“To be or not to be, that is the question…”

“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

The above quotes are brought to you by a fading memory, one that grew up only a few miles from the first theatre in the western hemisphere to produce the plays of William Shakespeare on a continuing repertory basis. Where does this happen, you might ask? Not in a major metropolitan area, but in a small town in Southern Oregon.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has, since its founding in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer in Ashland, been producing the Bard’s plays in an outdoor Elizabethan Theatre. This theatre was based on the design of the theatres where the plays were first produced in England in the 1600s.

[Continue reading Oregon Shakespeare Festival]

William Shakespeare (April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; - April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.) - has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in the English language, or indeed in any language. His ability to capture and convey the most profound aspects of human nature is regarded by many as unequalled, and the English Renaissance has often been called “the age of Shakespeare.” He was among the few playwrights who have excelled in both tragedy and comedy and several of his plays contain songs that are among the finest lyric poems in English. He also wrote 154 sonnets, two narrative poems, and a handful of shorter poems. Shakespeare wrote his works between 1588 and 1613, although the exact dates and chronology of the plays attributed to him are often uncertain. His prolific output is especially impressive in light of the fact that he lived only 52 years. [Encyclopedia Lockergnome]