Life List – Attend the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival

Somewhere along the path that has been my life thus far I apparently made the (un)conscious decision to embark on two quests.

The first of these is to apparently eat Thai food in every state in America like I’m some kind of quality tester or something. I’ve eaten Thai food in NY (upstate and City), New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, and California. That is six states. I seek out the Thai food. If I can find it somewhere, I will eat it. I even subconsciously ranked these places.

I say subconsciously because when asked one time for a recommendation of the best Thai food I was able to rattle off a list. Literally without thinking about it. The list just came out of my mouth. Ok, maybe this doesn’t actually indicate that I’ve set out on some quest but it’s kinda setting up a trend, no?

The other quest I’ve set out on involves Shakespeare. Somewhere along the way I became a Shakespeare enthusiast. I don’t know how or when this happened but it did.

The first time I saw a Shakespeare play was around 4th grade when our class decided to perform As You Like It as our class play. Yea, let’s not get into the logistics or sanity of putting on a 4th grade production of Shakespeare. But it happened. Anywho – we went to see As You Like It at some off beat community theater in NYC.

Another time, also on a school trip, I went to the Metropolitan Opera House to see a ballet of Othello. Then when I was about 12 or so I went to see Cymbeline during Shakespeare in the Park in NYC’s Central Park. Funny story – Liev Schreiber and Michael C. Hall (of Six Feet Under & Dexter fame) were both in it.

This is what happens when as a 6th grader your dad gives you a copy of Hamlet to read because it will be good for you or something. You develop an interest or some kind of obsession.

Then I went to college and for some reason I didn’t really go see many plays. I don’t really know why. But I did take a Shakespeare class and then my obsession kind of blossomed from there. My play attendance picked up again in law school. Notre Dame has BOTH an annual Shakespeare Festival AND Actors from the London Stage who are actor’s in residence most of whom have performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The main fall production is usually part of the festival and the Actors performances are both in the fall and spring. So during law school I saw productions of Romeo and Juliet, Othello, the Twelfth Night, and Macbeth.

I’ve also been to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, mind you not to see a Shakespeare play but to see Amadeus.

Notre Dame also does lecture series every year on famous Catholics. 1L year – they focused on Shakespeare. Did I go to the lectures? You betchya!

Do I have a favorite play you ask? Right again. And you won’t guess which one it is. Guess…go ahead. Do you have a play in your mind? I bet you the one you have in your mind isn’t Richard II. But that is the answer.

And finally, last summer I went to see Shakespeare in the Park again, this time to see The Twelfth Night. This production featured Hamish Linkletter (from New Adventures of Old Christine), Raul Esparza, and Anne Hathaway. Amazing you say? I know

So long story short – I love Shakespeare and I love watching his plays. I realize saying you love Shakespeare is almost a pedestrian interest nowadays because so many people claim to love Shakespeare. But whatever, judge me if you’d like. I love Shakespeare and can’t get enough of live performances. So when I heard that Sacramento has a Shakespeare Festival you can only imagine my excitement.

But the bar exam was obviously a huge impediment to me going. So I waited (im)patiently. And the day after the bar exam ended Joe and I went to see Othello. The theater where the festival is held is a very small, modest outdoor theater. The stage is simple and the seating consists of wooden benches. Picnics are welcome and most people we saw were in small groups complete with cheese, crackers, and wine. All the volunteers are local and it seems the local theater company is very tight knit (some of the volunteers and patrons were wearing t shirts from the French film festival that went on earlier this summer which I MISSED because of the bar exam!).

Land Park is the type of neighborhood I wouldn’t mind making my home.

The play was better than I expected it to be. After some research on the website I didn’t expect much but a few of the actors were very good. The play was placed in 1920s New Orleans. The only change was the scenery, the music, and the dress. They didn’t change anything in the substance of the play which was nice.

I wish I’d had time to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream before leaving Sacramento considering I’ve never seen the play or read it for that matter.

Seeing this play was a great post bar activity.