Eugene weekly., March 21, 2019, Page 11, Image 11

A Defining
Moment in
Ashland
THE OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
LAUNCHES ITS FINAL SEASON
UNDER BILL RAUCH
B
eleaguered by financial woes from last season’s
wildfires, whose smoke caused cancellations of a
couple dozen outdoor performances, the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival kicked off its new season
in early March with four plays — a Shakespeare
standard to open the weekend, a revival of a popular
musical, a drama making its world premiere and
a searingly beautiful new show that’s sure to be an
audience favorite.
Few signs on opening weekend betrayed the challenges the
festival is facing. OSF opened a week late and plans to close the
outdoor season early. Its popular booklet Illuminations, with es-
says on the shows, won’t be out until May. And no announcement
had yet been made of a replacement for Bill Rauch, the festival’s
artistic director, who is leaving in August. More than a week later
on March 19 the festival announced the new artistic director will be
Nataki Garrett.
But every show opened to a packed house in the festival’s two in-
door theaters, and every show was worth the trip to Ashland to see.
Zaragoza is lithe and amiable as Orlando, easily commanding the stage with his
tall presence.
Much like the show itself, Ko’s Rosalind starts slow but grows on you. She is best
being sharp, witty and even irritable as she — disguised as a young man — tests the
truth of Orlando’s affection. The two of them have a natural chemistry together that
makes Shakespeare’s outlandish story believable.
Director Rosa Joshi, who directed last season’s Henry V, brings the cultural pol-
itics of As You Like It into sharp focus, beginning with the drab melancholy of the
opening scenes, which find the people, at a time of political conflict, trapped in dark
monotones reflecting an authoritarian regime, marching in lock-step formation like a
scene out of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
This works, to a degree, but Joshi’s production often tries too hard, losing some of
Shakespeare’s magic and joy in the process. Numerous gender swaps in casting — a
fine tradition at OSF — seem random here, and thus more confusing than illuminat-
ing.
But oh, that set. It remains captivating right to the end of the show, when — in an
odd bit of shuffling the script — Jaques (Erica Sullivan) delivers the famous “All the
world’s a stage” speech in a series of stop-action asides to end the play.
Cambodian Rock Band
As You Like It
Angus Bowmer Theatre through Oct. 26
One of the backstage rock stars of the past couple seasons at OSF is Los Angeles
theatrical designer Sara Ryung Clement. Who, you ask? It’s not usual for scenic and
costume designers to get more than passing credit for their work, at least not outside
the profession.
It was Clement who designed the costumes for last season’s incredible Henry V.
Her costumes made it possible for a cast of a dozen to present this epic bloody tale in
the tiny Thomas Theatre, swapping roles instantly with folds of cloth. Clement also
designed sets and costumes for 2016’s amazing Vietgone.
And now Clement has designed one of the most beautiful sets I’ve ever seen on a
stage, to open the 2019 season on Friday, March 8, with As You Like It.
Constructed of angular, modernist elements — think Piet Mondrian with subdued
colors — Clement’s simple but gorgeous set evolves organically into an abstract but
magical Forest of Arden in which the young lovers Orlando (Román Zaragoza) and
Rosalind (Jessica Ko) work out their romantic destiny.
One of the show’s best scenes is the wrestling match between Orlando and Charles
(James Ryen). Tightly choreographed, it comes across as graceful ballet — and, in the
story, piques Rosalind’s interest in Orlando when he wins the bout.
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
Thomas Theatre through Oct. 27
When the lights — and music — come up on Lauren Yee’s new play Cambodian
Rock Band, we’re at a club show in Phnom Penh in 2008 — or is it 1975? — where five
young musicians are playing pretty good American rock ‘n’ roll, with a southeast
Asian twist.
Then the slick emcee, played by Daisuke Tsuji on opening night, and sometimes
during the run by James Ryen, leaps to the stage to challenge the audience. What are
we seeing? American rock? Traditional Khmer music? Why is there a Sheraton sign
in the background?
“Are you confused?” he shouts at last. “Welcome to Cambodia!”
This is an amazing show, combining excellent entertainment with deeply provoc-
ative themes. Yee’s play, which premiered last year at Southern California’s South
Coast Rep, weaves together reflections on music, art, the world’s abandonment of
Cambodia when the U.S. pulled out of the country in 1975, the guilt of the Holocaust,
the difficulty of parental love and the possibility of redemption — and does all this
without a dull or preachy moment.
The story centers on a Cambodian-American woman, Neary (Brooke Ishibashi)
who suddenly gets a visit while working in Phnom Penh from her not-very-American-
ized Cambodian-American father, Chum (Joe Ngo), who flies out from Massachusetts
without warning to see her.
M A R C H
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