By Harry Duke
For years, Healdsburg’s Raven Players has presented a summer Shakespeare production “under the stars” at the perfectly serviceable but rather bland West Plaza Park. They’ve upgraded a bit this year by relocating to Bacchus Landing for their production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. The Wine & Event Center is hosting the production through Aug. 16.
There’s a small elevated stage in the landing’s piazza with a wall over which the Players have draped a backdrop to provide a sense of location. Rows of padded chairs face the stage with a few tables and cushier chairs in the front available to those willing to shell out a few more bucks. Wine and wood-fired oven pizza are available for purchase to make the evening more of an outing.
The show itself is one of Shakespeare’s earlier works. I’ve always thought it was one of the Bard’s easier plays to follow, written before he got all “Shakespeare-y.” It’s the tale of besties Valentine (Matt Farrell) and Proteus (Paul MacKinnon) whose friendship is tested by, of course, a woman.
Valentine leaves Verona for Milan where he falls in love with Sylvia (Kate Edery). Proteus stays back in Verona as he can’t bear to leave his love Julia (Alyssa Rempel), but soon finds himself sent to Verona anyway. He becomes smitten with Sylvia himself and, as all best friends do, plots to have Valentine removed from the picture. Word gets back to Julia what Proteus is up to, so she disguises herself as a man and heads for Milan to see what’s up. Comedy ensues.
Co-directors Steven David Martin and Jenna Vera Dolcini have made this a “concept” production with the concept being Shakespeare set in 1950s Italy. That means leather jackets and bad pompadour wigs for the boys, poodle skirts and saddle shoes for the girls, and really bad Italian accents for everyone. Adjusting one’s ear to the language of Shakespeare is a bit more challenging with the wildly over-the-top and often inconsistent accents.
Also challenging is the occasional low-flying jet from nearby Sonoma County Airport, the constant beeping of pizza pagers, and the inflow and outflow from the audience of those pizza-seeking patrons.
The Raven’s summer Shakespeare productions have always been sort of light-hearted larks, as is this one. Patron’s enjoyment of it may be in direct proportion to the amount of wine they ingest beforehand.
The Raven Players present ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ through Aug. 16 at Bacchus Landing, 14210 Bacchus Landing Way, Healdsburg. Thu–Sat, 7:30pm. $5-$25. 707.433.6335. raventheater.org
