August 5, 1999
Dear Everyone:
Our annual pilgrimage to
Ashland was
lots of fun, naturally. Way
too warm, temperatures in the mid to low 90’s, but still fun.
And our rooms at the hotel were adequately air-conditioned:
Mother’s room in the upper 70’s, mine in the freezer whenever
possible.
We almost didn’t get these rooms.
When I called to make the reservations last November, they had no
rooms available for the nights we wanted.
(Eight months in advance, and they were already booked!)
So we settled for another hotel that was further away from the
theaters, but still nominally within walking distance.
But then “Alice”, who knows a thing or two about
the hotel industry, contacted the first-choice hotel and asked to be
placed on the waiting list.
Then she sent the office a box of Sees chocolates and that apparently
shot us to the top of the list.
We not only got two rooms, but in the building on the west side
of Main Street (less walking to and from downtown) and on the east
(shady) side of the building.
Way to go, “Alice”!
For next year, “Alice’s” going to reserve a couple
of adjoining rooms for the entire week that we expect to be in Ashland
(determined by “Frankie’s” vacation schedule) even before we know which
plays we’ll be ordering. Then she
can whittle away the nights that we won’t need the rooms after all, once
we know which nights those are.
“Alice” knows how to plan ahead.
(Rooms 507 and 508, “Alice”, the ones on the first floor,
overlooking the side street, with the nice patio outside.)
As for the plays,
Much Ado About Nothing and
The Three
Musketeers were the clear favorites.
Some people didn’t like the pool built into the stage for
Othello, although
I didn’t see anything wrong with it.
And “Jeannie” is beginning to object to our
Artistic Director’s
preference for minimalist set decoration.
Then there’s the seating.
When I originally received the tickets last year, I was incensed
to discover that two evening performances in the outdoor theater had us
in Row T. I give the
Festival a lot of money to be on the “short list” of people who can
order tickets before the general population.
What were we doing in Row T?
Who got all the seats from AA to S, pray tell?
When we got to the theater, we discovered that Row
T is actually the first row in the pavilion balcony.
Frankly, best seats in the house.
Especially since we were in the center.
From now on, for evening performances, I’m going to add a note,
“Row T, if possible, please.”
We also got lucky with the “Park Talks”, one-hour
lectures in Lithia
Park on certain afternoons.
We were fortunate enough to catch Barry Kraft, the Festival
Dramaturgist.
He’s the walking encyclopedia on
Elizabethan
England in general and
Shakespeare
in particular. He told us
that Shakespeare had a vocabulary of over 20,000 words.
Your average teenager can get through a week with seven words.
Many of these words exist simply because old Will made them up.
For example, one character in a play had a lot of stuff to “lug
around”. Another character
told him to “come with me, and bring your luggage”, a play on words.
(I wonder if
Samsonite knows this?)
Barry also talked about Shakespeare’s fondness for
using “malapropisms”
(see attached). But here I
have a question: The term
“malapropisms” stems from the character, Mrs. Malaprop in
Sheridan’s play,
The Rivals.
But Sheridan didn’t invent Mrs. Malaprop until 1775.
So if Shakespeare was using malapropisms in the 1590’s, does that
make him centuries ahead of his time?
In other news…
My cold is now officially three weeks old, still
grimly holding on. But its
grip lessens with each passing day.
I’m hoping that soon I won’t have to carry a box of
Kleenexes around with
me everywhere I go and that “Jeannie” and I will be able to take in a
movie next weekend. And turn
the mattress on my bed (now five weeks overdue).
And shave Big White Kitty’s coat so it doesn’t get so matted
again.
Love, as always,
Pete
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