Sunday, May 4, 2014

Portland Revels Does Shakespeare; Christmas in Appalachia

What would happen if the most famous dancer of the Elizabethan era, Tom Kemp, were sent to a small village with instructions to prepare a celebration for Queen Elizabeth, shortly to arrive? Just for starts, each villager would manage to grab a page from one of Shakespeare's plays, and at the appropriate time (or, more like, inappropriate) would leap up, recite a line from a death scene, and die forthwith (in the acting sense, not in reality!). In this collage, look for a scene where every cast member on the stage, except one woman reciting the line, "And the rest is silence," and the queen's party--every villager--lies dead on the stage.


Somewhere in Appalachia, on Christmas Eve, travelers arrive at the small church where the locals have gathered to sing, dance, and feast the holiday. The travelers and townsfolk share their folk traditions, stories, and songs. One traveler, however, attempts to steal the music, grabbing it and stuffing it into a bag that grows larger and noisier with each stolen tune. Will he get away with it?

Related Posts with Thumbnails