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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1963)
! 5. 2 g SUNDAY. JULY 21. 1963 MEDFOBD MAIL TBlBrjNK, MLDFORD. OREGON Finishing Touches Being Put on Shakespearean Festival Plays Br GEORGE H. BELL Mail Tribuna Staff Wril.r At 8:40 o'clock last Friday night, the lights In the Ash. i land Shakespearian theater dimmed down, there was '. blare of recorded trumpets, and some 30 to 40 people, ' gathered watch the techni- i cal rehearsal of "Merry i Wives of Windsor," abruptly stopped talking and settled back in their seals. Director Ed Brubaker, i with a girl sitting near him ready to record his notes as the play progressed, ta tioned himself on the aisle near the center of the theater. Next to him, wearing an earphone headset so he could talk with the lighting techni ' cians in the blockhouse at the rear of the theater, was Richard Hay, the festival's veteran technical designer director. Producing Director Angus - L. Bowmer, founder of the festival, sat alone a few rows away. For Special Purpoia It was dusk and the air was still warm. The small group of spectators, all In the theater for a specific purpose, ' since visitors are banned i during tech run-throughs. wore light clothing but most of them had heavy wraps i with them. ! At 8:45 o'clock, the stage : was suddenly bathed in light i as Justice Shallow. Sir Hugn Evans and Slender, uncos- turned, came on to begin the performance of the familiar j comedy. ("Sir Hugh, persuade me not; I will make a Star-cham-j ber matter of it; if he were j twenty Sir John Falstaffs he shall not abuse Robert Shal- i low. esquire. ) i For the next three hours until 11:84 o'clock the play, for the most part, went very moothly, testimony that everyone connected with It had worked hard and had de veloped well. Interrupts Flow Not, actually, until the final scenes did Director Brubaker begin to Interrupt the flow of the action to work out minor problems, changing the blocking a bit here, delaying an entrance there, and making adjust ments in the stage lighting, i A few minutes after the play began, Brubaker sud- s denly threw his head back i and laughed out loud at some t line that had lust been de livered on the stage. The bulk of the audience, apparently still struggling to grasp tho situation, dldn t Join hlin. A director's eyes and cars, vast ly more familiar with th XT " I'ltfrr, z MAKING UP Actor Robert Benson is which will open the Shakespearean Festival shown here making up for his role as Fal- season Wednesday night at Ashland's Eliza staff In "The Merry Wives of Windsor" bcthan theater. (Classic Photo) as Falstaff, warming his feel in a bucket and cursing his luck at having been thrown in a ditch after his first rendezvous with Mrs. Ford ended badly. It was a marvelous sight, and again Brubaker roared with laughter. Benson, for merly with the Actors Work- ff if PET TALK Sy M. I. L A NEED FOR MERCY "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Ed mund Burke. play than any one else, al-, l)c (l(0 Jnvolvlng 0y others miss REHEARSING Director Rod Alexander, led, with Stanley Elberson, center, as the King of Navarre, and James Smith as Longavllle, rehearse a brief scene from the Festival's "Love's Lnbour's Lost." (Classic Pholo) At 0:10 o'clock, a comic bit . nlglh air, chilled by nearby At 8:54 o'clock, the first actor stumbled on his line, nd the promptress, sitting directly in front of center Itage In the front row, called out the line in a clear voice. Whispered Conference Hugh Evans, who, natural ly, plays Sir Hugh Evans In the play, camj off the stage about 9 o'clock carrying his sword. He sat down next to Hay and Brubaker, and the three held a whispered con ference. Throughout the night, Evans, as lighting de signer for the festival, hustled out to help every time he was not In a scene. In a closet tickled the audi ence and the first general laugh was heard. There had been funny lines and actions earlier, but It had taken them a while to warm up. A few minutes later, a young actor tripped on his sword and nearly fell as he exited. Brubaker was audible. (Falstaff: "No quips now, Pistol. Indeed I am In the waist two yards about: but 1 am not about no waste; I am about thrift. Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife . . .") No more than three scenes had been enacted befor the shop in San Francisco, huge man, and his Falstaff promises, a couple weeks be fore opening night, to be one of the finest ever seen on the Ashland stage. Wanted To Hear Lines At 10:25 o'clock, Brubaker jumped and fairly ran to the rear of the theater, apparent ly to see if he could hear the lines of a small boy who was called upon to conjugate a Latin verb in a scene on stage. After the scene was over, Brubaker returned smiling to his scat and sat down next to Hay. (Ford: "So say I too, sir. Come hither, Mistress Ford; Mistress Ford, the honest woman, the modest wife, the virtuous creature, that hath the jealous fool to her hus band! I suspect without cause, mistress, do I?") At 10:35 o'clock, just after Richard Graham, playing Ford, had delivered the above line, Brubaker interrupted the play for the first time. "Let's break it just a min ute," he called to the actors on stage. On Stage Too Lata One of the stage props a huge wicker basket in which Falstaff was "hidden" during an earlier scene- ':ad been brought on stage too late to justify Ford's line, "Set down the basket, villain." Brubaker asked Graham if he could "wait just a count" before making his entrance. Graham replied that he could. "Ready?" Graham called from the wing. "Yep," Brubaker replied, and the action resumed. A short time later, at 10:44 o'clock, Brubaker stopped the action again. "Girls," he called oul, "let's take that up-the-stairs business again." Giving Instruction He jumped up on stage and and the actresses talked the blocking over. They both nodded at what he said to them, and a few minutes later he returned to his seat. Meantime, Hay was giving instruction to the technicians in the blockhouse about re setting the lights. After a short wait, the play resumed. A young man brought two cups of hot coffee into the theater and handed them to Brubaker and Hay. At 11:01 o'clock, a group of about 15 actors who will be disguised as "fairies" in order to frighten Falstaff in the play, trooped across the stage. Something about it didn't please Brubaker, and he called out, "Let's go through that sequence again." At 11:15 o'clock, he broke in once more: "Hold it, we've got to run through that again." This lime something about the lights disturbed him. Interrupts Action During the next 30 or 40 minutes, until the play was over, the director interrupted the action several times. Once or twice the action progressed only a few lines between stops, but the actors retained their humor. There were no display- of tempera ment. At 11:52 o'clock, Evans left his seat with Hay and Bru baker and vaulted up on stage to take part in the final SC((Ford: "If It be so: Sir John; to Master Brook you yet shall hold your word; for he, tonight, shall lie with Mistress Ford.") Audience Applauds With delivery of the final line at 11:54 o'clock, the play ended and the audience broke into applause. The house lights came up. Bow mer was grinning as ne clapped his hands. The applause continued as the cast went through the fast-paced curtain call. Brubaker called them all on stage and announced re hearsal call for the next morning on a few special scenes. It was just short of mid night when he waived his hand at them in dismissal and called, "Goodnight." SPECIAL pumas While Stock j Lasts! US PLYWOOD CRAFTSMAN PREFINISHED PANELING TERMS! !i7ifTT)Tmrca 5333 2nds) '4"x4'x8' Black Walnut $1199?!, Natural Birch $7 Per Panel Holiday Birch ?799 Per Pane, Colony Oak $799 Per Panel Corner 6th & Fir Streets Plenty of Off-Streef Customer Parking vented-recessed gas Counterflow Wall Furnace nuiijiu iu jiuuiii. nn re modeling. No expensive duct work, (its snugly into or against wall. Saves space. Powerful blower pulls room air in at top, delivers heated air at bottom. Spreads a car pet of warmth and circulates comfort from room to room. Fully automatic with safely shut-off and safety vent 60,000 and 65,000 BTU in put Backed by exclusive $500 Warranty Bond. 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He yawned and put on a pullover sweater. Brubaker stood up, strug gled into a black raincoat, walked a few steps up the aisle, turned around, wnlked buck and sat down again. Some of tho audience, by now, sat huddled In blankets they hHd wrapped around them like shawls. A scene In the inner below gave the audience its first look at two new stage inno vations this season; a stairwav from the Inner above down to the main stage, and a slid- ing platform In the inner bc low. Both operated smoothly I and Brubaker In his blocking had utilized them In interest Ing ways. At 10:20 o'clock, the cur- ! Inins In the inner below part ed, exposing Robert Benson j Burglary Reported At Yreka Creamery The Jackson county sher jiff's office was notified Fri ; day of a burglary in Yreka, I Calif , in which a safe con tainlng $130 cash and compa ny checks was hauled awav i from the Meadowbell cream- : cry. The burglary occurred be j tween 0 p.m. Wednesday and : 3:20 a.m. Thursday, officers ; were told. 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