Community Corner
Shakespeare Santa Cruz: Plenty of Comedy, No Errors
After almost disappearing because of financial troubles, the festival is back with love, and no labor is lost.
One of my favorite things about summer in Santa Cruz—other than dinner on the patio at Charlie Hong Kong, of course—is Shakespeare Santa Cruz. This season, the company’s 30th, looks especially good.
First up, on Tuesday, is William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, which will be performed on the UC Santa Cruz Mainstage through Aug. 28. Director Danny Scheie, who’s also a professor of theater arts at the university, originated this version of Shakespeare’s farce in 1988. It’s been such a favorite at SSC that this is its second revival.
If you are curious about the inspiration for one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, check out SSC’s Fringe Show, Double Bind, directed by Patty Gallagher and performed in the campus’s Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen on Aug. 16 and 23.Written by the Roman playwright Plautus, it’s the template for stories of mistaken identity.
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The first full outdoor production in the Glen is The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, which opens on Wednesday and runs through Aug. 28. This 1999 adaptation by Linda Alper, Douglas Langworthy and Penny Metropulos is directed by Art Manke, whose 2008 SSC production of Itamar Moses’s Bach at Leipzig is still one of the best plays I’ve seen by anyone, anywhere. While The Three Musketeers might sound like the perfect non-Shakespeare play to round out SSC’s summer season, surprisingly, 2011 marks the first year the company has presented it.
Playing in repertory in the Glen with the Dumas classic, and running from Aug. 2-28, is Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part One, directed by Tony Award nominee Scott Wentworth. For those of you who really like to plan ahead, SSC will produce two more Henry histories, Henry IV, Part Two in 2012 and, you guessed it, Henry V in 2013.
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Tickets for all SSC productions range from $15-$50 and are available at the UC Santa Cruz box office, 1156 High St.; at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St.; by calling 831-459-2159; or online at shakespearesantacruz.org. Season ticket packages run from $70-$125.
