Shakespeare at Wallingford Playfield

Have you been craving a little Shakespeare in your life, but fear the long drive to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival? Or maybe the typical Shakespeare presentation is a tad too lengthy for your taste? Well, now is your chance to see an abbreviated version of two of Shakespeare’s plays right at our own Wallingford Playfield.

The plays are presented by Seattle’s Greenstage which offers a number of programs, among them their Shakespeare in the Park series, a full-length version of Shakespeare’s plays. The Backyard Bard series offers shorter versions of the original plays which is what Greenstage is bringing here to Wallingford:

• Friday, July 20, 7:00-8:00: The Winter’s Tale
• Saturday, July 21, 7:00-8:00: The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Jennifer Crooks directs a cast of four (Jordan Kerbs, Marena Kleinpeter, Ashley Salazar and Mimi Santos) in both plays. Admission is free.

If I were a real writer, I would quickly read these two plays, and provide you with my own cogent summary of each. Instead, I’ll quote from the Backyard Bard website:

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

It is folly to trust a fool for love! Fickle Proteus and constant Valentine are the best of friends but, unbeknownst to Valentine, they become rivals in love for Sylvia. But wait! What of Julia, purportedly beloved of Proteus. Alas, her love is steadier than his and she disguises herself as a page to prove it.

The Winter’s Tale

King Leontes is blessed with a beautiful queen, Hermione, who is expecting their baby daughter. But Leontes gets jealous of his houseguest and boyhood friend, Polixenes, and everything goes haywire. All are estranged, and spend 16 years apart before daughter Perdita and the “statuesque” Hermione are miraculously reunited again.

If you can’t make it to either presentation, the same cast will be bringing these performances to other small Seattle parks through August.