Hannah Ashcroft is a 21-year-old sophomore from Peoria, Arizona. She is beginning her 3rd semester studying communication and has been a fan of the Utah Shakespeare Festival since her first semester at SUU.
Ashcroft spent the latter half of her summer working here in Cedar City as she prepared to jump back into the new semester. One of the first things she did after arriving in town was purchase a Shakespeare Student Access Pass for $40. She spent her days working and used her free nights as an opportunity to experience life in another time through the theater.
She has seen all of the plays at least once and most of them multiple times. She has seen The Merchant of Venice, The Foreigner, and The Merry Wives of Windsor each three times. She has also seen Henry VI Part 1 and Big River twice.
But she has to say that her favorite show of this years season is the less theatrical but extremely insightful production An Iliad. This show is a excerpted production of the epic poem The Iliad, it is performed by Brian Vaughn who is portraying the character of a bard. This performance is reminiscent of what it would have looked like in Ancient Greece with Homer, the reported author of the epic, reciting the poem to an enraptured audience.
“It is a very thought provoking show,” Ashcroft said, “and there is just a lot of topics brought up in the Iliad that are really relevant to us today. You know, it talks about war and what happens when people can’t tolerate other people and why we fight other people. It makes you ask really deep introspective questions.”
The Shakespeare festival has been a well-loved institution in Utah for the past 56 years with actors and patrons coming from all across the country to be a part of each season. The 2018 season is almost over with only one month left of shows, but fear not: tickets are still available and, according to Hannah Ashcroft, very much worth the price of admission. Who knows–maybe you will see her there!
Story by: Alexis J. Taylor
accent@suunews.net
Photo by: Luke Ashcroft
