Abe Lincoln bombs at the Shakespeare Festival
For the first time in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 72-year history, a play was canceled last week because of a bomb threat.
A Friday afternoon production of Tom Stoppard’s “On the Razzle,” one of the hits of the season, was called off while police defused what appeared to be a bomb planted next to the hideous statue of Abe Lincoln (pictured above) that stands in Lithia Park next to the Angus Bowmer Theatre.
The statue is so bad that it’s frequently defaced and recently was without a head; the replacement head appears to belong to a much larger body.
Also evacuated was City Hall and several restaurants. The bomb turned out to be nothing but batteries, wires and a timer.
The festival handed out refunds and replacement tickets.