No pets are allowed in the park. Turn off all cell phones and beepers during performances. Bug repellent might not be a bad idea, either. Bring a picnic basket, if you wish, but food and drink are also for sale from vendors in the park and downtown merchants. Feel free to get creative on a culinary level.
Some seasoned playgoers arrive packing everything from sushi to caviar to fried chicken.
Orlando must scurry into the Forest of Arden, but not before he is smitten by the fetching Rosalind. She finesses Shakespeare's lines with an appealing attention to rhythm and detail. Decked out in multicolored bathing trunks and garish shirts to clash, Cox's Touchstone looks as if he survived an explosion at the Day-Glo paint factory. Cox's Winnie the Pooh-like voice only completes the absurd ensemble. Since the Southern Shakespeare Festival invites British actors and directors to take part in its productions, its always a danger that our English cousins will let the Spanish moss and native Southern accents of the region get the best of them.