As we wrap up our first Shakespeare In the Park event in celebration of our 10th anniversary and commemoration of the 406th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, another story comes to mind:
Ten years ago, at a dance recital for her students, a flamenco instructor fielded questions from the audience. Someone asked her to dance herself, off-the-cuff.
She balked at first, explaining that her art form was not an off-the-cuff endeavor. But then she did it, and danced a beautiful dance.
When she finished she told the audience, “What you have just seen was impossible.”
It was impossible to thrive in the shadow of a world-class classical theater.
It was impossible to perform live theater in recent years.
It is impossible to stage three Shakespeare readings amidst 20+ MPH winds, with a cast of strangers, with comedy-of-errors mixups ranging from traffic jams to overeager spam filters.
It is certainly impossible to tell the sprawling tale of King Henry the Sixth in just one hour and 48 minutes.
So.
To borrow the line: what you have just seen was impossible.
See you this summer, for Shakespeare’s Lovers in June and Much Ado About Nothing.
