August 2, 2011 – The sign of The Bard is everywhere. We were utterly charmed by this little town, despite how quickly you can spend your money there. We left our freeway-close motel early in the morning and sought out the downtown area and the OSF (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) grounds. First stop was a tour, starting at the New Theatre. Later, we explored downtown. While the women went their way, Nik and I stopped in at the “To CD or Not to CD” record shop. Discovered a treasure trove of vintage vinyl LPs as well as a good selection of recent audiophile 180g vinyl pressings, all of which inspired stories of music and adventures past. Nik humored me quite nicely. We barely escaped before a spending frenzy set in. Lunch, more exploration on foot, finally returning to the motel for a bit of rest before returning to OSF for a pre-performance (preface, they called it) talk and powerpoint on our later-scheduled target, “Love’s Labor’s Lost”. Next was a retreat to the Green where we found a picnic spot while we experienced the Green Show, tonight featuring Kites & Crows, a very decent indie banjo-cello-guitar trio.
At 8pm we assembled in the outdoor main theatre, the Elizabethan Stage, for a terrific and somewhat silly production of “Love’s Labor’s Lost” (see The Oregonian’s review). We were thoroughly entertained for the next three hours. Sorry, no cameras allowed.
