Oregon Shakespeare Festival Archives | Kelly Bulkeley

A Panel Discussion of Dreams and OSF’s “Alice in Wonderland”

Kelly Bulkeley — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 23:22:11 +0000

Before going to bed each night after a long day of rehearsals, the director of “Alice in Wonderland” wrote a letter, sealed it, and put it under her pillow. The letter was addressed to her theatrical hero, Eva Le Gallienne (1899-1991), a revolutionary figure on the American stage whose adaptation of the Alice stories was …

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Dreams and Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

Kelly Bulkeley — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 20:54:21 +0000

Uncanny dreams and deathly sleep haunt the most famous lovers in literary history. The woeful story of Juliet and her Romeo has several ominous references to beds, sleep, and dreams. These nocturnal elements reflect the tension between the passionate yearnings of the young lovers and the tragic fate that awaits them. As Friar Laurence vainly …

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Dreams and Shakespeare: Othello

Kelly Bulkeley — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 01:24:58 +0000

Shakespeare’s most cunning villain turns sleep and dreaming against his enemies. At the center of Shakespeare’s dark tragedy is the cruel dynamic between Othello, a magnificent warrior and heroic leader, and Iago, his resentful subordinate. (In the current production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Chris Butler performs in the title role, and Iago is played …

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A Dream of Love: Interpreting the Dream Ballet in OSF’s Oklahoma!

Kelly Bulkeley — Thu, 03 May 2018 23:24:11 +0000

Peeling away Freudian assumptions to reach a deeper human truth about the capacity to love. A radiant new production of the musical Oklahoma! at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival re-interprets a classic American love story for contemporary audiences. With bold innovations in casting, staging, and choreography, the OSF production differs in many ways from the 1943 …

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The Horrors of the Dream Ballet in “Oklahoma!”

Kelly Bulkeley — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 01:02:30 +0000

A brilliant exploration of the dark psychological depths of sexual desire appears in an unlikely place—a country musical from the 1940’s. Oklahoma! was the first collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the duo who went on to write many of Broadway’s most famous mid-century musicals. A new production of Oklahoma! at the Oregon …

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Dreams and Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor

Kelly Bulkeley — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:45:24 +0000

Jealous paranoia cannot distinguish between dreaming and waking in one of Shakespeare’s bawdiest works. There are several reasons why “The Merry Wives of Windsor” has generally been considered one of Shakespeare’s minor plays. It’s an absurd, bawdy farce set in an English country village around 1600, bereft of any epic characters, grand locales, or soaring …

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Dreams and Shakespeare: Henry IV Part II

Kelly Bulkeley — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 23:58:35 +0000

To be a king, one must give up sleep and dreams in favor of the ruling duties of waking life. This is the grim truth that animates much of the action in Henry IV Part II. The second chapter of prince Hal’s transformation into King Henry V contains two of the most vivid references to …

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Dreams and Shakespeare: Henry IV Part I

Kelly Bulkeley — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 00:31:27 +0000

Sleep is both a gentle source of earthly pleasure and a stressful battlefield of military violence in Shakespeare’s stirring portrait of a young Prince. The play opens with Henry IV, the 15th century English King, planning his military strategy against various enemies who are threatening rebellion. One of the rebel leaders is Henry “Hotspur” Percy, the …

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Dreaming and Theater: A Dynamic Connection

Kelly Bulkeley — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 21:22:36 +0000

In August of 1991 I joined a group of dream researchers from the U.S. and Western Europe on a journey to Golitsyno, a conference center just outside Moscow in the former Soviet Union, where we planned to meet several Soviet researchers for a gathering organized by Jungian analyst Robert Bosnak. Just hours after our plane …

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Dreams and Shakespeare: Julius Caesar

Kelly Bulkeley — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 23:07:47 +0000

Prophetic dreams of doom go unheeded in Shakespeare’s tragedy about violent political strife among the greatest leaders of ancient Rome. In Julius Caesar, strange dreams and nightmares join with other frightening portents to besiege the people of Rome from all sides. Terrible storms, weird avian behavior, and a haunting Soothsayer add to the pervasive sense …

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