Utah Shakespeare Festival serving up the laughs this season


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CEDAR CITY — Actors switching roles, audience members flipping coins, the Marx Brothers and Julius Caesar; that's just some of what's going on during the fall season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City.

Certainly, Shakespeare’s plays bring drama, but this fall, there will be plenty of laughs.

'The Odd Couple'

Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," about two friends with opposite personalities who end up living together, is not the way you have ever seen it. The Utah Shakespeare Festival's co-artistic directors, Brian Vaughn and David Ivers, take the lead roles.

Vaughn and Ivers have not shared the stage since “Stones in His Pockets” and said they do not like to cast each other in their productions. The idea for both to play both lead roles, switching those roles every other performance, came up in a meeting and everyone jumped on it.

“If it's brilliant, I came up with it,” Vaughn said. “And if it's not brilliant ..."

“It was me, yeah! Just kidding," Ivers jokingly said.

Both agree the Neil Simon play is one of the best American comedies ever written.

"We returned partly to our commitment to American playwrights then we both read this script again and we both said, 'Ah, it's hilarious,'" Ivers said.

They also agree that each one discovered parts of their own personalities in each of these characters. On Saturday evenings, an audience member flips a coin and that decides who plays which role that night.

"It's not a competition, it's an experience," Ivers said.

They assured that the idea that "art imitates life and life imitates art" is alive and well in 2016.

'Julius Caesar'

Shakespeare's words about trust and loyalty in government leaders resound in his "Julius Caesar." In this production, the cast wears modern clothing and the staging takes place in the new 200-seat Anes Theatre. Audiences can now become part of the play.

"In an election year and what that says about what's going on in the world today, as far as politics, and seeing that in a very, very intimate, in-your-face venue, I think has great resonance," Vaughn said.

'Murder for Two'

In that same theater, "Murder for Two" has one actor playing the investigator and the other playing all of the suspects.

"Playing the piano and singing at the same time is an absolute tour de force," Vaughn said.

In this production, someone from the audience really does join the cast briefly but hilariously.

'The Cocoanuts'

Lastly is the Marx Brothers’ "The Cocoanuts," set in a Florida hotel in the 1920s during a real estate boom. There is plenty of picking pockets, confusion and nonsense. Add dancing and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and you have a celebration of the comedy and charm of another era.

It's safe to say that the four productions present a smorgasbord of possibilities for theatergoers.

"The Cocoanuts" runs through Oct. 15th. “The Odd Couple,” “Julius Caesar” and “Murder for Two” close on Oct. 22.

For ticket information, visit www.bard.org.

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UtahEntertainment
Carole Mikita

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