The Play’s not the Only Thing

Theatrical Magic in Ashland, Oregon

Photo by John Westrock on Unsplash

Oregon Shakespeare Festival is magical in and of itself. But add my dear friend Sebastian, an extra special B & B (before the “air), and some theatrical fellow guests and the result is magic to the nth degree.

Let’s start with Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland.

A regional theater company with authentic outdoor staging’s of the cannon as well as indoor state of the art theaters for large and small productions and audiences. The quintessential place to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream in high summer with stars overhead, some of them shooting.

But we didn’t see Midsummer that summer. We saw Hamlet.

So instead of laughing, we cried. Along with thousands, we took the journey with the young Danish prince through anger, depression, fear, revenge, love, grief, until all that was left was silence.

I’ve seen more plays than Sebastian. And this was his first time at OSF. Yet his riveted emotional connection to the events unfolding on stage floated over and grabbed hold of my heart. I sensed this during the performance, his tracking Hamlet’s emotional journey beat by beat.

When it was over we did not move. We couldn’t. It took a while to release the spell and sift back form that world…