Ashland

[Drunk Monk]

Just got back from the 75th anniversary of the OR Shakes festival. We saw Pride & Prejudice, Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night. It was deilghtful. It was our first time in Ashland and we stayed at this funky hot springs place called Jackson Well Springs, just a mile outside of town.

I'll have a more complete report next week (when I can post here on the clock ;-) ). I'm technically still on vacation, but I needed my web fix.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Was it Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or just the old one?

[Drunk Monk]

P&P was the first play we saw and it was great. The blocking and staging were really tight. Elizabeth and her parents were very well acted, although Darcy wasn't quite stiff enough. I was amazed at how well they covered the major plot devices of the book in just a few hours.

I'll have more reviews after I unbury myself from a landslide of work email.

[Drunk Monk]

The other two plays we saw were traditional Shakes in the reconstructed Globe theater. Those were great fun. The theater is nice - sets totally reconstructed between the two shows over the two nights - but the water fountains were broken and the back up for the restrooms was way out of hand. After two blistering days in Ashland, they were renting blankets, because it does get a little chilly at night and it's an outdoor venue.

Merchant was well performed but I disliked the actress playing Portia. Shylock was spot on, which is all that really matters, and I still have yet to resolve his outcome. Shylock is such a tragic figure that it's hard for me to see this as a comedy. The Pacino/Lyons film version is so good that it tends to color any others, even live plays. Still, it was great theater.

12th Night was the pick of the litter for me. What can I say? It has a sword fight. It featured two Armoury swords, a Musketeer with epee blade and a Shell with rapier blade. Agucheek was played by a friend of a friend, which added to the amusement. Agucheek, Belch, Olivia & Malvolio were great. Viola was serviceable. Orsino was a little lacking, but so what?

We may go back if they perform Midsummer Night's Dream, T's fav.

[Drunk Monk]

we stayed at jackson well springs, which is about a mile out of town. it was once probably a nice spa with cottages which are now closed - condemned more like it. now it has been taken over by aura-gun hippies and new agers. there's a large swimming pool - too cold for my tastes but i'm a total wimp about cold water now - the fam enjoyed it. there's also a nice hot tub where i spent hours, along with a great dry sauna and a hardcore steam room. i love steam but could only take this one for short periods because it was so intense. we camped in a field nearby (only $20 a night) next to some lame teepees. in the back, there was what T dubbed as the haunted playground because it was rundown and there were creepy broken toys all over, including a macabre cupie doll drowned in a little inch-deep mud trickle that might have been a creek at one point. in the back, there was an even creepier Rv park, with maybe two dozen rv's, the most prominent sporting a confederate flag. next to the gated pool was this lovely garden, with gorgeous hand-carved wooden gazebos (indonesian or thai perhaps) and this large tented area with cool furniture (ethiopian maybe?) and fire pits. lots of nice statuary, including a lovely ganesha overseeing the pool and a nice buddha in a private staff room. there was a parade of events while there: a capoeira class, a 12-step meeting, a dead cover band, a yoga class, and a two-day workshop with some tibetan ripoche which filled the place with robe clad monks. in the evenings, there was almost always some guys smoking a j in the garden. we didn't really engage any of that. we just soaked in the pool, in those lovely lithia waters, and eavesdropped on the locals, which was very funny, as the pool was sort of a local place to take kids. at night, it went clothing optional, no kids, but we were at the plays. food was okay, but a tad expensive. we mostly ate of the grocery co-op, which was really nice, like the best of whole foods, almost totally organic, and reasonably priced (also a great place to eavesdrop on locals). ate at an overpriced italian joint the first night and got worried that we wouldn't be able to find decent food. ate at grilla bites the next night, which was really nice, lots of organic food, and creekside dining. then ate at a pizza joint twice, which was also nice as it had a grateful dead theme - fillmore posters of the dead, santana, phish, string cheese, et al. along with gorge posters and such. jerry playing the first night. good pizza. lots of reminicsing for me from shows i'd been at.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

ashland rocks. been there many times, like it more each time.