As I mentioned in my post from last week, my dad and I went down to Cedar City to the Utah Shakespearean Festival. It was great as usual. The plays get better and better every year. We saw The Secret Garden, Henry V, Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, Private Lives, and Foxfire. They were all really good but my favorites were As You Like It, Henry V, and The Secret Garden.
Here are the synopsis of each play. The festival website had great ones so I've included them.
The Secret Garden was a musical based on the well known children's book by the same name.
Mary Lennox, a ten-year-old girl who loses her parents to a cholera epidemic in India (“Opening Dream”), is sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven, at Misselthwaite Manor in England (“There’s a Girl”). He is the widower of Mary’s Aunt Lily who died many years earlier. He is a hunchback and is still grieving over his wife’s death.
His brother, Dr. Neville Craven, is largely responsible for the management of the manor, along with the housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock. Mary receives a cold welcome upon arrival (“The House Upon the Hill”), and she has trouble sleeping her first night (“I Heard Someone Crying”). She, Archibald, Lily, and the Dreamers lament the loss of loved ones.
The next morning Mary meets Martha, a young chambermaid, who tells her about the grounds, a hidden garden in particular, and encourages her to play outside (“If I Had a Fine White Horse”). Meanwhile, Archibald reminisces about how he met Lily (“A Girl in the Valley”).
As Mary explores the grounds, she meets Ben Weatherstaff, the head gardener, and Dickon, Martha’s brother. Through a series of songs (“It’s a Maze,” “Winter’s on the Wing,” and “Show Me the Key”), Mary learns the history of the hidden garden and its lost key. She befriends a robin who shows her the location of the missing key, but not the door.
Neville tries to persuade Archibald to send Mary away to school and for him to find happiness elsewhere, if not at Misselthwaite. Archibald resists, and meets with Mary, who asks him for “A Bit of Earth.” As a storm approaches (“Storm I”), both Archibald and Neville realize how much Mary reminds them of Lily (“Lily’s Eyes”), with whom both men were in love.
In her wanderings throughout the manor, Mary again hears someone crying (“Storm II”) and discovers Colin, her bed-ridden cousin. She learns that his mother Lily died when Colin was born and he is terrified that he, too, will become a hunchback like his father. He tells her of his dreams about “A Round-Shouldered Man” who takes him on adventures.
As the children are becoming friends, Mrs. Medlock and Neville enter and angrily threaten Mary to stay away from Colin. In her frustration, she rushes outside into the climax of the storm, and with the help of the Dreamers, finds the door to the garden (“Final Storm”).
Mary envisions having a secret place to go to be herself (“The Girl I Mean To Be”), but Neville is again campaigning to have her sent away to school because she is disrupting his “treatment” for Colin. Archibald again refuses and relates a dream he had of Lily and Mary together in the garden. The brothers individually reflect on Lily, while a flashback shows Rose, Mary’s mother, and Lily arguing over the forthcoming marriage of her and Archibald (“Quartet”).
Archibald finally permits Neville to investigate a few schools for Mary and leaves for Paris, stopping to look in on the sleeping Colin (“Race You to the Top of the Morning”).
By this time, Mary has found the door to the garden but believes everything inside to be dead. Dickon tells her that the garden is just dormant and offers his help in waking it up (“Wick”). Mary tells Colin about the garden and tries to convince him to come outside to see it. He is reluctant until he has a vision of his mother inviting him to her garden (“Come to My Garden/Lift Me Up”).
Late one night, Mary, Dickon, and Martha covertly bring Colin to the garden in a wheelchair. As they spend time there the exercise and fresh air help Colin regain his health (“Come Spirit, Come Charm”). The Dreamers share in the joy of the moment (“A Bit of Earth (reprise)”).
Not long after, Mary is in danger of being sent away to boarding school by Neville (“Disappear”), but is buoyed up by Martha who tells her to “Hold On” to everything and everybody to which she has grown close. She writes to Archibald and asks him to come home (“Letter Song”).
In Paris, Archibald still struggles to find peace in his life (“Where in the World”), but Lily’s ghost persuades him to return home to Misselthwaite Manor (“How Could I Ever Know”). Entering the garden on his arrival, he discovers Colin in complete health, running and playing with the others. Archibald, now a changed man, invites Mary to be his own, and the Dreamers bid all to “stay here in the garden” (“Finale”).
Henry V One of our favorite actors, Brian Vaughn played the lead.
Soon after his accession to the throne of England, Henry V decides to increase his popularity and keep his nobles busy by engaging in foreign conquest. Assured that according to ancient Salic law he is the rightful heir to the throne of France, the king provides for England’s defence against attack by Scotland and begins his campaign against France by demanding certain French domains. Lewis, the dauphin of France responds by sending Henry a gift of tennis balls, an insult referring to Henry’s wayward youth. Furious, the king dismisses the French emissary with the grim remark that the dauphin shall soon see his tennis balls turned into “gunstones.”
Meanwhile, in another part of London we learn that Pistol, the king’s friend in his younger and wilder days, has married Mistress Quickly; and Falstaff, another old friend and comrade, has died broken-hearted because the king has deserted him.
With great enthusiasm for their king and his cause, the English people prepare for the expedition to France. Simultaneously, Henry, learning of a plot to murder him as he embarks, has the three conspirators arrested and put to death. Then he hastens to France with his army, where he has already sent an ambassador to Charles VI, king of France, demanding his crown, under penalty of war. The king answers Henry’s demand with the offer of his daughter Katherine’s hand and a dowry so small as to be insulting. Arriving in France, the English set siege to and win surrender of the city of Harfleur and spend the night there before pressing on to Calais.
In the meantime, Princess Katherine prepares to meet King Henry by learning some English words from her attendant, Alice, who has lived in England.
Weakened by sickness and privations, and outnumbered five to one, the English army encamps at Agincourt and readies for battle. Henry, insisting that his soldiers respect property and the French people, orders Bardolph, another comrade from his tavern days, hanged for robbing a church. Meanwhile, the French, confident of success, boast of the victory that will be theirs on the morrow.
Realizing the disadvantaged position he and his army are in, Henry disguises himself in a long cloak and goes among his soldiers to ascertain their morale the night before battle. The next morning the courageous English king delivers his famous St. Crispin’s Day speech and so inspires his troops that they achieve an unexpected and overwhelming victory over the massive French forces, with little loss of English life.
After sailing home and giving thanks for his victory, Henry returns to the French court, where he is kindly welcomed. In an interview with Katherine, he manages to convey to her, despite their difficulties with each other’s language, the plain fact that he loves her, to which she responds so satisfactorily that he insists on sealing their compact with a kiss, even though doing so is contrary to French custom. His peace terms, which include the throne of France and the hand of Katherine, are granted, and the hard-won reign of Henry V, king of England and of France, begins.
Comedy of Errors
Egeon, a merchant from Syracuse, is apprehended in Ephesus and condemned to death for violating a law that bars commerce and travel between the two cities. The only way he can avoid the penalty is to ransom his life for one hundred marks, a sum he neither has nor has any way of raising. Solinus, duke of Ephesus, asks the old man why he was traveling in the hostile city, and Egeon responds with his sad tale:
Over a quarter of a century earlier, Egeon and his wife, Emilia, became the parents of twin sons, and they soon followed that by buying another pair of twin boys, born “that same hour,” to be slaves for their own sons. They named both sons Antipholus and both slaves Dromio. In a shipwreck several years later, the family was separated. Egeon, with one twin son and his slave, was rescued by one ship; and his wife and the other two twins were rescued by another. Eighteen years later, the Antipholus raised by Egeon left Syracuse, along with his slave Dromio, to search the world over for his lost twin brother. When Antipholus and Dromio did not return after five years, his aged father set out on his own search, wandering vainly, only to be arrested and condemned to death in Ephesus on his way home.
Duke Solinus is moved by the sad tale and grants Egeon a reprieve until sunset to borrow the money required for his freedom.
Meanwhile, unknown to any of the other characters, the Antipholus raised by Egeon (now known as Antipholus of Syracuse) arrives in Ephesus with his slave, Dromio of Syracuse. Also unknown to anybody (but the audience) is the fact that the other Antipholus (now known as Antipholus of Ephesus) is already living in the city with his wife, Adriana, and the other slave, Dromio of Ephesus.
The stage is set and the series of “comedic errors” begins immediately and mounts throughout the play: Antipholus of Syracuse meets Dromio of Ephesus on the street and abuses him soundly because the slave tries to get Antipholus (the wrong master) to go “home” with him for dinner. Adriana locks her real husband out of their home because she is already in the house with his confused twin, Antipholus of Syracuse, whom she assumes is her husband. Antipholus of Ephesus refuses to pay Angelo the goldsmith for a gold chain he ordered, thinking he did not receive it (the chain was delivered to his surprised twin). Angelo wants his money and has Antipholus of Ephesus arrested. It is now Dromio of Syracuse (who is accused as being responsible for this) who is beaten by Antipholus of Ephesus (again, the wrong master).
As the situation grows more and more bewildering, with everyone certain that everyone else is totally mad, the duke is preparing for Egeon’s impending execution. Antipholus of Ephesus goes to the duke and, thinking himself terribly wronged, demands that he intercede for him. Egeon sees his son and thinks he is saved; but, of course, Antipholus of Ephesus is the other twin and hasn’t seen his father since he was a child and does not recognize him.
Finally, Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse take refuge in an abbey, only to emerge to face the other two twins, as well as Egeon, who, all at once, has found not just one son, but two. Then, to complete the reunion, the abbess reveals that she too has been living under disguise and is actually Egeon’s wife, Emilia. Egeon’s life is ransomed, the family embraces, as do the Dromio twins, and all ends in happiness, with Emilia inviting all to discuss this “one day’s error” and “make full satisfaction.”
All's Well That Ends Well
As the play opens, Orlando, a young squire, is quarreling with his older brother, Oliver, over the younger’s inheritance. Oliver inexplicably hates his younger brother and has deprived him of his inheritance and of his chances for an education suiting a well-born young man. As Orlando demands his inheritance and leaves, Oliver and the court wrestler, Charles, plot his death in a contrived wrestling match to be conducted the next day. Oliver and Charles also discuss how the good Duke Senior has been deprived of his dominions by his younger brother, Frederick, and has taken to the idyllic Forest of Arden with a few faithful courtiers. This merry band of outlaws, including the melancholy Jaques, lives there simply, happily, and in freedom, although sometimes hungry and chilled by the harshness of wind and weather.
The next day, Rosalind, who is Duke Senior’s daughter, and her best friend Celia, who is Duke Frederick’s daughter, watch Orlando surprisingly win the mismatched wrestling competition, and Orlando and Rosalind fall in love at first sight. However, the next day Duke Frederick, in a fit of spite, banishes Rosalind from the court. Drawn by friendship and love, Celia goes with her and also takes Touchstone, the court jester. Disguised (Rosalind as a boy, Ganymede, and Celia as a girl, Aliena), the two women, along with Touchstone, flee to the Forest of Arden where they buy a small cottage and search for Rosalind’s father, the good Duke Senior. To their surprise and Rosalind’s joy, the three learn that Orlando (along with his servant Adam) has also fled the court, in his case to avoid another plot against his life by his evil brother, Oliver. Back at court, Duke Frederick orders Oliver to search for Orlando, Rosalind, and Celia.
Orlando, who has joined with Duke Senior and his band, now decks the forest trees with love poems to his secret love, Rosalind—much to Celia’s amusement and to Rosalind’s liking. However, when he accidentally meets her in the forest, he is fooled by her disguise and believes her indeed to be a boy. She, on the other hand, knows who he is and offers to “cure” him of his lovesickness by “pretending” to be Rosalind and allowing him to “court” her.
Meanwhile Touchstone, who wants to marry an ugly woman so she will always be faithful to him, courts the country maid, Audrey; Oliver, who was saved by Orlando from a lion, reforms and falls instantly in love with Celia; Silvius, a young shepherd, desperately pursues Phebe; and Phebe falls head over heels in love with--who else?--Rosalind disguised as Ganymede. The various exiles and lovers begin to gather in the forest; however, Rosalind leaves them, promising she will return tomorrow and satisfy everyone, including the deluded Orlando and Phebe.
True to her promise, Rosalind returns and eventually reveals her true identity to Orlando (and a surprised Phebe); and, by the play’s end, all the love affairs are happily resolved. The multiple weddings of Orlando/Rosalind, Oliver/Celia, Touchstone/Audrey, and Silvius/Phebe are presided over by Hymen, god of marriage; and, finally, in the midst of the celebrations, the newlyweds learn that Duke Frederick has repented and has restored all possessions and estates to their rightful owners.
Private Lives
In an upscale Paris hotel Elyot Chase steps out on his terrace with his new wife Sibyl. They talk about how happy they will be as a married couple (much more than he was with his previous wife, Amanda). Their conversation leads them back inside while in the honeymoon suite next door, Victor, a man a few years older than Elyot, walks out onto his terrace. He calls for his wife, Amanda, to join him outside. It quickly becomes clear that this is the same Amanda who was previously married to Elyot, and that the former couple are in neighboring suites for their honeymoons with second spouses.
A short time later, Amanda and Elyot are surprised to encounter each other while on their respective terraces. Their strained conversation is cut short, and they both return to their spouses to try and convince them to leave the hotel immediately. Both conversations end in bitter arguments, and eventually Elyot and Amanda are back outside talking and drinking cocktails on Elyot's terrace.
After realizing they are still in love with each other and should never have divorced, they abandon their new spouses to run off together. They escape to Amanda’s apartment in Paris. After they have left, Victor and Sibyl end up meeting on their respective balconies and begin chatting.
At Amanda’s apartment the next day Elyot and Amanda are finishing their evening meal. They talk about their hasty escape from their respective honeymoons and why their relationship failed the first time. The couple is soon caught up in the same violent arguments that originally plagued their turbulent marriage. They seem to be drawn to each other simply for the thrill of the fight.
Amanda and Elyot continue arguing when, at the climax of their fight, their weary and jaded spouses, Sibyl and Victor, show up. With passions and jealousies escalating, how will these couples fare? Who ends up with whom in this amusing rollick?
Foxfire
Annie Nations is doing her chores on her cabin porch in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia and anticipating a visit from her son, Dillard. Annie and her husband, Hector, built Stony Lonesome, their quiet homestead, but Dillard, their son, long ago rejected the idea of being a farmer like his father. Much to Hector’s chagrin, he makes his living as a country singer and has only a small family who rarely come to visit.
Prince Carpenter, a local real estate man, comes by to talk. He offers to buy the farm from Annie, as he has bought the land of most of her neighbors. She struggles to know what to do.
Holly Burrell, a family friend, also comes to visit Annie when Dillard shows up unexpectedly before a concert he is playing in the nearby town. They talk Annie into going to his show that night. After Holly leaves, Dillard tries to persuade Annie into moving closer to him so he can help care for her. During their conversation, she senses something is wrong with Dillard.
At the concert Dillard puts on a flashy show in a good ol’ boy style that annoys Holly. Afterwards, Dillard surprises Annie and Holly by showing back up at Stony Lonesome. As they talk, he tells Holly that he wants Annie to move to Florida with him, but she sees Annie’s love for her home and the roots she has made there.
Dillard confronts conflicts of his own, while Annie faces the decision of whether to stay or go. Is it time to leave her home and its memories of her husband and family? As flashbacks throughout the show help portray important times in the Nations’s family, all can relate to the joy of relationships and the struggle of holding onto one’s own roots.
It was a lot of fun and it went by so fast as it usually does.
Yesterday, we went to Bear Lake. We includes, Aunt Kaye, Sharolyn, Justin, and her two Granddaughters, Reygan and Kassity, Kevin and Peggy and their kids, Zia, Nora, and Quinn, Zia's friend (didn't get her name), Margel, Kaylynne and her 3 , Jaden, Levi, and Tyson and a couple of their friends. Colin and Tanner, Brent and Katie and their 3 kids, Ayslind, Cyana, and Bowyn, Aunt JoAnne and Uncle Allen, Tonja and her daughter, Kaylysta, Rhett's daughter Madeline. Later, Aunt Marylyn, Mitzy, her daughter Jennifer, Katie and her kids, Ezzeree and Colin came. We had quite a crew there!! 
I brought my mat to float on. In the last picture you can see me and Kaylynne. My mat is the orange one. I recommend using one.
