Beach May 2018

arts
Loading up the carts
Shakespeare by the Sea hits
the road with “The Merry
Wives of Windsor” and
“The Winter’s Tale”
by Bondo Wyszpolski
Each year, and this is their
21st, Shakespeare by the Sea
literally begins, and ends, by
the sea, at Point Fermin Park in San
Pedro. Then, like the troupers and
troubadours they are, they take
their productions up and down the
coast and inland to such cities as
Whittier and South Pasadena. By
now the company has attempted
all but one or two of the Bard’s
plays, and the annual repertoire almost
always features one comedy
and one drama, or something light
and something sobering. And this
year?
The ensemble begins with “The
Merry Wives of Windsor,” which
is being described as “a rollicking
romantic comedy that tells of Falstaff’s
folly: courting two married
women at the same time. It’s mischief
and mayhem galore.”
The play is being directed by
long-time company member (director
and actor) Cylan Brown. This is
what he says about tackling it:
“I am fascinated with ‘Merry
Wives of Windsor’ because it is
Shakespeare’s only portrayal of the
Elizabethan middle class. It's also
the only play he named solely after
his female characters, which is fitting
as it is a sheer delight to watch
the two wives of Windsor pull
their delicious pranks on the overconfident
Falstaff. With colorful
characters including bombastic
French doctors, secret young
lovers, jealous husbands and comically
awkward suitors, we are
treated to lighthearted shenanigans
as the denizens of this small borough
gossip, hatch plans and plot
revenges against one another.”
Opening a week later and then
running in tandem with “Windsor”
is “The Winter’s Tale,” this being
“the story of Leontes, a King who
banished his family wrongfully,
only to be taught the meaning of
forgiveness through the inspired
plan of a wise, loyal woman.”
Stephanie Coltrin directs this
one, and like Cylan Brown she’s
been with Shakespeare by the Sea
Shakespeare by the Sea returns to Valley Park in Hermosa Beach with “The
Winter’s Tale” on Wed., July 11 and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” on
Thurs., July 12. Photo by Kevin Cody
for many years. She begins with a
direct quote: “It is required you do
awake your faith.”
“‘The Winter’s Tale’ is one of
Shakespeare’s final and finest creations
and I am thrilled to be directing
it for our 21st season,” she says.
“The story illustrates the epic,
heartbreaking, tragic consequences
of jealousy, but, unlike Shakespeare’s
tragedies, provides redemption
and forgiveness in the
form of a miracle. Filled with extraordinary
language, its drama is
matched by its comedy, and
throughout there is a sense of the
magical power of grace. When
what’s gone and what’s past help is
not past grief, the story reminds us
that what was lost can indeed be
found.”
All events are free (but you can
donate). Bring food, blankets, and
comfortable clothes. These are the
various South Bay locations:
San Pedro
Point Fermin Park
807 Paseo del Mar, 8 p.m.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
June 14, 15, 16, 28, 30, July 6, August
18
The Winter’s Tale
June 21, 22, 23, 29, July 5, 7, August
17
Rancho Palos Verdes
Hesse Park
29301 Hawthorne Blvd., 7 p.m.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
July 9
Hermosa Beach
Valley Park
2521 Valley Dr., 7 p.m.
The Winter’s Tale
July 11
The Merry Wives of Windsor
July 12
Torrance
Charles H. Wilson Park
2200 Crenshaw Blvd., 7 p.m.
The Winter’s Tale
July 27
The Merry Wives of Windsor
July 28
Manhattan Beach
Polliwog Park
1601 Manhattan Bch. Blvd., 7 p.m.
The Winter’s Tale
August 10
The Merry Wives of Windsor
August 11
For more information, call (310)
217-7596 or go to shakespearebythesea.org.
B
South Bay
Film Society
A first-rate, never ending
film festival
by Bondo Wyszpolski
If you appreciate the artistry of
film, and we’re not talking
about crowd-pleasing blockbusters,
you may have heard about
Randy Berler and his ongoing success
at bringing high-quality motion
pictures to the South Bay.
Maybe it’s his charm, who can say,
but the films he has managed to
find and screen (often before their
runs in L.A. or New York) are often
nothing short of astonishing. To
date, the South Bay Film Society
has shown over 200 new foreign
language and indie films in its six
years of existence, renting theater
rooms at the AMC Rolling Hills in
Torrance. Many times there are
after-screening discussions, and because
many filmgoers know a good
thing when they’ve found it, seats
fill up faster and earlier than they
would for a standard, commercial
film. Tickets are sold online
through the website at
southbayfilmsociety.com.
Upcoming films:
Wed. May 23: “Lean On Pete” -
That’s the name of the film and
the aging racehorse that a teenage
boy named Charlie saves from the
glue factory. The two embark on
an odyssey across the new American
frontier.
Wed. May 30: “Venus” - Having
recently embraced her own identity,
Sid, a transgender woman,
finds herself tangled in a complex
web of expectations and aspirations
when she discovers she has
a 14-year-old son. This is a new
drama/comedy from Canada.
Wed. June 6: “Skid Row
Marathon” - is an inspiring documentary
about Judge Craig
Mitchell, who has changed the
lives of countless people he met
at the Midnight Mission Shelter
on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Q&A
with Judge Mitchell and the filmmakers
follows the screening.
Wed. June 27: “Three Identical
Strangers” - Identical triplets become
separated at birth and
adopted by three different families.
Their reunion years later becomes
a global sensation, but it
also unearths an unimaginable secret
that has radical repercussions.
This is a remarkable
stranger-than-fiction documentary
Wed. July 11: “Puzzle” - A woman
who has a talent for assembling
jigsaw puzzles sneaks away from
her suburban town and goes to
New York City, where she partners
with a man for a puzzle tournament
in Atlantic City.
Experiencing independence for
the first time, she begins to view
her value, and the pieces of her
own life, in a whole new light.
Mon. July 23: “The Wife” - The
faithful wife (Glenn Close) of a famous
New York novelist decides
to leave her husband on the eve
he's scheduled to receive a prestigious
literary prize. The life-altering
decision unearths the many
dark secrets of their marriage. B
48 Easy Reader / Beach magazine • May 10, 2018