Home again, home again

I'm back from my too-brief trip to Ashland, OR, and I had a great time!  In spite of the worst sore thoat I've had since the last time I had strep, this was a great vacation.  I doped up on ibuprophen so that I could swallow without wincing and away we went.  Now my head's stuffy and I'm completely knackered, but happy.  But enough of that!  On to the shows!

We (that is Nordic Boy, my Parental Units, and I) saw three shows at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival:  Richard III, The Phlianderer by G.B. Shaw, and Marlowe's Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.  All three were excellent productions, although Faustus was a wee bit rough.  Can't really blame them, though, because it had only opened that week.  It plays in the Elizabethan, and since that theatre is open-air they only run shows in it from June through September.  The other two, in the Angus Bowmer, have been running since February.  James Newcomb--continuing in the role of Richard from last season's Henry VI, Part 3--was just as creepy, twisted, and fantastic as one could ever hope.  Derrick Lee Weedon's portrayal of the phliandering Charteris was spot-on perfect.  I think Shakespeare and Shaw, respectively, would have been pleased.  There wasn't a weak link in either show.

Jonathan Haugen's Faustus was intense and powerful.  I wondered a little at Marlowe's script, though.  Was I ever supposed to feel sympathy for Faustus?  I probably was, but I didn't.  Perhpas that's because the Faust story has become such an archetypical one over the centuries.  We're a jaded audience 400 years later.  I mean, he was told repeatedly what he was getting himself into, and while he had occasional bouts of piety in which he almost repented, his hubris never allowed him to back out.  Dude, you've got no one to blame but yourself, eh?  And if you were smarter, you'd've asked for more than a mere 24 years in which to play bad-boy.

One of the many nice things about Ashland is that we've been there enough that it's pretty familiar territory.  That means I don't feel the need to shop much.  It also means we know what some of our favourite restuarants are.  This year, though, we discovered two new ones:  Deep's Indian Cuisine and Lela's.  OMG, we ate well!  Many thanks to our fabu hosts Scott and Dean at the Blue Moon B&B for the recommendation of Deep's, and to one of my favourite Food Network personalities, Rachael Ray, for the tip on Lela's.

Now all of you, go!  Run, drive, fly!  Just get your butts to Ashland and enjoy a show and a meal.  You will not be disappointed.