“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”
—Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene ii
Beverly and Michael Carrick’s introduction to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival over a quarter-century ago was more of a toe-dip than a dive. They drove down from Salem to see a single play because their high–school-age daughter was studying one of the works on the 1988 playbill, Romeo and Juliet.
That testing of the waters led to more shows in subsequent seasons (they’ve come every year since), then to lectures, post-matinee discussions, Coffee Chats and even hosting School Visit Program actors in their home. Now that they’re retired and Chautauqua Guild members, Bev and Mike see every play every season at least once and take a yearly backstage tour.
“I think you might say that we have this hunger for OSF things,” Bev said via phone. “The more we can do, the more we learn and the more we get to know people, the more enjoyment. It’s just a whole atmosphere. And we went to opening weekend this year for the first time. Oh, my goodness! We could feel the excitement in the air.”
Bev and Mike’s thorough immersion is, according to actor Rex Young, unique to OSF. “It’s a destination, pilgrimage theatre that people have relationships with for 15, 20, 30 years. Why? It’s beautiful and there are other things to do, and there’s great theatre,” he said, “but there’s also connection, there’s continuity of experience that we offer that no other theatre does.”
Fully on board
In 2013, Rex and his wife, actor Miriam A. Laube, joined the Carricks and other OSF patrons for the first time on what Rex sees as an extension of that singular OSF experience: a Shakespeare at Sea cruise. These voyages—held in 2007, 2008, 2013 and this December—allow patrons and Festival artists to come together to learn, talk, reflect and form friendships during their time aboard the ship and while exploring on land. The 2013 cruise to Greece and Turkey focused on theatre history and included an uphill hike to an ancient Greek amphitheater that reminded Miriam of the outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre.
“It was surrounded by trees and a mountain,” she said, “so it felt oddly familiar, and you could feel the history there.”
The theatre was backed by a tall and sheer cliff face, and when the group—led by Miriam and Rex—began to perform a scene from Antigone, the acoustics made it clear that the long-ago choice of this cliff-side location was quite purposeful.
“Miriam starts the play with an invocation, a song, and she starts singing, and I heard something that I thought was another event happening, but it was actually Miriam’s voice coming back off of the cliffs,” Rex recalled.
“That was one of the highlights of my life, watching that performance,” said Dr. Lue Douthit, OSF’s Director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy, who is among the teaching artists on the cruises. “I’m getting chills now just thinking about it. The sound went up through me, behind me, and then came back down through me. It was this ancient, human-connecting vibration. Everything just lined up—the past, the present, the story, the situation, where we were. I was Greek.”
“When you do dance, I wish you
A wave o’ the sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that.”
—The Winter’s Tale, Act IV, scene iv
For this year’s trip, Shakespeare at Sea IV, the Queen Mary II will set sail for a 12-day voyage from Southampton, England, to Portugal and Spain, with stops including the Canary Islands, Lisbon and Madeira. The days spent at sea will feature a Lue-led deep dive into OSF’s 2016 Shakespeare plays, with particular emphasis on Twelfth Night; performances by Rex, Miriam and fellow actors Gina Daniels and Ted Deasy; and many more opportunities to learn and experience how productions and a repertory season are created at OSF. In an attempt to recapture some of that Antigone magic, patrons and actors will mount Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (a nod to next season’s Great Expectations) in a volcanic cave in Lanzarote, Spain.
Miriam and Rex recall being charmed on the last cruise by patrons carrying their big study books around the ship with them, and Lue was struck by how eager the group was to attend every single learning and social opportunity, leading her at times to think, “Oh my god, go watch the sunset!”
For the Carricks, Shakespeare at Sea is far less about the destinations than it is about plunging into the art and connecting with their fellow travelers.
“We’re always impressed with the quality of the staff and the actors at OSF, and the people who take the trouble to go on this cruise,” Mike said. “We have a lot of other things to do and we travel a lot, but we give things up to go down to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I would go to the same program if there were no cruise. Altogether, it’s a really life-enhancing opportunity.”
For more information and to book passage on Shakespeare at Sea, contact Doreen O’Skea (541-482-2111, ext. 352; [email protected]), or visit Insight Cruises.