More Culture

Activities were much the same again except we went to Craft Fair that the Festival Guild was sponsoring

and then to the Curtain Call Luncheon where 3 of the actors did a Q&A while we ate a buffet lunch. It was a great time with great food, but we forgot to take a picture!

The evening performance was in the Adams outdoor theater.

The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of the favorite plays of Shakespeare. It is the third time we have seen it here at the USF. It might have been commissioned by Queen Elizabeth with the express purpose that another play featuring the rascal Sir John Falstaff, who was a favorite character of the Queen. Falstaff had been killed in a previous Historical play. The play is set in Windsor, the Queen’s summer home. The play begins with Falstaff acknowledging that he has run out of money so he decides to simultaneously woo two of the wealthy but married ladies of the town in hopes of gaining access to their husband’s wealth. He writes each of them an identical letter detailing his intentions. The wives learn of Falstaff’s plan and decide to teach him a lesson. The plot twists and turns when one husband knows he can trust his wife while the second husband does not trust his wife, puts on a disguise, goes to Falstaff, and actually pays him to try to compromise his wife. The bulk of the play deals with the wives acting like they welcome Falstaff’s advances and then managing to put him in compromising positions. One time, Falstaff is with both ladies when the jealous husband comes in searching for Falstaff. Falstaff hides in a dirty laundry basket, which is soon dumped into the river. Another time Falstaff must dress up as a fat wench to escape as the husbands are beating him. After this episode, both husbands are now sure of their wives’ virtue and the four of them conspire to make an example of Falstaff one last time. At the end of this third prank, they reveal their jokes to Falstaff.

As is usual in a Shakespeare play, there is more than one plot. The second plot deals with the daughter of one of the families involved in the Falstaff plot. It is time for her to find a husband. Her father prefers one suitor, the mother a second, and the daughter a third. All is ok in the end because the daughter runs off with her choice and the dad and mother realize he was really the best choice anyway.

Another Day in Utah

We got up and walked today…here are sights along the way. Beautiful hanging baskets on Main Street.

On the campus of Southern Utah University, they have converted one of the tennis courts to pickle ball courts.

After breakfast, literary seminars, and a prop seminar, we went to the Cedar City Visitors Center and learned about things to do in the area.  We headed to Old Irontown, which was the first place that iron was mined in Utah.

This is a picture of a house…there were about 100 people working in the mining and smelting.

In the background you can see one of 2 kilns where charcoal was made for the smelting process.

We continued our adventure and found the Page Ranch House which was built around 1900.  It served as a home,hotel,and way-station until around 1930.

We came back to civilization and went to see Scapin.

Scapin is a play that almost defies description. Not because It was not entraining, but because it is a complete farce. To give an idea, it is a play written by an American (Bill Irwin) who adapted (stole) the script from a play by the French play write Moliere, who had stolen the play from an early Italian play write. In modernizing the play, the only thing directly taken from the earlier versions is the character names. The plot revolves around two sons of noblemen who fall in love while their respective fathers are away. The sons realize that they will be disinherited if they marry their girl friends because they are of a lower class. They enlist the help of their father’s servants to help them. There are funny, silly and farcial twists and turns as the servants try to endear their sons’ loves to the fathers. As most farcical plays do, the ending sees everyone happy and the sons happily married, the fathers finding long lost daughters, and the servants appreciated by their masters.

Part 2

I didn’t get to finish yesterday activities…

We then returned to Parowan and went to the Rock Church, which was the first Mormon church in southern Utah.

We wen to the local cemetery and found so many interesting graves.

This is the grave of Butch Cassidy’s brother.( Butch Cassidy was born Robert Parker in Beaver, Utah.)  Daniel had wanted to join his brother’s gang, but Butch said he had to go to school and become a lawyer so he could defend them!

We came back, cleaned up and went to the evening performance which was Titus Andronicus.

Titus Andronicus is a play by Shakespeare that is seldom performed and it is easy to see why. It is filled with deception, double crossing, and gore. At least 14 people are killed, hands are cut off, and a tongue is cut out. The play begins when Titus Andronicus returns to Rome victoriously after waging 10 years of war against the Goths. He is actually proud that he lost 21 sons in the war. Upon his arrival, he is appointed emperor of Rome, but he declines the honor, instead naming the oldest son of the previous emperor as the new ruler. Titus has brought to Rome as prisoners of war the Queen of Goth, her Moor lover, and her three sons. Titus immediately kills the oldest son as a sacrifice to the god of War thanking him for victory. The new emperor immediately takes the Queen of Goth as his bride and the plot goes down hill from there. Everyone plots against everyone else and everyone is eventually killed. Titus kills his youngest remaining son (he had four )early in the play and two more are executed by the emperor. In the last scene, Titus kills his only daughter to keep her from suffering. (She had had her hands cut off and tongue cut out earlier. Her grievous wounds had been inflicted to keep her from naming those that had raped her.)He also gets his revenge on the emperor and queen by feeding them pie made from the intestines of the queen’s sons. In the end, everyone had been killed except Titus’ youngest son and a brother. The youngest son assumes the role of emperor of Rome and the play ends by the audience being asked ”Have we done the right thing?”

Another Day in Utah

The next play we saw was To Kill a Mockingbird which is adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel.

The play today, To Kill a Mockingbird is familiar to most people. It is based on the book by the same name. It is a story with two interwoven threads. One, a single father is raising two children in an Alabama town in the middle of the Great Depression. The second thread is way African Americans were treated in the legal system during the same time. The play is actually a flashback by the daughter of the single father remembering her childhood. She narrates the play and keeps it moving throughout. The basic plot is that a black man is accused of rape of a white girl. The single father is an attorney and agrees to represent the black man at his trial. The children are swept up in the father’s work because most of the townspeople don’t want him representing the black man. During the trial, the father presents his case that it was not his client that is guilty, but the victim’s father. Indeed, it becomes clear that he is innocent, but the town is a place where public opinion is dominated by prejudice.

From the trial’s conclusion and the ensuing months, the children learn a lot from their father, the townspeople and a mysterious neighbor. The narrator ends the play looking back with gratitude, and recalling her Father’s advice that “you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.”

Before we went to the play, we had the orientation and had to include a picture of the watch and rings!

The next morning, we walked, had breakfast and then went to  literary seminar and the actors seminar. We drove up to Parowan, which is called The Mother City of southern Utah.  It was the first settlement that Joseph Smith sent those who were “called” to go there.

We saw petrographs that were inscribed on the rocks by earlier civilizations.

We had a wonderful hamburger, onion rings and peach cobbler…sorry, no pictures.

Time for Our Annual Culture Fix

We are doing the “same song, 2^nd verse” again at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Our flight here had some interesting sights along the way…circular crops and the Grand Canyon.

Just being here in the mountains with the clear blue skies and puffy white clouds and refreshing air that is cool and dry is wonderful.

Our first stop of the evening was the orientation where Fred Adams, the founder, gave the overview of the evening’s play.

Our first play was Mary Stuart which is a historical play originally written by a 19^th century German play write, Freidrick Schiller. The costume designer is Bill Black who is at the University of Tennessee. This is only the 7^th non-Shakespeare play in 51 years of the festival to be presented on the outdoor stage which is a replica of the Globe Theater and built for Shakespeare plays. The story is about Elizabeth ,Queen of England (a protestant) and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland(a Catholic) who are cousins. They were two very powerful women operating in a man’s world . Also, During this historical period in England, the protestants and catholics were essentially at war with each other.{Think Northern Ireland in modern times} Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, has been in prisoned in England for 18 years, officially because she caused the murder of her husband. Actually, she was imprisoned because she was the legitimate Queen of England. The play deals with the last two years of her imprisonment. During this time, some of Elizabeth’s advisors are divided on how to deal with Mary. Queen Elizabeth is scheming to somehow have Mary executed or murdered without the blame falling on her. Ultimately, Mary is executed, Elizabeth blames Mary’s execution on her advisors and banishes them all from her kingdom. This leaves her victorious and secure on the throne, but now utterly alone.

The next morning, we attended the literary seminar to talk with scholars and fellow play goes about the play we saw the night before. Then we went to a costume seminar where the costume director  told us how the costumes are designed and constructed from beginning to end.

We are trying something new this year and only going to one play a day so we had the afternoon to run errands…which means going to Walmart…taking a walk and resting.

For supper, we went to one  of our favorite places, Milt’s Steak House.  They have a wonderful salad bar along with delicious steaks.  The bread  is something we always look forward to eating as well.

More Golf

Tripp had the opportunity to play with his dad in a Parent/Child golf tournament recently. Should have known that if a Hall child was playing, there would be rain involved and sure enough on the first day of play, it rained and play had to be halted for a while! But they were able to resume after a time in the clubhouse.

The second day found T playing with another child in his bracket…there were 5 kids in the 11 and under age division. Actually, they were all from 6 to 9 years old.

After the round was over, there was a 3-way tie for first place. So they went back out for a sudden death play-off. The first player lost after 2 holes, but T and L lasted for 7 holes before a winner was determined. (T had said he wanted to play 18 holes and he nearly got his wish since they played 16!) He came in 2^nd, but he and his daddy had a great time.

The pictures are straight out of the camera and have not been cropped.  Sorry.

Recent Golf Outings

Rheagan played in the Jr. Club Championship which was a 2 day event.  The first day the play was shortened due to rain.

  They came back to the clubhouse while it rained and then they went back out to play before the bottom dropped out again.

This “pond” behind the tee box is not normally there!

The second day was better!

They look as if they are on the LPGA Tour!

 

R&R Part 1

We went to PCB for a few days to enjoy a little R&R.  All of the pictures have not been down loaded yet, but here is a sample of some of the things that we did.

The iconic picture that is taken by millions who visit and eat supper!

A trip to the beach is never complete without a round of Putt-Putt!

Those who shot a hole in one had to brag!!

Family pictures are another “necessity”. We chose red, white and blue colors in honor of the upcoming Olympics.

More pictures to come later.

Wet Wordless Wednesday

Dry, Dry, Dry

Here is what several days of triple digit temperatures and no rain will do to a lawn.  The little bit of green in the background is under a tree and in the shade and where we water the hydrangeas.