“So Musical a Discord”: Utah Shakespeare Festival 2023

Utah Shakespeare Festival, associated with Southern Utah University, celebrated its 62^nd anniversary season by presenting four Shakespeare plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, and Coriolanus. The first two, which shared cast members and some creative staff, were being presented in the outdoor Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre; the others, which similarly shared personnel, were mounted in the indoor Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre. On the days I attended, the open-air shows, which included audience members across the age spectrum, were half to two thirds full. The indoor shows were full, though with fewer children present. There was no racial diversity evident in either venue. All the shows included intermittent musical interludes by the performers. Over the course of the series, these became welcome signatures of these productions. The season also featured three non-Shakespearean offerings, including Raisin in the Sun, The Play that Goes Wrong and Jane Austen’s Emma the Musical, none of which I was able to see.

The clear stand-out among the Shakespearean offerings was Coriolanus. Here, the strong cast was aided by a host of other creative assets, with particular kudos to Fight Director Caitlyn Herzlinger and Lighting Designer Tom Ontiveros. James Ryen and Elijah Alexander, playing Coriolanus and Aufidius respectively, brought depth and vigor to these characters. Physically imposing, they each possessed the strength necessary for these roles, while skillfully presenting their shifting emotional states across the play. They bring vigor to their individual roles that translates readily into the complexity emerging after…