Ahoy! Ethel. Where Art Thou?

Quinn Mattfeld (left) as Will Shakespeare and Betsy Mugavero as Viola de Lesseps.

By Ryan D. Paul

One of the hottest trends in the theatre world has been the adaptation of hit movies into musical theatre productions. Think Dirty Dancing, Ghost, Sister Act, and The Bodyguard to name a few. Some of these have been more successful than others. Many of these films, with their slick pop songs are almost ready-made for the transition into a Broadway musical. The greater challenge, however, lies in transforming a popular film not into a singing and dancing showcase loosely tied together with familiar tunes, but into a traditional play. This is the challenge and the beauty of Shakespeare in Love.

Tom Stoppard, the screenwriter for the 1998 Best Picture Academy Award winning Shakespeare in Love, had originally been asked to adapt the film script into a full-fledged stage production. “I didn’t want the gig, but thought I should go for it because nice colleagues wanted me to do it,” recalled Stoppard, “I moved the movie pieces around a bit, to no particular effect, before I came clean.” Undaunted, producers at Disney Theatrical, scrapped Stoppard’s version, with his blessing, and hired playwright Lee Hall to press forward. Hall, who had received a Tony Award for his book of Billy Elliot the Musical (another screen to stage adaptation, I might add), proved up to the task. Hall retained about ninety percent of the film script, while reworking some plot points and adding additional dialogue.

The play begins with William Shakespeare struggling with writers block. He is working on what he hopes will be his next big hit, a play entitled Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter. He receives help from his friend, competitor, and fellow writer Christopher Marlowe; but nothing seems to work until he meets Viola, a noblewoman who desperately wants to be an actor, but due to her gender cannot be on stage. Forced to abandon the trappings of her sex to fulfill her dreams, she dresses herself up as a young man and begins work. In Hall’s version of Shakespeare in Love, “The play is firstly about this man becoming William Shakespeare and this woman, Viola, becoming a great actress.”

The character of Viola is named after Shakespeare’s heroine in Twelfth Night who disguises herself as a boy to be near the man she loves. Additionally, the male name Viola chooses to identify herself in Shakespeare in Love is Thomas Kent. Kent, as you may recall, is a character from King Lear who must disguise himself as a person of low rank to serve the king. This is one of the many Easter eggs in this play. If you are unfamiliar with the term “Easter egg” in this context, it refers to a hidden piece of information that can only be identified or recognized by people who have a deeper understanding of the material. Devices such as this serve to enhance the enjoyment of the play and searching (listening) for them can make Shakespeare in Love a different experience each time you see it.  Another example can be seen in this interaction between Will and Marlowe:

Will: What happens to Ethel?
Marlowe: Marries a moor and is strangled with a handkerchief?

In the play, this is said to be funny, but of course we will see these details again, in a much more tragic fashion, in Othello. Other lines that come up throughout the play that should sound familiar to most lovers of Shakespeare include “Out, damn spot!,” “The play is the thing!,” and “That is the question.” This, of course, is only a small sampling. Be sure to challenge yourself to see how many you can find.

This summer, the Utah Shakespeare Festival is presenting the regional premiere of Shakespeare in Love. Brian Vaughn, Festival artistic director, who helmed last year’s very successful production of Henry V is thrilled to be directing this stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning film.  Vaughn is aware that bringing a much-loved movie to life on the stage has its challenges:

“I think the challenge, among many, is capturing all the magical elements that made the film successful and transferring that to the stage. One of our greatest assets (and really why we chose to produce the play) is the venue in which we are presenting it. I can think of no better theatre to present a play which revolves around the creation of an Elizabethan masterpiece than in our Elizabethan theatre. It helps propel the action out toward the viewer and informs the overall storytelling in a way where the actors cannot hide behind artifice. It forces the play forward and helps expose true venerability of the players.” Vaughn continues: “One of my favorite things about the play is the origin story of how Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet and how we might imagine the world’s most famous poet struggling to produce his next hit; but, most importantly, how true unabashed love can inspire magnificent poetry and how the alchemy of both can impact change. The play is called Shakespeare inLOVE, after all. It centers on the spark of creation and how true love can defy all constraints and unlock a sea of possibility.”

Vaughn, a self-described “Shakespeare nerd” remembers the intensity and intimacy he felt as he saw the film Shakespeare in Love for the first time.  “I reveled in the inside Shakespeare references, the comedy, the passion, the actors; and the film transported me to Elizabethan England in a way no other period film had done. It felt authentic.” That feeling of authenticity is what Vaughn and the entire Utah Shakespeare Festival company are striving for with this production. Come see this show prepared to laugh, love, and search for buried treasure in the form hidden gems of dialogue. However, in the interest of full disclosure, Ethel is gone and the pirates, alas, have disbanded.

Festival Schedules Military Appreciation Days

The Utah Shakespeare Festival will be celebrating our Armed Forces by offering free tickets to all our 2017 plays to service personnel and their families. The Festival appreciates the sacrifices of the men and women who serve and wants to recognize their dedication and commitment to this country.

The Festival will be proud to welcome Utah’s 222nd National Guard and any other active or inactive service personnel, as well as their families, to the following shows and dates (all the shows begin at 8 p.m.:

Treasure Island, Randall Theatre, August 23.
Guys and Dolls, Randall Theatre, August 24.
As You Like It, Engelstad Theatre, September 4.
Shakespeare in Love, Engelstad Theatre, September 5.
Romeo and Juliet, Engelstad Theatre, September 6.
A Midsummer Night*’s Dream, Randall Theatre, September 8.
How to Fight Loneliness, Anes Theatre, October 10.
The Tavern, Randall Theatre, October 11.
William Shakespeare’*s Long Lost First Play (abridged), Anes Theatre, October 12.

Military personnel are invited to reserve tickets by contacting the Festival ticket office at 800-PLAYTIX. A valid military ID will be required to pick up the tickets, and there is a limit of four tickets per show per family.  Space is limited for this special offer, so call soon to reserve your seats.  

“We are excited and proud to make this offer to our military personnel and their families,” said Joshua Stavros, media and public relations manager. “It is a small way that we can say ‘thank you’ for the sacrifices they have made for us and our country.”

                The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also includes the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA).

Play’s Journey to Culminate with World Premiere

Brian Vaughn as Brad.

Fans of the Utah Shakespeare Festival have had an amazing opportunity the last year or more to see the creation of a new play. It has been an experience that will culminate in August with the opening of the world premiere of nationally-recognized playwright Neil LaBute’s How to Fight Loneliness.

“It has been an exciting journey,” said Artistic Director Brian Vaughn, who is also playing the role of Brad, one of only three characters in the new play. “It began almost two years ago, and, now, as we prepare to start rehearsing the play we can hardly wait.”

The script for How to Fight Loneliness was originally brought to the attention of Vaughn and former Co-Artistic Director David Ivers in late 2015 by Charles Metten, at that time the director of the Festival’s New American Playwrights Project, now rejuvenated as Words Cubed. Metten was LaBute’s former teacher at Brigham Young University and long-time mentor and friend; and he felt the script would be a good fit for an August 2016 reading as part of Words Cubed.

LaBute is very well known to those who follow the theatre world. He recently had two successful shows close off-Broadway and has another, All the Ways to Say I Love You, now playing at MCC Theater. One of LaBute’s first well-known plays was In the Company of Men, which he later adapted into a movie starring Aaron Eckhart. He has since written numerous plays, including reasons to be pretty, which appeared on Broadway and was nominated in 2009 for three Tony Awards. In 2013, LaBute was recognized with the Arts and Letters Awards in Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

“David and I read LaBute’s How to Fight Loneliness, and we both said we need to do this play,” said Vaughn. “We liked the way the play unraveled over its course, as well as its overall message—especially the very real examination of a couple at a crossroads in their relationship and the difficult decisions they have to make during a crisis. David and I both knew right away that we would end up producing it, and that was confirmed when we did the staged reading.”

Thus, the play was workshopped as part of the initial season of Words Cubed, with Ivers directing and Tessa Auberjonois, Corey Jones, and Vaughn reading the roles of the three characters.

This workshop process is very common in the theatre world. “It gives the playwright the opportunity to fine tune their piece of art, to notice things that may not ring quite right to the ear,” said Vaughn. “LaBute’s language is so powerful and natural, with speakers interrupting each other and dialogue overlapping. The rhythm and punctuation are so important, which the workshop helps refine.”

“The audience reaction was positive,” said Vaughn, “and we knew our decision to produce it in 2017 was correct.”

Since then, LaBute has been working on the play even further, tweaking and making changes. It will be the same play that was workshopped in 2016, but it is even stronger now, the language is even more muscular and exact.

Also, Ivers has been working with his team of designers to flesh out the world where the actors will present the play. In the workshop, the actors primarily read their lines with very little movement and no lights, sound, costumes, or scenery. Now, it is up to this creative team to make it all come alive.

Next, the same four artists who presented the 2016 reading are returning July 31 to begin rehearsing for a full production of How to Fight Loneliness, previewing on August 25 and opening on August 26 in the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre.

“We will be getting the play on its feet,” said Vaughn, “learning the lines, aligning the motivations and emotions to finally present a moving, important play that has meaning and impact for our audiences.”

The Festival is known more for doing classical theatre, Shakespeare and other plays much of the audience is familiar with, than new plays. “This is probably the most modern play we have ever done at the Festival,” he continued. “It will give our audiences a chance to come to the play with an open mind and no pre-conceptions. There’s something wonderful about coming to see something that you’ve never seen before.”

That’s not to say that the play doesn’t fit in well with the rest of the Festival season. It has many connections thematically and artistically—to Romeo and Juliet, for instance. When Shakespeare wrote his plays, he was writing for what was a modern audience then, no different than a playwright working today. Shakespeare could be controversial in his day, he wrote about difficult subjects, and he made his audiences laugh and cry and experience the spectrum of human emotions.

The story of How to Fight Loneliness tells of a young woman, Jodie, who is struggling with a terminal illness and is faced with decisions regarding life and death. During the show, Ivers wants the audience to experience every moment of tension, comedy, and realistic language LaBute is known for. He emphasized that the play is a character study that revolves around the people in the play and their relationship, not issues surrounding the plot. “Like Shakespeare,” he said, “LaBute’s characters experience a situation where everything is on the line.

“How to Fight Loneliness is a very relevant play for our day,” concluded Vaughn. “LaBute’s plays can be controversial because he really grapples with the underbelly of human existence, and he has an acute sense of dialogue and modern-day speech and sensibilities.”

Ultimately, all the readings, the designing, the rehearsals will come together on August 25. Then, audiences at LaBute’s play will be much like the first audiences at Shakespeare’s plays or Frank Loesser’s plays or George M. Cohan’s plays. It should be a thrilling experience; we hope to see you there.

How to Fight Loneliness deals with powerful adult themes and contains numerous incidences of explicit language. It is not appropriate for most teenagers or for others who find such content unpleasant.

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival’s 56th season, which will run through October 21. Other plays in the season are William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged), As You Like It, Shakespeare in Love, Romeo and Juliet, Guys and Dolls, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, and The Tavern. For more information and tickets visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-PLAYTIX.

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts at Southern Utah University, which also includes the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA).

How to Bring a Monumental Story to the Stage

Michael Elich as Long John Silver

By Allison Borzoni

Ever since Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the book Treasure Island,it has been enjoyed by readers of all ages as a thrilling coming-of-age story. As Sean Graney, director for this summer’s production of Treasure Island, said, “I think it is important for people to gather together and watch a story about a young person discovering his own moral code, choosing whether to live a life of selfishness or acting for the greater good.”

With Long John Silver sneaking onboard the good ship Hispaniola with his pirate crew, many of the characters in this play need to make big decisions as the adventure unfolds. On another level, the artists who created this show at the Utah Shakespeare Festival had to make hundreds of big decisions on how best to bring this monumental story to the stage.

One of the decisions Graney and the designers faced was how to best represent the many locations in the production. “Trying to figure out how the play moves from scene to scene in an exciting, yet easy way was a big challenge,” he said. It will be a surprising adventure for playgoers to see how Jim Hawkins navigates across England, onto a ship, and most importantly on and around Treasure Island throughout the course of the play.

The most popular feature of the book and subsequent adaptations is, of course, the pirates. The dastardly mutineers and morally ambiguous Long John Silver are always teasing our imaginations. The pirates also attracted Graney to the production because, “Treasure Island firmly established how we think pirates dressed, talked, and acted. We worked throughout the time we prepared for the production, determining which of those expectations to embrace and which to examine with a fresh perspective.” The real question is if we’ll see the pirates dressed in stripes, polka-dots, and shark-bite trousers.

The most exciting part for Graney was the chance to work on Treasure Island while running around and acting like a pirate. The whole family can be a part of the fun too while seeing Long John Silver prowl the decks and Jim Hawkins decide his destiny. And have we mentioned adventure? Because, “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest / Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!” sounds like a lot of adventure to us.

The Musical that Rocked the World Now at the Festival

By Allison Borzoni

The musical Guys and Dolls, running at the Utah Shakespeare Festival through September 1, rocked the world on its debut and nearly every reboot since. Because of that illustrious history, it’s not always easy to take on this celebrated oldie, but director Peter Rothstein, new at the Festival this year, has met the challenge.

Guys and Dolls is a classical musical theatre tale, and it can be difficult to approach something that’s been performed successfully so many times before. “Like all great shows, they have different things to say to each generation,” said Rothstein. “When I first revisited the script about a year ago, I was struck by how two people who appear to be polar opposites when it comes to ethics, politics, and their world views can fall in love.” With the political climate we live in today, Rothstein looks forward to showing what Guys and Dolls can tell all of us about people and differences.  

There’s a lot to live up to when a theatre decides to perform Guys and Dolls. Like every show, there are’s challenges, and this musical’s heritage is one of those difficulties: “I think people have expectations about what Guys and Dolls is supposed to look like,” he said. “So we have created a design that both meets those expectations and surprises us.” Edward Hopper is a part of the design inspiration for this production, according to Rothstein. He was a realistic American painter who was famous for his oil paintings, which displayed common features of American life and rural landscapes.

You may be more excited to hear “Luck Be a Lady” than postulate about design choices, but audiences aren’t the only ones looking forward to seeing the production. The musical’s impact has gone much farther, as Rothstein described: “It may be the guide book to the musical comedy. It has had a profound impact on the art form. Scholars, producers, and theater educators still look to Guys and Dolls for plot structure, song placement, and character development.” It’ll be a treat to see the archetype of musical comedy in all its glory this summer.

Rothstein has done the show before on  at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, so he’s bringing that exciting experience to the stage for the Festival as he directs the musical. Guys and Dolls is returning the favor by bringing something new to the table for Rothstein—it’s taking him to Cedar City for the first time. “I’m excited to make my debut with the Festival, but I’m equally excited to discover and explore beautiful southern Utah,” Rothstein said. 

So give Rothstein a warm welcome, and maybe practice “More I Cannot Wish You.” It’s his favorite song from the musical. Try not to sing it during the performance, but maybe you can whistle it as you walk by the theatres on your way to the show.

Do You Know This Song Is from Guys and Dolls?

By Allison Borzoni

Alexandra Zorn (left) as Sarah Brown and Brian Vaughn as Sky Masterson

It has happened to all of us. You are listening to a fun song on the radio as you are driving, singing along as you take a left turn. A friend in the passenger seat says, “Did you know this is from Guys and Dolls?” And you say, “No it’s not.” Your friend counters, “Yes it is.” “No, it’s not.” “Yes, it is.” “No, it’s not.” The argument continues until you suddenly realize—your friend is right. The song is from Guys and Dolls.

To save you from losing the argument, we’ve gathered some popular songs you maybe didn’t realize were from Guys and Dolls—five songs from the musical that have flourished outside of the theatre.

“A Bushel and a Peck” is first song we hear from Miss Adelaide. She sings it in the nightclub alongside her fellow showgirls in Act 1. The first few lines are very familiar: “I love you a bushel and a peck/ A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck/ A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap/ A barrel and a heap and I’m talkin’ in my sleep.” Recognize it now?

The song “Guys and Dolls” feels like a no-brainer. It shows up in the musical when the characters Nicely and Benny see how Nathan Detroit chases after Adelaide. This song about the lengths men go for their dolls ends with the lines “When the lazy slob gets a good steady job/ And he smells from Vitalis and Barbasol/ Call it dumb, call it clever, ah but you can get odds forever,/ That the guy’s only doing it for some doll, some doll, some doll,/ That the guy’s only doing it for some doll.” With the rhyming and clever jokes, it’s an excellent song to memorize and sing with friends on a fun night out.

Sarah sings “If I were a Bell” in pure classic musical fashion: When she can’t contain the emotion anymore. The title line comes from the first stanza “Ask me how do I feel,/ Now that we’re cosy and clinging,/ Well sir, all I can say is/ If I were a bell I’d be ringing!” Feel free to give the song another listen, it’s a lot of fun to sing outloud when you’re stuck in traffic.

“Luck Be a Lady Tonight,” is not only a song title, but also a good-luck charm over your dice in Monopoly. This song graces the stage in Act 2, and it’s sung by Sky Masterson as he makes a gamble on the souls of his gambling buddies. “You might give me the brush/ You might forget your manners/ You might refuse to stay/ And so the best that I can do is pray/ Luck be a lady tonight.” May luck be a lady with you too during your next game night.

The character Nicely takes the lead on the fifth song on our list: “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat.” Nicely’s quick-thinking brought the world this catchy rendition of a religious dream. “People all said sit down/ Sit down you’re rockin’ the boat./ And the devil will drag you under/ By the sharp lapel of your checkered coat,/ Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down,/ Sit down you’re rocking the boat.”

So without rocking the boat, you can now point out the songs your friends didn’t realize came from Guys and Dolls. The play is filled to the brim with musical gems, and these are only a few of the songs you may already know. So give the soundtrack another listen.

The Playwrights Behind the Comedy

Austin Tichenor (left) and Reed Martin

By Allison Borzoni

After you have seen William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) this summer, you may find yourself asking: “Who are these guys that could take Shakespeare’s canon and turn it into such hilarity?” Well, these guys are the enigmatic Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor. You can thank them for this vaudevillian play coming to the Utah Shakespeare Festival this season. Martin, Tichenor, and the play itself are all from the Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) which has left audiences in tears of laughter ever since the RSC began in 1981.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company got its start by reducing Hamlet into a twenty-minute, pass-the-hat act at Renaissance fairs in California. The original company members, Jess Borgerson, Adam Long, and Daniel Singer, kept the audience watching with their fast and physical comedy style that would earn them the name “Bad Boys of Abridgment.” The boys at the RSC then wrote The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) and performed it at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Since that popular performance, the RSC has broken records for longest show-runs at multiple theatres and has even succeeded in having more shows running at once in all of London than Andrew Lloyd Webber. The company has sold out shows for weeks on end and has performed on an EasyJet plane at 37,000 feet, bringing Shakespeare to the cramped passengers onboard and setting the Guinness World Record for Highest Theatre Performance.

The RSC has condensed many a production, book, and world history into lengths suitable for the unfocused crowds of today, with Martin and Tichenor co-writing a majority of them: namely, The Complete History of America (abridged), The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), Western Civilization: The Complete Musical (abridged), All the Great Books (abridged), Completely Hollywood (abridged), The Complete World of Sports (abridged), The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged), and The Complete History of Comedy (abridged).

Noticing a pattern here?

But who are Martin and Tichenor, the men who (purportedly) found both the bones (not important) and Shakespeare’s long lost first play (more important) buried in a parking lot in England?

Well, Reed Martin is a man with many schools beside his name: UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, The Bill Kinnamon School of Professional Umpire Training, and Clown College. He has performed for the Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus, as well as at the White House and Madison Square Garden. Once he joined RSC in 1989, he co-created and performed in many of its original productions around the world. He’s also written for BBC, NPR, Britain’s Channel Four, RTE Ireland, Public Radio International, The Washington Post, and Vogue.

Martin and Tichenor have also written and published together The Greatest Story Ever Sold and Reduced Shakespeare: The Complete Guide For the Attention-Impaired (abridged).

Meanwhile, Austin Tichenor has written twenty plays and musicals for youngsters and has adapted Kafka’s Metamorphosis into a stage production, Dancing on the Ceiling. Tichenor also attained degrees from UC Berkeley and Boston University and joined the RSC in 1992. He has kept busy both co-writing and performing for the RSC as well as appearing in recurring roles on 24, Alias, Felicity, Ally McBeal, and The Practice. Tichenor produces and hosts an award-winning podcast: Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast, one of the Top Ten Podcasts for Theatre Fans according to Broadway World.

However, the most convincing reason to trust Martin and Tichenor with the totally authentic, sixteenth century script of Shakespeare’s long lost first play is that in the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” they have a Bacon Factor of One. This is due to their roles in the show Balto, in which Kevin Bacon played the lead role. Alongside Balto, these experts of reduced theatre have repeatedly performed at places across the world like Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

According to the pair, their work will delight and astound Festival audiences and probably just astound Shakespeare scholars. Don’t miss William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged).

Meet Director Christopher V. Edwards

By Allison Borzoni

What should a playgoer expect when he or she enters a theatre to see a play with a title like Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged)? Granted, the script was originally created by the world-famous Reduced Shakespeare Company, and the Festival’s production is a regional premiere. But, what is this play?

Well, according to Director Christopher V. Edwards, it’s an exciting and hilarious look at what might happen if forty-nine of Shakespeare’s characters are brought together on the same stage.

The show attracted Edwards because it’s “something a little lighter and fun and irreverent. This is a play that just allows people to come into a place and enjoy it together, regardless of their politics or where they land on an issue.” This show continues the tradition of uniting an audience through character-focused, improvisational comedy, and even bringing audience members up on stage. If you’re still unsure of what to expect, Edwards described the show as, “Saturday Night Live meets In Living Color meets Monty Python.” So prepare yourself for a broken fourth-wall and Shakespearean and other references you’ll find familiar.

But when forty-nine Shakespearean roles are performed by only three actors, you might expect some challenges in the costume department. It is, granted, hectic; but, luckily, it’s not as crazy as you might think. Edwards explained, “The cool thing about the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s plays is that they usually involve quick-changes that are very minimal costume changes. Adding a vest, adding a crown, or adding a wig.” In a whirlwind of costume pieces, the cast will take you to places throughout Shakespeare and guide your eye from Hamlet to Beatrice to Richard III.

Would Shakespeare himself enjoy the show and all of its contemporary references? “I’m not an actual scholar, but I think he would enjoy it,” said Edwards. “I also think he in his plays was referencing his own time. He was doing plays set, for instance, in Rome and Italy, but he was referencing London during the period. And I think the Reduced Shakespeare Company is doing exactly that. They’re pulling straight from the headlines.” Shakespeare is famous for his jokes and insults, so when the Reduced Shakespeare Company brings that humor into modern English, it’s definitely a good idea to go and see it for yourself.

Here’s some final advice from Edwards: “Be ready to wear some comfortable shoes, be ready to engage, and be a part of the show. This show isn’t just about coming in and being an audience member. The (few) audience members who come up on stage each night will make the show different.” Ready or not, here comes Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged).

Thanks for Your Comments

Every year, the Utah Shakespeare Festival receives thousands of comments from our guests telling us about their experiences here. It is always gratifying and instructive for us to read through them. Granted, not all the comments are positive, but even those that aren’t, are helpful as we look to make your experience even better.

This year, the comments have been especially positive thus far. You seem to like our plays and The Festival Experience. It is exciting for us to know that the people we work so hard for, the people for whom we create this unique experience, appreciate our work.

Here’s a sampling of your comments:

“As You Like It—from philosophy to romance to wrestling—something for everyone. Rosalind [is] the standout here. Easy to understand, relevant actually.”

“Thanks for a wonderful festival!”

“What a fantastic show!! The acting was great. The costumes were unbelievable. And the set designs were terrific. So glad we made the trip to see it!!”

“I’ve seen several productions over the last ten years. It’s worth the drive every time.”

“The young woman at the ticket office was so friendly and helpful and able to get us the best seats possible. Her service is representative of the consistent great service from all the Festival staff.”

“Overall it was a super fun-filled trip as always. We will keep coming back every year.”

“Every summer that we are visiting Utah, my wife and I come to Cedar City specifically to attend a play at the Festival. This year we watched Shakespeare in Love. The play made us laugh and cry. We loved hearing the audience gasp at several moments of the play. It was well worth the drive.”

Top Ten Shakespeare-Related Books, Picked by the Festival Staff

By Brooke Vlasich

These days the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s offices are all abuzz with the opening of the 2017 season. We all have Shakespeare on our minds as the plays become a reality and we welcome you to our theatres. But we also enjoy Shakespeare in other genres, especially in good books. In fact, we have some great recommendations to add to your summer reading. So, if Shakespeare is your thing, make sure you check out some of these inspiring reads:                    

1. Fool (Christopher Moore):Fool is a comedic novel centered around Pocket, modeled after King Lear’s fool. After witnessing family drama unfold between King Lear and his daughters (selfish Goneril, sadistic Regan, and sweet Cordelia), Pocket uses his sense of humor to set everything right. With a sharp mind and daggers, he keeps hidden, Pocket uses his influence to manage everything from casting spells to inciting wars. He does this all to help Cordelia get back into Lear’s good graces, thwart Goneril and Regan’s plans, and look out for the goodwill of his friend, Drool.
2. Warm Bodies: A Novel (Isaac Marion): If you’re into zombie stories with a twist of love,Warm Bodies is the perfect fit for you. The novel involves R, a zombie living in a futuristic world who’s searching for more than living his isolated life. All of that changes when he meets Julie and falls in love. ThisRomeo and Juliet-inspired novel was eventually turned into a popular movie starring Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer.
3. A Thousand Acres (Jane Smiley): AnotherKing Lear-inspired novel, this plot contrasts with the humorousFool. This twentieth-century interpretation features a wealthy Iowa farmer, Larry Cook, who must decide how to divide his farm between his daughters Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. Their actions eventually reveal some about dark truths and suppressed emotions within the family.
4. Shakespeare: The World as Stage (Bill Bryson): Looking for a thorough biography on the bard? Although very little is known about Shakespeare, this book makes the facts engaging. Bryson’s skills for story-telling, humor, and wit make this biography anything but dull.
5. How Shakespeare Changed Everything (Stephen Marche): Written by anEsquire columnist, this book explores Shakespeare’s influences on today’s world, citing a wide range of topics from food courts to American civil rights debates to botany. With artful humor and detailed insights, Marche makes Shakespeare compelling and relevant to modern life.
6. Will in the World (Stephen Greenblatt): Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Stephen Greenblatt offers another look into Shakespeare’s life in this biography. If you’ve ever wondered how Shakespeare became the famous man he is today and how his work gained the magnitude it has, Greenblatt presents answers to your questions. He shows readers how the sensitive poet who closely observed everyday life evolved into a legend.
7. Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? (James Shapiro): The question of authorship of the Shakespearean plays has sprung up repeatedly over the year; and the debate is fully addressed in scholar James Shapiro’s book. Shapiro examines why people began asking whether or not Shakespeare wrote his own plays and began attributing his talents to Christopher Marlowe, Sir Francis Bacon, and the Earl of Oxford. The book investigates these claims, why they matter, and why they continue even though abundant evidence indicates Shakespeare wrote his own material.
8. The Year of Lear:*Shakespeare in 1606 (James Shapiro): Another favorite written by James Shapiro, this book examines the yearKing Lear, Macbeth,* andAntony and Cleopatra were written. After the Gundpowder Plot was revealed as an attempt to blow up King James of Scotland, anti-Catholic sentiment began to grow. Shapiro delves deeper into how the nation erupted into fights over political and religious leadership and set the backdrop for these famous plays.
9. William Shakespeare’s Star Wars (Ian Doescher): Love Shakespeare andStar Wars? Then you’ll be a huge fan of this book that retells the story ofStar Wars in iambic pentameter and through Shakespeare’s plays. If droids, villains, and wookies are your thing, you won’t be disappointed by this read.
10. Speak the Speech!: Shakespeare’s Monologues Illuminated (Rhonda Silverbush and Sami Plotkin): If you’re an actor-in-training or inspired by Shakespeare’s words, dive deeper into them and explore the relationship of every phrase and sound. The authors also provide synopses of plays and extensive guidelines for monologues.

Those are some of the books we have been reading. We hope you will try a few and then let us know what you would you add to this list.