By Mary O’KEEFE
Who needs Central Park? Crescenta Valley has Two Strike and its own version of Shakespeare in the Park.
Friday’s cool summer night was perfect for an audience of over 100 people to bring a light picnic snack, sit back and watch the Bard at his comic best in “Twelfth Night.”
The production company Shakespeare by the Sea brought to life the love triangle of woman pretending to be a man in love with a man who is in love with another woman but that woman is in love with the woman who is pretending to be a man. Ah, those Elizabethans and their cross dressing romps. A simple plot in the world of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare comedies walk a fine line between the slapstick and subtle. Take it too far and it is merely silly. Don’t take it far enough and your audience may not get the sly innuendos of Shakespearean verse.
“I am enjoying this,” said Jamie Garland, a Crescenta Valley resident and college student.
For Garland the evening was twice the success as not only did she get to sit under the stars and enjoy a play but she also used the performance to fulfill a school assignment.
“I have to [attend] three plays,” Garland said.
She had never been to a Shakespearean performance and admitted the language was a little difficult to get used to but she understood the plot.
“The way the actors gesture and [perform] helps,” she added.
The Crescenta Valley Arts Council hosted the evening event. This was not the first Shakespeare in the Park the council has brought to Two Strike but it was the first one presented by the Shakespeare by the Sea production company.
“By the response we have been getting the company is a success,” said Marie Yeseta, a board member with the arts council. “[The council’s] prime interest
is to promote the arts and artists.”
The council has several events throughout the year that highlight music, the arts and theater.
The evening was a success with the perfect weather, setting and performance. The large crowd and laughter was proof that after 400 years, the Bard is timeless.
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