SOURCE: Winn, Steven. “Troilus Triumphs in Ashland; Cynical Comedy is Best of Opening Trio at Summer Shakespeare Festival.” San Francisco Chronicle (19 June 2001): E1.

In the following review, Winn critiques the staging of Troilus and Cressida directed by Kenneth Albers for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, maintaining that despite the production's “missed opportunities,” it was the best of the outdoor shows at the festival.

Theater happens in a big way at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. That can be a mixed blessing with the country's largest repertory company, which opened its prime summer season over the weekend with three outdoor Shakespeare productions at the Elizabethan Theatre.

Spectacle and the sheer administrative achievement of rotating nine shows in three houses have a way of trumping the artistic adventure at times. The festival mounts 11 productions overall, in a bill that runs from February through late October and draws an audience of about 380,000 to...