Mound City

The final night of the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis. It was a perfect evening to finish out this season's run. The Tempest was on stage but unlike the last time we tried to go, the sky did not threaten rain. Once again the performances were excellent and the production itself did a great job by fitting it all into one set. Sometimes it seems companies get distracted by the props and backdrops and forget that, usually, the simpler the better.

The Tempest was a play I was unfamiliar with and despite my rusty Elizabethan English, after the first scene or so my ear adjusted enough that it seemed natural.

They announced at the end of the performance that the festival broke its previous record with 47,000+ people attending the performances over almost a month-long run. They also announced that next year will feature one of the most popular of Shakespeare's plays, Julius Caesar. Although as my girlfriend mentioned, the Shakespeare in the Park series seems more suited to comedies. Lots of families come out for an evening's fun and the comic relief characters in Shakespeare's comedies and romances are perfect for keeping some of the younger kids attention. I doubt Caeser will hold the restless one's attentions as long as one of Shakespeare's jesters can.

- Murphy