GRADUATION!! (Grad School)

Thursday, May 31

The Shakespeare continues….

Last night I had a change in plans. I was to go to dinner and visiting teaching (it is the end of the month after all) but people were unable to meet. This gave me yet another opportunity to enjoy the works of Shakespeare; this time in the form of Shakespeare in the Park. Doesn’t the sound of it make you think of picnics and blankets, people out under the stars, while the Shakespeare Theater Company entertains you with the pomp and circumstance befitting the prominent playwright? Yeah that was what I was envisioning too…..not quite what I got though.

I was running late, I had missed my bus and there was traffic and delays at the metro. You know how it goes. I always worry about running late, I get all flustered, and I hate to put any one out. To top it off my phone was just about dead, it had been beeping all afternoon and I was afraid it wouldn’t last me until I could meet up with my friend to get my ticket. All this means is that I was rushing, which of course means that I was even more clumsy then usual, which flusters me even more. It is a vicious cycle. Lol!

I arrived only about 5 minutes after the start time and was glad to find that there were a bunch of announcements that had to be made before the start of the performance. This allowed me to get to my seat before and take a deep breath before anything important happened.

Technical notes:
  • The seats were hard and plastic and uncomfortable
  • The man in front of me was tall and bored. He amused himself by trying to arouse the girl sitting next to him. There was lots of touching involved
  • The play was set in the 60’s…..fascinating.
  • I laughed quite a bit
  • The music was cool
  • The singing was not so great
  • The acting was enjoyable
  • The set and lighting was awesome. I loved the use of colors

Other Notes
  • I do not remember reading this play in school. Maybe we read parts of it, but never in its entirety. Therefore sitting down with no preparation was a little difficult for me. I had no time to read the directors notes or even the synopsis. I had no clue what was going on. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what they were saying I just had no foundation to work with. Once I understood the premise it was much easier. I was able to follow the story and not worry that I was missing something.
  • The 60’s setting was quite funny to me. They took the play and made the 3 “renowned lords” into 3 of The Beatles. The King was patterned after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (an Indian Spiritual teacher which 3 of the Beatles studied under for a short time). Thus the setting was a mix of the ‘groovy’ feel of the 60’s rock scene and calming feel of Indian meditation. The costumes props were fun…from the go-go boots to the mopeds.

  • I find that I didn’t like the story. By the end of the play I felt bad for the men. Under all of the layers of fear and cynicism, I am a romantic at heart and the repeated mocking of the men in love was a little harsh in my opinion. Plus there is no happy ending for the lovers. The final scene has each man offering all that he is to his chosen woman. Who don’t say no, but they don’t say yes either…..what do they say you ask? They say: do some task for a full year and then come see me. If you still love me then I will marry you. I don’t care if the year of mourning was required back then; it takes a lot of courage for someone to put it all on the line like that; man or woman. I wish there was another way to prove love, one in which every one ends up happy.
  • I think my favorite scene was the one with the romantic fools. One at a time they appear, thinking they are alone, they try to fashion some way of telling their chosen lady how they feel, by poetry, letter, or song (the singing part was hilarious). Then in reverse order, one by one, they find that they have been watched by others; that their love is a secret no more. There is instant denial and shame which is replaced by acceptance and they plot together a course of action to find a way to woo their women.

To sum up: I enjoyed my evening; I have spent quite a bit of time thinking over the plays of the last 2 nights and I hope I have more opportunities like these in the future.

Looks like Hamlet is playing in the District…anyone up for it?

**Note: The play was titled: Love's Labor's Lost. I guess that is important information. Thanks Steph.**

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