Shakespeare Family Festival, Day 1

The festival kicked off with Sir Carl Kent telling stories while dressed in armor (in 95F heat -- sheesh!). Here he has a boy from the audience playing the part of a dragon:



There were various other things going on -- spinning demo, face painting, playground and spray-ground activity, people wandering around dressed as various Shakespearean characters whilst carrying trading cards with their pictures. Also, drawings and raffles for various stuff.

Then the clowns came out:


Except during their performance it became very dark, and a mighty wind came up. It was fairly ominous, and looked like we were in for a monsoon.


But it all blew over with a few drops of rain, and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees, which was wonderful. And the show went on.

A juggler, whose name I forget. He's really good. He's from the area. I was sitting next to his former math teacher, who told me that he used to say he didn't need to learn algebra because he was going to be a juggler. And she would say, no, you can't earn a living as a juggler, so learn the math. And here he is, traveling around the world as a juggler now. I assume he learned enough math to keep track of expenses.


The Tower Grove Singers:


A fencing demonstration by Bruce Sikes' group (he gives lessons in the area). They had a couple of kids come up and try fencing with foils, so if you want a chance to give it a quick try, come out to the festival today.


Another clown show, this time sans weather special effects.

Sir Carl then told the story of Sir Gawain and the Loathely Lady.


After which he was dubbed a knight of Creve Coeur by the mayor of Crreve Coeur.


Then the play started!


Viola and Sebastian on the "boat" (the chorus is forming a ship's prow) during the storm. The captain is behind the clowns. Orsino and Olivia are on the stage behind everyone, which I assume represents them hanging out in Illyria.


Viola discussing her options with the captain, deciding to dress up as a boy.


Viola meets veiled Olivia while Maria attends


and Olivia removes her veil.


Thalia and AnnaBeth only had one scene in which they interacted


Feste taunts Malvolio while the latter languishes in his prison.


By this time the sun had set, and it was getting too dark to take pictures.

There were some glitches with the sound, but otherwise a fun performance and a fun afternoon.