Revel, Revel
Hot fool, they love you so
by Pat Katzmann
The East Bay Express
12/20/2003
Whether your winter holiday of choice is Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Festivus, or Christmakah, you can welcome back the light -- and simultaneously polish your Shakespeare -- at the eighteenth annual Christmas Revels. Despite its name, the seasonal event marking the longest night of the year blurs religious and cultural boundaries, and blends drama, music, dance, ritual, and audience participation. This year, the California Revels Winter Solstice celebration journeys back to 1599, the height of the Elizabethan Renaissance, to commemorate Gloriana's reign on the four hundredth anniversary of her death. In a casting coup, the Bay Area's favorite fool, Geoff Hoyle, plays Shakespeare's favorite fool, Will Kemp. Act One follows Kemp in his savvy 16th-century publicity stunt -- to morris dance his way from London to Norwich to meet Queen Elizabeth. Kemp's actual traveling/dancing pub crawl, during which he encountered all manner of people from tavern to tavern along rough roads made even rougher by winter weather, took nine days from start to finish, which he chronicled in A Nine Daies Wonder, hence the phrase "a nine days' wonder." Act Two finds Kemp joining a royal winter pageant in honor of Elizabeth I (played by Deborah Doyle), where he portrays Hades in a court masque depicting the myth of Demeter and Persephone, but not without a few tricks up his sleeve. Rounding out the cast is a volunteer community chorus of more than eighty singers, dancers, actors, and children, featuring Wendell Brooks, Dick Bagwell, the Brass West Ensemble, the Golden Ring Morris Men, and the Solstice Singers. According to Hoyle, "Revels differ from other holiday shows because they use very ancient folk rituals to create a sacred moment, a reflective moment, as well as a moment of high celebration and the suspension of social norms."
David Parr, resident director of the California Revels, directs the Christmas Revels at Oakland's Scottish Rite Center at 1547 Lakeside Drive. Tickets for Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. are available at CalRevels.org and from Frantix at 415-621-1216.-- Pat Katzmann
SAT 12/20/2003