Shakespeare festival triumphant trilogy> There’s lots to love, but the show’s the thing

It’s a very civilized and romantic way to spend an evening. Sitting on a blanket under open skies near a river bank. Sipping from a glass of wine and eating spicy food. Listening to poetry about love and valor, and feeling you know just a couplet more about the human condition and maybe even yourself.

What’s more is that it’s in your own back yard at the Maine Shakespeare Festival, which began over the weekend and runs through Aug. 16 on Bangor’s waterfront. Now in its fourth summer, this event has found a sure place in the city’s cultural life. As such, you can begin to think of it as a dependable part of summer — like the Bangor State Fair or the sidewalk art show (both of which took place this past week). But the Maine Shakespeare Festival has a tad more to offer the soul.

Founded by Mark Torres, artistic director at Penobscot Theatre, Maine Shakespeare Festival has grown big quickly. The number of shows has increased from one to three, and now runs three weekends instead of two. Ticket prices have doubled and, even though that brought complaints from some, it’s still a good deal for $10.

As in past years, the festival brings community members together in a large, willing group. They come to see Shakespeare, but they also come to see each other. Few events in Bangor have such a casual ability to join people of all walks, and the festival has merit on that accomplishment alone.

Of course, there’s also Shakespeare. This year’s shows are among the best the festival has ever prepared for Bangor audiences. Technical problems still hamper the productions, particularly regarding sound. Unless you’re in the front, you might find yourself occasionally playing catch-up with the actors’ words. The incidental music and sound effects take more away from the show than they add, largely because they compete with the spoken word. Not all of the actors are trained performers, and although the casts are unusually bright with talent, the issue of volume separates the haves from the have-nots.

That said, this year’s Maine Shakespeare Festival takes a big step toward sharpening the focus on the text and on the acting. Many of the actors are in all three plays — in lesser or greater roles. If you see all three, you’ll get a fascinating picture of the actors — particularly local ones — and the range of their abilities.

For “Much Ado About Nothing,” Lisa A. Tromovitch envisions an ethereal world, one of patrician manners and flowery background music. Her cast is starry-eyed and nearly bewitched by the aroma of love in the air of Messina. The primary romances belong to young Hero and Claudio, who are struck by love at first sight, and Beatrice and Benedick, whose love for one another has many years been masked by intellectual barbs. The working out of these two romances gives the play its central plots. But there’s also the matter of the Prince’s embittered bastard brother, Don John, and the shenanigans of a group of loopy law men, headed up by the malapropping Dogberry.

Francis John Vogt, as Benedick, and Collene Frashure, as Beatrice, have all the youthful look and spark of a couple in love, but, as a couple, they never quite arrive at the intensity of their characters’ merry war. Born under a dancing star, Beatrice is one of Shakespeare’s brainiest women, and Frashure shortchanges her with a silly side that is more girlishly mischievous than brilliantly calculating. Vogt comes closer to the maturity mark with a sort of charming sophistry.

Marty Hughes is a winsome Hero, and Eric Dean is a handsomely resolute Claudio. Ron Lisnet, who seems to be on a roll playing bad guys this year, is a disturbing Don John. Shaun Dowd and his entourage of watchmen milk the funny lines and add liveliness by providing the coarse anti-manners to the highbrow folks around them. The loveliest of moments belongs to tenor Luke Hedger and recorder player Gerilyn Bosse, whose live music is melting.

In addition to her role as Beatrice, Collene Frashure, a student at Wellesley College, took on the director’s role for “Twelfth Night, or What You Will.” The show comes galloping to life under her deft direction, which relies heavily on comic timing and a clear trust of the actors with whom she is working. One can’t help but think that Shakespeare intended such an approach when he put together this story of the shipwrecked Viola, who dons men’s clothing to become the messenger for a duke whose heart is tied up with a rich countess who falls in love with Viola (in drag) while, for her part, Viola falls in love with the duke. Then Viola’s twin brother shows up. All the while, a group of bawds are maliciously plotting the downfall of the countess’ pompous steward.

The plot twists are the stuff of quintessential Shakespearean hilarity, and Frashure lets the actors cut loose. Plus she has the rare talent for pulling them back just before they go too far. And as if that weren’t enough, it’s nearly enough theatricality just to look at the frilly hats and costumes Ginger Phelps ebulliently designed for this show.

Leslie Michaud’s Viola has a steely mind and a poet’s heart. John Rahal Sarrouf, as Orsino, is emotionally enraptured. You’ll find few combos as side-splitting, however, as Davidson Kane, as a crude and lovable Sir Toby Belch, Julie Lisnet, as a rollicking Maria, and Robert Libbey, as the fair and fawning Sir Andrew Aguecheek. When they are joined by Dale Raymond Simonton’s towering and wild Feste and Andy Brownstein’s keen Fabian, you’ll be helplessly surrounded by a most delightful madness — part Three Stooges, part Marx Brothers, part 1950s sitcom. You’ll come undone during a perfectly choreographed comedy routine watching what these folks can do with a few movable trees, a hanky and a trenchant understanding of Shakespeare’s language.

Of no lesser value is Ron Lisnet’s portrayal of Malvolio. He’s not afraid to be a buffoon, but he also taps into the horrid inhumaneness that brings this pitiable character to his knees. Likewise, Catherine LeClair’s Olivia is elegantly smart and stalwart. She, too, can be the embodiment of grace and then convincingly slip into the zany pandemonium of love.

It’s only fair to say, however, that all of these primary players are backed up by a very capable set of supporting actors. In fact, if you can only make it to one of the plays, this is the one that’s not to be missed.

Mark Torres takes a serious leap into the tragic genre with “Julius Caesar,” loaded with violence, battles, blood and very angry Romans. Torres spares no rod here. To him, life is ungovernably cursed in 46 B.C., and the people are afflicted by their own greed and by the wrongs of their politicians. “Julius Caesar” is as acutely cogent as any of Shakespeare’s sturdy tragedies, and Torres takes hold of the conflicts with a fist rather than a handshake.

Such a vision creates a production charged with the loudness and hypervirility of warriors on a rampage. The pitch begins high and stays there for nearly three hours — sometimes uncomfortably so. Often, the actors shout their lines, which can be taxing, as in the case of John Rahal Sarrouf, whose Cassius is not only passionate but tiresome.

Performances by Robert Libbey, as Brutus, and Eric Dean, as Mark Antony, anchor the show in poise. They, too, can become unleashed, but it’s part of a range rather than a sole fixation of character. Torres rightly allows it to be their stories, too. Their monologues are the most engaging deliveries of the show, particularly Dean’s “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech.

Dale Raymond Simonton plays a greasy Caesar. As Calpurnia, Catherine LeClair is exotic and fervent. Alison Cox’s Soothsayer is eerie and ghostly in her stoniness.

The strength of this show is its scene-making. The crowds are roiling with upheaval, and Caesar’s death scene — which is sure to be popular among young people — gets blood stains on everybody’s togas.

Each of the shows runs right around three hours, but that shouldn’t discourage you from bringing the whole family. There are also pre-show activities, including sales by food vendors, music by madrigal singers and juggling feats by the ever-friendly Zach Fields.

The Maine Shakespeare Festival runs Wednesday-Sunday through Aug. 16. The shows run in repertory. For more information about times and tickets, call 942-3333.