Last Saturday after a grueling early morning practice run for the Fontana Half-Marathon with April, I was ready for an evening off my feet.
Instead of just sitting home though, I talked John into doing something I've been wanting to do for years -- going to the Shakespeare Festival at the Redlands Bowl.
That night, the production was "The Merchant of Venice" -- a nice easy to grasp comedy. And, one of my co-workers, Michael Pierce, happened to be playing the part of the Prince of Morocco. Because of this, there have been emails at work about the festival as well as posters in the break room to remind me of this easy-to-miss event.
Michael Pierce as the Prince of Morocco
The acting was great and the staging was phenomenal. I'm no drama critic, so I may not even describe this correctly but it was done in the style of Commedia dell'arte -- you know, the old tragedy and comedy masks -- kind of like that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_dell'arte
It was easy to just relax, rest my feet and legs, drink in the whole experience in and imagine I was really in the 16th century at a beautiful outdoor theater on a sweet, if cool, May evening.
The festival is still going on for a few more nights. If you like Shakespeare or just being outside at a beautiful old venue listening to beautiful language, and seeing the talent of people who really love this stuff and who, you can tell, have rehearsed for months to put on a great production, you might want to just drop by. Otherwise, maybe I'll see you at the Redlands Bowl later this summer at their Summer Music Series.
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