Published: November 28, 2007 12:27 am            

John Cannon: A morning with the Bard of Avon: 11/28/07

One of the many things my wife and I share in common is a love for live theater. For the most part, we would rather see a play than go to a movie.

Thus, when my wife and I learned during our recent vacation in Virginia that a company of actors was performing plays by William Shakespeare in the nearby town of Staunton, it attracted our interest. What made it even more appealing was the fact the plays were performed in a replica of the Globe Theatre in London.

The friends with whom we were spending the week were also theater buffs from way back when, and we quickly agreed to drive to Staunton for a play.

Our choices were “Romeo and Juliet” and “Antony and Cleopatra.” As far as I was concerned, that was an easy choice. My knowledge of Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleoptra” is minimal. On the other hand, I had studied “Romeo and Juliet” as a freshman in high school, had seen the play performed live on at least two occasions and had seen two movie versions of it. Not only that, “West Side Story” is one of my favorite musicals and it is just a modern day version of “Romeo and Juliet.”

In addition, “Antony and Cleopatra” did not begin until 8 p.m. while “Romeo and Juliet” was at 10:30 in the morning. We decided we could see “Romeo and Juliet,” have lunch and take in the sites of historic Staunton and still get back to our cabin before dark.

“Of course, you do realize who will be at the 10:30 a.m. performance, don’t you?” I asked my friends.

“I don’t expect there will be many people going to a play on a weekday morning in November,” my friend said. “We’ll probably get great seats.”

“We may be lucky to get a seat,” I said. “Performances at that time of day are for school groups.”

Sure enough, when we arrived at the theater shortly after 10 a.m. we were informed that the 10:30 a.m. performance was “sold out.” However, we were told that some seats may become available at the last minute if we were willing to wait.

Not having anything else better to do, we waited while several large school groups arrived. However, just minutes before 10:30, we were told four seats were available. We took them — and was I ever glad we did.

I loved this performance of the Shakespeare tragedy. I was particularly impressed by Juliet. For one thing, she looked the part. The play says Juliet is only 14, and while I am sure she was somewhat older than that, this Juliet could pass for 14. On the other hand, Norma Shearer, who played Juliet in the first movie versions of the play was way too old for the part.

But I particularly liked this Juliet’s interpretation of her role. She was coy and playful during the famous balcony scene, blatantly flirting with Romeo. Her joyful spirit was fitting for a 14-year-old teen.

The theater itself was small, seating only 300, and from our spot in the balcony, we could not see the entire stage. It reminded me of watching a baseball game at old Riverfront Stadium where a portion of left field was hidden from view.

Members of the audience were also seated on the stage, and the actors interacted with them, which thrilled the high school girls seated there. In short, it was one of the best Shakespeare productions I have ever seen.

At this particular theater, the same group of actors perform in three different Shakespeare plays at the same time. That meant the same actors would be performing in “Antony and Cleopatra” that night. To memorize lines for one Shakespeare play is a real challenge; to memorize lines for three plays would be mission impossible for me. And remember, you can’t ad lib Shakespeare because there is always someone in the audience who knows Shakespeare word for word and is counting every flubbed line.

Any way, a morning with Shakespeare proved to be one of the highlights of my vacation — not as good as a night of double pinochle, but close.

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While in Staunton, we heard the locals pronounce the town’s name as “Stan-ton” with a short a, and as “Staun-ton” with the au pronounced as in auburn. Apparently, there is some disagreement on just how to pronounce the town’s name.

A friend told me about an acquaintance who was dining in Staunton and wanted to get a definitive answer on how the town was pronounced.

“Now I want you to tell me slowly and clearly how you pronounce the name of where we are,” he told the waitress.

Without cracking a smile, she replied, “Mc-Don-alds.”

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JOHN CANNON can be reached at jcannon@dailyindependent or at (606) 326-2649.

        

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