It’s Not Too Late to Catch the Utah Shakespeare Festival

Photo by Karl Hugh and Courtesy of The Utah Shakespeare Festival – Marco Antonio Vega (left) as Marco, Riley Shanahan as Riley and Luke Striffler as Luke in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2017 production of “William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play.”

Even though there is only a month and a half left, the Utah Shakespeare Festival  still has a lot to offer.

Throughout the remainder of the season, the focus of the plays will be on four big productions alongside many orientations and seminars with the actors. The four plays are: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “How to Fight Loneliness,” “The Tavern” and “William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play.”

The festival has plays and seminars nearly every day of the week excluding Mondays and has showings of each production a couple times per week.

Three of the four plays are considered comedies. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a well known comedic tale of fairies, moonlight and dreams. This year, the play is set in the Jazz Age making a new twist to a culture classic.

“William Shakespeare’s Long Lost Play” is centered around a comic abridgement of a story of the supposedly first manuscript written by Shakespeare. A trio of actors will be making many costume changes to play multiple characters.

Photo by Karl Hugh and Courtesy of The Utah Shakespeare Festival – Fred Geyer (left) as Zach, Kelly Rogers as Sally-Mae and Andrew May as The Vagabond in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2017 production of “The Tavern.”“The Tavern” brings a more satirical comedy to the table, set in a remote Utah tavern. It is a mystery drama, and includes many oddball characters.

“How to Fight Loneliness” follows a modern day husband and wife as they struggle through making decisions about their love and life. After being workshopped at the festival last year, this production is a world premier. As a warning, the play does contain explicit language and mature themes and is intended for mature audiences.

For SUU students, the festival offers $40 Student Access Passes that allow you to get into any show and as many times as you would like provided you book the same day. Since tickets usually run $30-$50 a seat, the pass is a great way to get the best bang for your buck.

For more information visit www.bard.org  or simply pick up a schedule booklet at the ticket office outside the Engelstad theater.

Story by
William Robertson for SUU News
robertson.elliot@yahoo.com