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Bill Blachly and Ann O'Brian, Founders

Vermont Theatre Festival

2024 Season

 

 

 

Yeomen of the Guard

by

Gilbert and Sullivan

June 27 July -13

When the previous Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Ruddigore, finished its run at the Savoy Theatre, no new Gilbert and Sullivan opera was ready, and for nearly a year the stage was devoted to revivals of the company's old successes H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. For several years leading up to the premiere of Yeomen, Sullivan had expressed the desire to leave his partnership with W.S. Gilbert in order to turn to writing grand opera and other serious works full-time. Before the premiere of Yeomen, Sullivan had recently been lauded for the successful cantata The Golden Legend and would produce his grand opera, Ivanhoe, only 15 months after Yeomen.

In the autumn of 1887, after another attempt to interest his collaborator in a plot where the characters, by swallowing a magic pill, became who they were pretending to be (Sullivan had rejected this idea before), Gilbert made an effort to meet his collaborator half way. Gilbert claimed that the idea for the opera came to him while he was waiting for the train in Uxbridge and spotted an advertisement for The Tower Furnishing and Finance Company, illustrated with a Beefeater. On Christmas Day, 1887, he read to Sullivan and Carte his plot sketch for an opera set at the Tower of London. Sullivan was "immensely pleased" and, with much relief, accepted it, writing in his diary, "Pretty story, no topsy turvydom, very human, & funny also".

 

July 18  Aug 3

 

 

Uncle Vanya

by

Anton Chekhov

A Play for Our Anxious Era. Despite debuting 125 years ago, Anton Chekhov's drama of claustrophobia, resentment and despair feels perfectly suited to present day America.

 

Much Ado About Nothing

by

William Shakespeare

July 18 - Aug. 3

 

The play is set in Messina and revolves around two romantic pairings that emerge when a group of soldiers arrive in the town. The first, between Claudio and Hero, is nearly scuppered by the accusations of the villain, Don John. The second, between Claudio's friend Benedick and Hero's cousin Beatrice, takes centre stage as the play continues, with both characters' wit and banter providing much of the humour.

Through "noting" (sounding like "nothing" and meaning gossip, rumour, overhearing),[2][3] Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, and Claudio is tricked into believing that Hero is not a maiden (virgin). The title's play on words references the secrets and trickery that form the backbone of the play's comedy, intrigue, and action.

Returning to Haifa

by

Ghassan Kanafani,

Aug 8 - 24

Commissioned by New York’s Public Theater, this play never reached the stage because of pressure from the board. They missed a trick because it is a powerful and disturbing piece now receiving its belated premiere. Adapted by Ismail Khalidi and Naomi Wallace from a novella by the Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani (1936-72), it works on several levels: as a poignant family drama, as a plea for Israeli-Palestinian understanding and as a warning of what will follow without some form of reconciliation.

The play shows a Palestinian couple returning to Haifa in 1967 in search of the house and son they

Marlene Sidaway as Miriam in Returning to Haifa.

 

were forced to abandon 20 years previously during mass evictions by Israeli forces. They constantly debate whether they are right to make the journey. When they arrive, they find their old home occupied by the widowed Miriam who fled from Poland after her father was sent to Auschwitz and who adopted the couple’s son and brought him up as a naturalised Israeli.

This could easily be a propaganda piece. Instead, it offers a moving confrontation between two sets of displaced people and an utterly unsentimental exploration of the complexities of home, history and parenthood. Said, the aggrieved Palestinian father, is a truculent figure whose aggression is matched, possibly to excess, by that of the son he lost. Surveying the Haifa house he once owned, Said also says, more in prophetic sorrow than in anger, that it will take a war to settle ancient wrongs.

Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
30
31
1
2
3
7:30 PM - Sisters
7:30 PM - Women
4
7:30 PM - Sisters
7:30 PM - Women
5
7:30 PM - Sisters
7:30 PM - Women
6
7:30 PM - Hamlet
7
8
9
10
7:30 PM - Sisters
11
7:30 PM - Sisters
12
7:30 PM - Sisters
13
15
16
17
7:30 PM - Charity
7:30 PM - Happy Days
18
7:30 PM - Charity
7:30 PM - Happy Days
19
7:30 PM - Charity
7:30 PM - Happy Days
20
21
22
23
24
7:30 PM - Charity
25
7:30 PM - Charity
26
7:30 PM - Charity
27
28
29
30
31
7:30 PM - Charity
1
7:30 PM - Charity
2
7:30 PM - Charity
03 Aug
08/03/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
03 Aug
08/03/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
04 Aug
08/04/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
04 Aug
08/04/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
05 Aug
08/05/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
05 Aug
08/05/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
06 Aug
08/06/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
by William Shakespeare Performed by Shakespeare Alive! advanced summer theater camp
10 Aug
08/10/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
11 Aug
08/11/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
12 Aug
08/12/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
14 Aug
08/14/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Rick Winston Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Suspense
17 Aug
08/17/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
17 Aug
08/17/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
by Samuel Beckett Is Winnie a symbol of a despoiled Mother Earth or just an Everywoman trapped in the wasteland of life? Zephyr Teachout returns [...]
18 Aug
08/18/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
18 Aug
08/18/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
by Samuel Beckett Is Winnie a symbol of a despoiled Mother Earth or just an Everywoman trapped in the wasteland of life? Zephyr Teachout returns [...]
19 Aug
08/19/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
19 Aug
08/19/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
by Samuel Beckett Is Winnie a symbol of a despoiled Mother Earth or just an Everywoman trapped in the wasteland of life? Zephyr Teachout returns [...]
24 Aug
08/24/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
25 Aug
08/25/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
26 Aug
08/26/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
31 Aug
08/31/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
01 Sep
09/01/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
02 Sep
09/02/2017    
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Events on 08/03/2017
03 Aug
3 Aug 17
Marshfield
03 Aug
3 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/04/2017
04 Aug
4 Aug 17
Marshfield
04 Aug
4 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/05/2017
05 Aug
5 Aug 17
Marshfield
05 Aug
5 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/06/2017
06 Aug
6 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/10/2017
10 Aug
10 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/11/2017
11 Aug
11 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/12/2017
12 Aug
12 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/14/2017
Events on 08/17/2017
17 Aug
17 Aug 17
Marshfield
17 Aug
17 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/18/2017
18 Aug
18 Aug 17
Marshfield
18 Aug
18 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/19/2017
19 Aug
19 Aug 17
Marshfield
19 Aug
19 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/24/2017
24 Aug
24 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/25/2017
25 Aug
25 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/26/2017
26 Aug
26 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 08/31/2017
31 Aug
31 Aug 17
Marshfield
Events on 09/01/2017
01 Sep
1 Sep 17
Marshfield
Events on 09/02/2017
02 Sep
2 Sep 17
Marshfield

Curtain Time

7:30  SHARP

Tickets:
Adults $30, Children 12 and under $15.

Cash or checks

No credit cards

Reservations and Information: 


802-456-8968  or at

unadilla@pshift.com

 

501 Blachly Road
Marshfield Vermont 05658