We woke refreshed in Ashland, Oregon, on Saturday morning. This was to be a relaxing day of leisure and culture, because we were going to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the evening.
So we started off by heading to one of the many wineries in the beautiful Rogue River Valley. We chose Dancin because the receptionist at the hotel told us that it was very pretty, and so it was; a yellow Tuscan style farmhouse overlooking fields with neat rows of vines. It was very, very hot, however our lunch table was under the cool shade of a large tree and it was idyllic. James purchased a flight of five different wines to sample and we had a delicious Italian lunch.
We explored nearby Jacksonville which is a quaint touristy wee village, which used to be a mining town. Back in Ashland we had healthy smoothies in a wee health food bar.
The main event of the day was of course Romeo and Juliet at the open air Allen Elizabeth theatre. It is very like the Globe Theatre in London and we had excellent seats in the front row of the circle. The production was one of the best I have ever seen of a Shakespeare play; the acting, scenery, and direction were all first class. I liked the way that the director had treated the first part very lightly, almost as a romantic comedy - until it all went so wrong. It reminded me of the underlying darkness in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, whose plot is so similar to Romeo and Juliet - there is a fine line between comedy and tragedy in life. It was wonderful sitting outside in the warm night as it slowly got dark; a truly memorable experience.
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