Day 65 Harrisburg, Oregon

We are now at an RV site on the Willamette River at Harrisburg in Oregon.

We spent four nights at Ashland and grew to like the community. It has of course the Shakespeare festival which has performances for about nine months of the year.  It also has a university, interesting shops and restaurants - arty shops and it appeared a lot of alternate health services - yoga, herbal remedies etc.  There are great bike paths but the weather did not permit venturing on them for this visit.

The best camp site was the Emigrant Lake recreational area - overlooking a lake and one night we were the only campers. We had also one night at an RV park named Glenyan which was crowded and in need of maintenance. The last night we just parked on a quiet street we had scouted out that day. Since we did not get out of the play till 10.30 pm it did not make sense to go to a camp site. We just drove the RV from a parking lot to the quiet street.

"My Fair Lady" was superbly performed. The setting created was a stage within a stage with two pianos and the cast changing their costumes for the different scenes. The Ascot scene was particularly well done with the hats descending from the roof on wires. The audience loved Freddie singing and humorously performing  "I have often walked down this street before".  It is always interesting to see how the end is performed. George Bernard Shaw wrote Pygmalion in 1912 and he always insisted that Eliza maintained her independence at the end where others wanted her to either marry Freddie or Higgins.

It reminds on that in Britain it was not until 1918 that the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed, enfranchising women over the age of 30 who met minimum property qualifications. The Representation of the People Act 1928 extended the voting franchise to all women over the age of 21.(Thanks to Wikipedia)

The setting for "The taming of the shrew" was Padua, Italy and the dress 1960s.  Great acting but not as good as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor! It is often so difficult to keep up with all the dialog and plots and sub plots but always a pleasure to see a Shakespeare play written between 1590 and 1592.  Here is the Wikipedia link:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew

In listening to Kate's words it did not sound like the original Shakespeare but I found the text that I think was used.  I hope I provoke discussion by quoting this which is a realistic transliteration of the words that Shakespeare used in the 16th Century!  How things have changed for men and women since that time!

KATHERINE: Girls, girls! Wipe those frowns off your faces and stop rolling your eyes. This disrespectful stance toward the man who is your lord, your king, your governor tarnishes your beauty the way the frosts of winter blights the land. It mars your reputations as whirlwinds shake fair buds. And in no sense is it fitting or attractive. An angry woman is like an agitated fountain—muddy, unpleasant, lacking in beauty. And in this condition, no one—however dry or thirsty he may be—will stoop to sip or touch one drop of it. Your husband is your lord, your life, your keeper, your head, your sovereign, one who cares for you and who, for your ease and comfort, commits his body to harsh labor both on land and sea. Long, stormy nights at seas he stays awake, by day he endures cold while you lie safe and warm, secure in your beds at home. And in exchange he seeks no more from you but love, kind looks, and true obedience—too little payment for so great a debt. A woman owes her husband the same loyalty a subject owes his king. And when she is peevish and perverse, sullen, sour, and disobedient to his honest wishes, what is she but a loathsome, warlike rebel and an ungrateful traitor to her loving lord? I am ashamed that women are so foolish as to declare war when they should plead on their knees for peace, that they seek authority, supremacy, and power when they are under an obligation to serve, love, and obey.  Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth, unfit for toil and trouble in the world, if not so that our soft qualities and our hearts should agree with our external parts? Come, come, you weak, ungovernable worms!My spirit has been as proud as each of yours, my courage as great, and my reason perhaps even better suited to bandy words back and forth and exchange frown for frown. But now I see our weapons are like straws, our strength like a straw’s weakness, and our weakness past comparison, so that we seem to be the thing we most are not. Humble your pride, then, since it’s useless, and place your hand beneath your husband’s foot. As a gesture of my loyalty, my hand is ready if he cares to use it. May it bring him comfort.

To-morrow we continue on further north and to-morrow evening we may spend two nights at Fort Stevens State Park at the mouth of the Columbia River. On Sunday we will continue on to Port Angeles with the idea of getting the 8.30 ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria on Monday. We have booked into the West Bay Marina and RV Park for a month during which time we will be moving our household contents (which have been in storage) into the Townhouse we have bought on April 12th.

Yours in pursuit of great RVing.

Shaun (and Penny and Lucy).