With six seasons at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and back in Salt Lake City for his third season as a guest Equity actor with Pioneer Theatre Company, Patrick Page has built up a large following among Utah theatergoers.
Just last night he finished a three-week run as Aramis in PTC's world premiere of a new stage version of "The Three Musketeers."And, beginning this week (the day after Thanksgiving), he'll be presenting his nationally acclaimed one-man show "Passion's Slaves" in the intimate Broadway Stage at 272 S. Main.
It's more than just a one-man showcase for Page's immense talent as an actor. He also wrote and produced the program, which explores the theme of passion in some of Shakespeare's best loved works and most memorable characters.
Page sees the works of Shakespeare not as individual dramas and comedies but as one cohesive canon linked together by a common theme. His "Passion's Slaves" covers the gamut of Shakespearean plays, from "The Merry Wives of Windsor," near the beginning of the playwright's career, to "The Winter's Tale," near the end.
The Oregon native is practically a Utah resident. At the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City (where he met his wife, actress Liisa Ivary - also familiar to PTC and USF patrons), he's been featured in such performances as the title roles in "Richard III" and "Macbeth," and as Iago in "Othello," Brutus in "Julius Casear," Jaques in "As You Like It" and Armado in "Love's Labour's Lost."
This past season at UFS he also starred as Ben Jonson, a rival playwright to Shakespeare, in the late Doug Christensen's "Nothing Like the Sun."
On the Pioneer Memorial Theatre Lee's Main Stage, he's been seen in such varied roles as Tony in "You Can't Take It With You," Le Bret in "Cyrano de Bergerac" and Oberon/Theseus in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
His production of "Passion's Slaves" will be a "farewell performance" of sorts. Page just negotiated a contract with the Oregon Shakespearean Festival in Ashland - where he first became immersed in the language of Shakespeare's works when his father was an actor in the company.
The Pages - Patrick and Lissa - will be moving to Oregon next spring.
Page has performed his "Passion's Slaves" throughout the country, but this week's performances at the Broadway Stage mark the first time it's been staged in Utah. The title comes from a line in "Hamlet." The evening also will include scenes from "Twelfth Night," "Macbeth," "Richard III" and other classic Shakespearean works.
During the production, Page interweaves observations about the plays and converses with the audience.
"Passion's Slaves" will be a limited engagement. Performances will be Friday and Saturday, Nov. 24 and 25, at 8 p.m., then Wednesday through Saturday, Nov. 29-Dec. 2, at 8 p.m., with additional performances on Sunday, Nov. 26 and Dec. 3, at 7 p.m.
For reservations, call the Broadway Stage box office at 359-1444.