The 100 Best Affordable Vacations (75 page)

To experience a Shakespeare performance as it might have been in the days of old, head to the Blue Ridge town of Staunton, Virginia, where a year-round program of Shakespeare is offered in a setting the Bard might recognize. In 2001, the town’s
American Shakespeare Center
(10 S. Market St., 540-885-5588,
www.americanshakespearecenter.com
) opened a 300-seat re-creation of England’s original Globe Theatre, which first staged many of Shakespeare’s plays. However, the construction costs for Staunton’s Blackfriars Playhouse ran far higher than in Shakespeare’s time—$3.6 million—and included the modern conveniences of electricity, heat, and bathrooms that were not part of Shakespeare’s world.

But aside from women cast members—an illegal practice in the 16th century that landed Gwyneth Paltrow’s
Shakespeare in Love
film character in a hapless marriage—the performances are intended to be much the same as they might have been in the Shakespeare’s own time. Seating is on bare wooden benches (it’s worth paying a few dollars extra for a cushion or a Lords’ Chair seat with back and padding). Music is provided by voice and guitar, costumes are simple, the audience is close at hand and often engaged. And yes, gender crossover still turns up on stage.

WHO WROTE THE PLAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE?

Scholars debate whether a merchant’s son who never attended university could have penned these complex plays—or whether they were in fact written by a nobleman seeking to hide his own identity. Candidates include the statesman Francis Bacon, playwright Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. Or it might have been a poet from Stratford upon Avon named William Shakespeare.

WELL-KNOWN SHAKESPEARE FESTIVALS

 
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Oregon.
Founded in 1935, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is the nation’s oldest. Held February–October; tickets from $20.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 800-219-8161,
www.orshakes.org
.

 
Stratford Festival of Canada, Stratford, Ontario.
Held late April–early November; tickets from $35 U.S.; family discounts, last-minute tickets, and other discounts available.
Stratford Festival of Canada, 800-567-1600,
www.stratfordfestival.ca
.

 
Shakespeare in the Park, New York, New York.
Staged in Central Park’s Delacorte Theater in June and July; tickets are free, but expect to get in line hours in advance on the day of performance or use the new online virtual ticketing, available after 12:01 a.m. on the day of the performance.
Shakespeare in the Park, 212-539-8750,
www.shakespeareinthepark.org
.

Adult tickets cost $20–$22. Performance schedules are arranged so that theatergoers can catch two different plays on a Saturday, and three over a weekend. Tours are offered throughout the week at set times for $5; they include a chance for visitors to try out dialogue from their own Shakespeare favorites.

Despite its small size—population about 24,000—the historic town of Staunton offers plenty to fill a weekend, including a cheery Saturday farmers market, the
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum
(888-496-6376,
www.woodrowwilson.org
, $12), and myriad antiques and crafts shops. If you want to balance your nighttime culture with a dose of nature, both
Shenandoah National Park
(540-999-3500,
www.nps.gov/shen
, $10–$15 per car, depending on the time of year) and
Luray Caverns
(540-743-6551,
www.luraycaverns.com
, $23) are located close enough to town for day visits.

Lodging is limited, and your best bet may be to ask about Shakespeare packages. At the
Frederick House B&B
(28 N. New St., 800-334-5575,
www.frederickhouse.com
), rates start at $95. At the renovated
Stonewall Jackson Hotel
(24 S. Market St., 540-885-4848,
www.stonewalljacksonhotel.com
), weekend rates start around $100. Just outside town are a few chain lodgings.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH

Staunton Convention & Visitors Bureau,
800-342-7982,
www.visitstaunton.com
.

transform the desert, become a burning man

NEVADA

It’s a community of really creative people, who are hard to find day-to-day.

—
REPORTER MEREDITH MAY, WHO FIRST COVERED THE EVENT FOR THE
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
IN 1998 AND FOUND HERSELF RETURNING AGAIN AND AGAIN

94 |
The week before Labor Day, a desolate corner of Nevada transforms into Black Rock City, a place where imagination runs wild and the concept of controlled anarchy is put to the test.

This is a place where cars transform into giant armadillos, where someone dressed like Scarlett O’Hara might bike around offering manicures to strangers, and where you shouldn’t be surprised to see a temporary roller disco somehow appear in the desert overnight.

It’s hard to describe the Burning Man festival. It’s an art project, a place that tries to unleash the wild creativity of the nearly 50,000 participants eager to escape the predictability of everyday life. It’s also where you’re likely to be battered by sandstorms, and you’re certain to encounter nudity and intoxicants. But Burners, as repeat visitors are called, say the festival is much more than sex and drugs—although it must be said that you’ll find those if you want.

In this C-shaped temporary settlement no commerce is allowed, except for the sale of coffee, ice, and soft drinks. Even people bringing in rental trucks are requested to cover the company logos. Most participants are in their 20s and 30s, but you’ll also find plenty in their 40s, 50s, and 60s.

$PLURGE

LIVE LIKE A KING IN BLACK ROCK CITY

The most comfortable way to stay at Burning Man is to rent an RV. The vehicle will provide shelter from sandstorms and a place to take a shower. As the week goes on, you’ll feel a little more human than the mass of dusty neighbors around you. A weeklong rental can run $3,000 and should be reserved months in advance.
www.cruiseamerica.com.

The spectacle that is Burning Man began in 1986 when two men constructed a wooden human-shaped figure and burned it in front of 20 strangers on a San Francisco beach. The annual ritual eventually moved east to the Nevada desert, and it is now the climax of an eight-day festival in late August/early September. Tickets run $300 per person, although a limited number of discounted tickets are available when Internet sales begin for that year’s festival in January. Burning Man closes its gates to visitors on Friday before Labor Day to prevent day visitors from coming just to gawk, and then torches the 50-foot-tall neon ringed statue on Saturday night.

It sounds (and feels) a little pagan, but like much else at Burning Man, nothing’s that simple. Black Rock City, located about 100 miles north of Reno, thrives on what it calls a gift economy. Everyone is encouraged to offer gifts to others. It may be alcohol, a foot massage, a poem, or anything else you dream up.

10 PRINCIPLES OF BURNING MAN

 Radical inclusion

 Gifting

 Decommodification