Drought Dries Up ‘Shakespeare on the Meadow’

The drought has driven Shakespeare from the South Coast Botanic Garden.

Citing an inability to handle large crowds because of mandatory water rationing, the Palos Verdes Peninsula arboretum has canceled July performances of the popular “Shakespeare on the Meadow” series presented by the New Place Theatre Company.

“The Comedy of Errors” was to have been this summer’s play in the annual series that started in 1988 with “Twelfth Night.” Other plays have been “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Taming of the Shrew.”

“We need to keep all the water we can for the garden and decided this year it would not be appropriate to do extra special events,” said Norma Cantafio, executive director of the garden’s foundation, which sponsors programs at the Los Angeles County facility.

Summer wedding receptions, which average 25 a year, also will be banned, she said.

Despite a search of schools and parks from Manhattan Beach to San Pedro, the peninsula theater troupe has been unable to find another location for the Shakespeare comedy, spokeswoman Shirley Keller said. “We’re postponing it until next year,” she said.

The Shakespeare cancellation was a joint decision of the county Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens and the foundation, officials said.

“Shakespeare on the Meadow” provided an evening of entertainment and by the end of the first season had caught on with the community. People were encouraged to come early and picnic and visit with their friends before the open-air performance. By last year, arrangements could be made to order a box dinner along with tickets.

“It’ a delightful event, and we will miss it this year,” Cantafio said.

Keller called the cancellation a blow to the theater group, which drew 7,000 people last year during the two-week run of “The Taming of the Shrew.” She said 200 tickets for this year’s play had already been sold to New Place season subscribers. Tickets were $9 general admission, $7 for seniors.

“So many people really love it,” she said, adding that the company has been “getting lots and lots of calls about tickets” and has had to say, “I’m sorry.”

Earlier, financial problems forced New Place to shorten its season at the peninsula’s Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts, where it is the resident professional theater group. In place of a four-play series, it presented a festival of three A. R. Gurney plays and “An Evening with Eddie Albert.”

Rehearsals for “The Comedy of Errors” were to start at the end of June, said Tom Ashworth, who directed last year’s production and was to direct it again for New Place.

Ashworth said he’s disappointed about the cancellation but noted that setbacks are an accepted part of theater life.

“I like looking at the little kids, 8 and 10 years old, running around quoting Shakespeare,” he said. “I will miss that.”

Ashworth held out the hope that the production could come back in the fall if a suitable site is found. He is preparing a September production of “The Comedy of Errors” for Nevada Shakespeare in the Park in Henderson, near Las Vegas. Rehearsals for that begin at the end of August.

For her part, Keller said, “I think we have exhausted all possibilities, but we are taking suggestions from anyone on where it might be.”