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[an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca February 17 - July 8 Director: Laird Williamson. Scenery: Robert Blackman. Costumes: Deborah M. Dryden. Lighting: Robert Peterson. David Cooper Segismundo (Kevin Kenerly) alone and (below) with Rosaura (Vilma Silva) in a scene from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2001 production of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's `Life is a Dream.' Adapted and directed by Laird Williamson; scenic design by Robert Blackman; costume design by Deborah M. Dryden; lighting design by Robert Peterson. By Richard Moeschl Ashland Daily Tidings "Life is a Dream" which shares the stage this season with a number of plays by William Shakespeare, premiered in 1635, 19 years after the death of the Bard. Playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca left no authoritative editions of most of his plays, thus his "Life Is a Dream" has often been the recipient of a number of revisions over the years - though it has rarely been produced in the U.S. Times change, political, religious and social mores evolve. Each time directors have chosen to delve into this dense piece of literary history, they have endeavored to insure that it spoke to their particular generation of playgoers. The 2001 Oregon Shakespeare production is an adaptation by director Laird Williamson. For Williamson, adapting what many have called the most famous play in the Spanish language was an effort to breathe new life into it while at the same time remaining faithful to the spirit of the original. "I have always felt there were things trapped inside this old form," Williamson said. "I think Calderón really identified with the position of women and their defenseless role. In portraying Rosaura, he was speaking out for the rights of women. In this version, I just nudged this a little further. I included the idea that Rosaura could choose and not go the prescribed way." Williamson's adaptation received its first staging in 1998 at the Denver Center Theatre Company. "When you do a show again with a totally different cast it's another experience," said Williamson. "It was very challenging for me, being responsible for the script as well as working with the actors and evolving those characters." The OSF production in the Angus Bowmer Theatre features scenery by Richard L. Hay, costumes by Deborah M. Dryden and lighting by Robert Peterson. And what would Calderón think of Williamson's changes to the play? "I think he would probably marvel that his play was still being done nearly 400 years later and that people could relate to it," Williamson said. The play speaks to audiences at many different levels with themes that are at once timeless and contemporary. "We may fear something and it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy in our efforts to avoid it," Williamson pointed out. In the case of fearing violence in the world, we may, in fact, bring on more of it. Another element in the play is what Williamson calls the "cloak and dagger" aspect. The playwright involves the audience on that level, keeping them wondering what's going to happen, who's going to win. In that sense, and befitting its title, the play takes place in changing realms. Williamson describes his efforts as a director to reinforce the idea of these shifting realities bleeding into one another - what he sees as "the semi-obscure aspects of one reality." A striking feature of the Denver production was the introduction of a stylized horse at the beginning of the first act. For the OSF production, Williamson wanted to involve the image of the horse more. "It's an arresting moment. It pulls people into the play and signals that you're entering a unique and exotic world where things are not as they seem," Williamson said. "(The play) hits people at a very deep level, beyond the intellect, though it certainly is thought provoking." Speaking of the play's underlying themes, Williamson noted that Calderón was writing what was a fairly accepted and popular form: the revenge play. "He added the wonderful aspect of compassion and forgiveness," Williamson said. "He was challenging the old ideas of honor and revenge - a theme we could certainly use today in the Middle East and elsewhere." 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