Into a thousand parts divide one man

(from the prologue to Henry V) If you ever find a Realtor as professional and talented as Robin Goodrin Nordli, one of the OSF resident actors, hire him (or her). Your chances are slim, though, in my opinion as a former actor. I was privileged to attend her lecture on Shakespeare's women this afternoon. Over the past 15 years, Ms. Nordli has played nearly 30 roles. This afternoon she divided herself into nearly all of them in a tour-de-force of comedy, tragedy, and androgyny. In a lecture reminiscent of the late great Anna Russell's lampoons of opera, Ms. Nordli demonstrated the proper methods of swooning, pleading, letter-reading, and going insane. At one moment she had the audience in tears of laughter as she struggled to her feet after a pratfall, and in stunned silence as she herself shed tears as the suicidal Ophelia. Would we were all as dedicated to our craft, whatever it might be, as she clearly is. The globe would be better for it.