Continuing our sabbatical-inspired Summer of Domestic Travel, Alex and I have now returned from Ashland, OR, where we were once again treated to the magic that is the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Unlike last year (my first time attending OSF, which I wrote about here), we actually made a point to see a Shakespeare play this time around! We had a few options to choose from, and when discussing our options last fall with Alex's aunt, I requested A Midsummer Night's Dream, keeping to myself that I was only mildly familiar with it because of yet another random Beatles connection:
https://youtu.be/SvREt_w_KOE
Variations of this video have been on the Internet for as long as I can remember...I probably first downloaded it on KaZaA (yes, I still type it that way) or maybe bookmarked it in the early days of YouTube. In it, the Beatles re-enact the Pyramus and Thisbe play-within-a-play performed near the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
It is one of many questionable promotional romps the boys participated in at the height of Beatlemania. BUT I will say, having now watched the real play, I appreciate the effort made to modernize the original for a pop culture audience, and the willingness of the Beatles to go along with it.
In Shakespeare version, these characters are being played by the Mechanicals, a working class troupe that fumbles through the performance and gets mocked by their audience. So the guys in the rafters heckling the Beatles are a modern day version of this, a clever cover-up if any of the Beatles fumble their own lines (you can't expect the biggest pop group in the world to be perfect), when in fact they pull off their parts surprisingly well, in my opinion!
I don't know who was in charge of casting them, or if the Beatles themselves had any say in it, but they are quite perfectly assigned to their roles. Not just as the characters in Pyramus and Thisbe, but as the members of the Mechanicals:
- Paul as Bottom as Pyramus: Bottom would play every part if he could. In rehearsals, he goes around enthusiastically suggesting his own spins on the play, and the others go along with it because they know there's no arguing when he's in his element. Paul in a nutshell.
- John as Flute as Thisbe: Although we get the sense that Flute doesn't want to play the part of a girl, John gleefully injects his bizarro, deep-voiced take on Thisbe. John is the least self-serious of the bunch, so of course this matchup makes sense.
- George as Starveling as Moonshine: Starveling just seems to be going along with things, content to have the fewest lines.
- Ringo as Snug as Lion: Snug is a rather goofy cabinetmaker who ends up playing the part of the lion. He's supposed to be fierce but you just want to hug him.
The guy playing the Wall is Andre Tayir, a well-respected stage and film actor of the day. Dunno how he got recruited for this; I kinda wish someone else in the Beatles World (Mal Evans?) could've had the part.
Other tweet-sized commentary:
- What perfect fodder this is for the McLennon shippers. Just look at the fan art!
- George, bebe, you are so awkward.
- I love when the real Beatles slip through: Ringo looking amused in the background at 2:26, John breaking at "his eyes as green as leeks" at 8:15 (the production at OSF also poked fun at the ridiculousness of that line).
- "ASLEEP MY LUV? WHAT, DEAD, MY DUV?" (6:10) has lived in my head rent-free for 20+ years.
- For my own reference, there is more context on this television program (and some good photos) here, and a video of the full program here.
Anyway, Beatles aside, I'm paraphrasing/documenting an observation made by Alex on the drive back from Ashland: there's something extremely cool about witnessing a piece of art that has existed for this long (430+ years; the play was written around 1595). The best art can transport you out of your current world and connect you with all the other humans who have experienced that same art, across decades or centuries.
I've written before about the power of the crowd, and this one absolutely must be added to the catalog. Throughout the last act of the OSF production, especially during the Wall bit and Pyramus's death, the uncontrollable, shrieking laughter around us was nonstop. I had tears rolling down my cheeks, mostly from laughing but also the power of the crowd. I can't think of any other live performance I've attended—comedy, movie, or otherwise—that has elicited so much palpable joy. It's how I imagine audiences reacted to the play in Shakespeare's time, or how moviegoers responded when watching a Chaplin gag for the first time, as if it was (and it probably was) the funniest thing they'd ever seen in their entire life. Sometimes, a production is able to bring us back to that feeling, like what we're experiencing is brand new, even if it's centuries old.
We also watched a hilarious feminist performance of Emma and a wonderful rendition of Come From Away. The 2027 season has been announced and we're already thinking about what to see next year...maybe I'll finally work up the courage to see a Shakespeare tragedy. Or maybe we'll punt and just see Shrek. Check back in a year!