the patreon here. You will find the patreon has many benefits including watch alongs with writers and actors of TV and films and more. Please take a look.