A Tempest on the Hudson

This weekend, J1 and I went to upstate New York to see the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's production of The Tempest. Both of us would highly recommend the trip. The scenery, the setting, and the production are all fantastic.

The Festival is presented in the picturesque Hudson Valley at the Boscobel Restoration, a restored estate from the federal period. The Restoration overlooks the Hudson River and the rolling hills beyond, with a great view of the West Point campus. The Restoration is near the quaint town of Cold Spring, about 50 miles north of NYC.

The whole area is so scenic. We took the Metro North up, which took about an hour. The trip itself is beautiful, as the Hudson line follows the river most of the way up. At the train station, a shuttle van from the festival met us to drive us out to Boscobel. Although we didn't stop in Cold Spring, it looked so cute. It is full of little antique shops and restaurants. It looked like one could easily spend an afternoon browsing in the stores.

Boscobel is beautiful. It even has a rose garden, which was very nice.


We got to the grounds about two hours before the show started, because they let people picnic while they wait for the show. The lawn overlooking the Hudson is a great place for a romantic picnic. Of course, we didn't have any food with us, because we were running late and almost missed our train leaving New York. fn1. So we bought food from the concession stand and ate on K1's red blanket, which we conveniently happened to have with us.

Here, you can see the beautiful view overlooking the Hudson Valley.

The show is performed in a tent, which seats about 400.

All of the seats are pretty good, although it would have been nice to be in the center rather than on one of the sides. However, we could still see everything just fine.

The production itself was amazing. It was surprisingly modern. One would almost expect -- given the bucolic, rustic nature of the setting -- to see a very traditional, conservative presentation of Shakespeare. Instead, the HVSC focuses on the bare elements of the text, eschewing props and elaborate costumes in favor of strong dramatic force.

Especially moving were the portrayals of Caliban and Ariel. The producers at once played up the comedic and dark aspects of the script. The acting was solid, and the overall performance was moving. It is well worth the time and money to make the trip up to see it.

At the end of the night, we boarded the train back to the City, tired but glad we had gone to Cold Spring.


1. Such is the peril of a relationship between two perpetually late people. You only manage to reinforce the lateness that already exists in each other.