We take a break from our regularly scheduled theater programming for a road trip north to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, who's audience--a good percentage of it--is from the Bay Area. Another SF hook: former American Conservatory Theater core company member Marco Barricelli dons the big nose for Cyrano de Bergerac. Read on for reviews of shows in the order we saw them, as well as some dining, shopping and lodging tips.

The Two Gentleman of Verona on the Elizabethan Stage
A sort of poor man's As You Like It, Two Gents covers the same terrain as many of the Bard's comedies. A couple of young men travel from Verona to Milan, where they fall in love (no, not with each other). Soon Proteus betrays Valentine, a heartbroken woman dresses up as a man, and the whole mess resolves itself in a forest. Oh yeah, and a fool tries to get his dog Crab to do neat tricks. Director Bill Rauch imagines Valentine and Proteus as young Amish men practicing the tradition of rumspringa, that is, leaving the land of wagons and bonnets to party with the outside world--Milan, in this case. No less sheltered, Milan is inspired by Brooks Brothers' catalogs, and in keeping with extremes, the banished men in the forest are hard-core Goths. In his director's note, Rauch explains that these contrasts mirror "extremes of religious faith and capitalist excess that tug at the heart of American society." Well, OK, but it's still a comedy, and what we really want to see is Crab's tricks. Alas, the terrier Terwilliger was off his mark a bit that night, but no less entertaining. Never act with animals, especially in a Shakespeare play, where miscues may force you to adlib in verse. In all, Two Gents is a sweet production, kind of like a sorbet. It's colorful, sugary and not very heavy.
Playing through October 8

King John in the New Theatre
The cool thing about the $11 million New Theatre is that it only has six rows, which means the actors can, gasp, actually act with nuance and not have to worry about playing to the balconies. Now, like most people, we approach Shakespeare's histories with skepticism--it's bound to be long show, kind of dry and you'll need to have a royal family tree on hand to figure out who's related to who and how. And Shakespeare companies carry just as much skepticism, but it mostly revolves around box office. Happily, this production of King John is terrific--and only two and a half hours. Set during World War I, it features video projections of battles (even on the stage floor) that bring a touch of horrific energy to the otherwise austere, stark set. Actor Michael Elich is a superb King John, accomplishing the tough task of making the usurping guy sympathetic. If you go to Ashland, make time for this production. We recommend a matinee. And, if you're a theater geek, catch the backstage tour to hear more about this cool modular theater.
Playing through October 29

The Merry Wives of Windsor on the Elizabethan Stage
Word of mouth on Merry Wives wasn't good, and unfortunately, it lived up to the hype. Really, on the whole, California Shakespeare Theater's shows were just as good, if not better (as in this case) than the comedies we saw in Ashland. This production of Merry Wives is a cartoon, and a tiresome one. Now, it's supposed to be fluffy: Shakespeare wrote it because the Queen wanted a play about Falstaff. Too bad the actor playing Falstaff couldn't fill the character's huge personality, even with the fat suit. You know something's off when you spend more time admiring the costumes than watching the actors in them. But the costumes were wonderfully imaginative and colorful. Really.
Playing through October 6

Cyrano de Bergerac on the Elizabethan Stage
Four days after seeing it, we're still marveling over this terrific production and Marco Barricelli's outstanding performance as Cyrano. We knew he rocked after seeing his performances as a core company member of American Conservatory Theater (he left last year), where he played mostly earthy characters steeped in realism. So we wondered how he would handle Cyrano, who's at once romantic and melancholy, heroic and swashbuckling, humorous and witty. The moment he stepped onstage, Barricelli filled the 1,200-seat theater, and during the heartbreaking balcony scene where he practically confesses his love to Roxane, the audience was dead silent, and the whole row in front of us was leaning forward in rapt attention. At the end of the three and a half hour show (two intermissions), the audience was on its feet. And it wasn't just about Barricelli; the entire cast is strong, and the production was dynamically directed by Laird Williamson--who, coincidentally, directed Barricelli's last play at ACT, Moon for the Misbegotten. Cyrano was the perfect end to our Oregon Shakespeare Festival visit, and is a play not to be missed.
Playing through October 7

Photo of Roxane (Robin Goodrin Nordli) and Cyrano (Marco Barricelli) by Jenny Graham.

Dining
OSF employs nearly 1,000 theater people, and Ashland is a small town, so you're likely to bump into actors on the streets and lighting designers studying their schematics over a cup of coffee at, say, Ashland Bakery Café. If you really want to hang with the theater people, head over to Macaroni's Ristorante after each evening show. It's right on the OSF grounds next to the gift shop. Overall, the dining in town is mixed--you're likely to encounter subpar food, but at least the prices are decent. We can't remember the last time we had a restaurant burger for less than $8. For a more high-end dinner, visit Beasy's on the Creek, which has excellent steak and seafood and a good wine selection. Standing Stone Brewing features local beer, and we loved the wood-fired soft pretzels. We ignored the two Starbucks in favor of Evo's Java House, the locals hangout, as well as the more sweet Bloomsbury Books, which has a café upstairs (and a cat named Orlando).

Shopping
Downtown Ashland's clothing stores are mostly geared toward the 50-year-old kinda artsy but mainly conservative woman. However, we did some damage at Urban Minx and Village Shoes, as well as the aforementioned Bloomsbury Books. Did we mention there's no sales tax in Oregon? So those wedges that are on sale for $38 are really $38. Even on their websites.

Lodging
The goal here is to find something within walking distance to the theaters, and the challenge is to not spend more than $150 a night. We thought we did pretty good with the Columbia Hotel, about two blocks from the theaters and right in the middle of the shopping. Built in the 1920s, it's an European-style hotel, which means several of the rooms share a bathroom down the hall, though some of the doubles have a bathroom, a very small bathroom, in the room. This is a no-frills hotel full of character and friendly staff. Bonus: it does have free wireless internet. We spent about $115 a night for the double with a bathroom, while our friend spent less than $75 for a single with a shared bathroom. The OSF site lists several other local hotels, B&B's, motels and inns.

For more stage options, check out the listings at the Guardian, the Express, the SF Weekly, and the calendar on Theatre Bay Area's website.