If wandering through the forest toward champagne, strawberries, and Shakespeare is your thing, good news: Twelfth Night at Theatre in the Woods opens this weekend. A guided summer trek through the redwoods, actors burst out of the brush at key spots to perform scenes of shipwreck and heartbreak. You end up at the main stage on seats carved out of the adjacent hillside watching Shakespearean poetry and snacking on the remains of your picnic lunch. (Note: bring a picnic lunch. Go on Sunday for the promised champagne and strawberries.)
Director Stuart Bousel opted to set the play in colonial New England’s post-witch trial days, focusing on the subtlety of the emotion rather than the physical comedy or overt sexuality of other interpretations. But Twelfth Night still goes all out with serendipity, mistaken identity, booze, true love, less true love, and a woman who plays a man to survive in a new world. Also, trees.
July 16-September 4. Theatre in the Woods, 2170 Bear Gulch Road West, Woodside. Tickets are $20-25 at theatreinthewoods.com.
