Living the Dream.

"First in line!  Yeah!"


Yes, Dear.  By showing up almost two hours before show time, we were first in line for A Midsummer's Night Dream, the comedy for this year's "Shakespeare in the Park".  I opened my packed picnic lunch and ate sitting down on the grass nearby.  Paul stayed near the gate (don't want to lose that spot!) and the first people to follow us chatted with him before lining up behind me.  It was pretty satisfying see the long line behind us, but it didn't seem quite as long as past years'.

Things were much less organised once we got our tickets.  We (mostly) got the pick of any seat we wanted, but Paul and I wanted different seating areas!  We compromised for approximately the middle and eyed the set.

 

I immediately coveted the "moss-covered" cubes on the stage.  Oh, to have them for the house!  (My storage ottoman obsession might be getting out of hand.) 

 

We watched the actors in shades of turquoise and purple run up and down the grey steps and then climb and tumble onto those moss cubes.  As expected, it was a spirited and entertaining production. But, I admit, I was lost.  The main plot was fine with fairies and love spells and a donkey... But what of those fairie bits at the beginning and end?  Who are they supposed to be?  That's what I get for not reading the play first!  :P 

Shakespeare in the Park 2009

"There, there... it's not real." Celina comforted me as sobbed*. It was just so sad.

I had some warning that Titus Andronicus was one of Shakespeare's early tragedies and one of the most gorey of his plays, and thought I'd be ready for it. However, the sight of a recently mutilated (bleeding, handless, tongueless) and raped Lavinia, was just too much.

You're probably wondering why I take Celina to this play. She wanted Shakespeare! She wanted sword fights! She wanted tragedy! But she didn't seem that all that interested. Only the costuming (the Goths were dressed in a very modern way) was worth a her comments afterwards.

Definitely not something I'd like to see again. Though I do have to say the stage design was quite effective. (There had to be a way to manage all that fake blood, and the answer was a sand pit.) The occassional crash of real thunder also added to the atmosphere.

It has been very rainy. Yesterday there was so much downpour, that there were reports of floods in the LRT stations. Generally, this was not good outdoor theatre conditions. So, Jazzy called off going to see the other Shakespeare in the Park play, Comedy of Errors.

I kept an eye on the forecast. The response I got when I emailed the Free Will Players, "The show will go on." So, along with Kirsten, we met Catherine, Jackie, Samatha, and Steph.

I had not expected how cartoonish and goofy this play would be. This was a slightly updated version (to the 1920s?) with slapstick comedy (bobby chase scenes that involved a lot of bumping into each other and into walls), and clownish makeup and clothes (which makes it a little easier to create "twins"). The sun also came out from the clouds, which in made me very happy.

It was very neat in my mind to see Nadine and Belinda play such different roles in the two plays (mild mannered Lavinia became "shrewish" Luciana / Tamora, Queen of Goths, the great villainess in TA was also Lady Abbess).

Anyway, next year, I think I'll stick to the comedy.


* Further thinking: Was it because it was too unrealistic that Celina didn't respond? She, who if not really thinking something was sad, would at least declare "That's so sad!", had just looked bored. Hm... though I have to admit I did laugh at one point - the decapitated heads sure looked like bagged frozen chickens.

Jazzy's bachelorette / bridal shower on Saturday was a blast! Diana booked the Matahari (fusion restuarant) on 124th street and we got a special room to ourselves. Jazzy arrived in costume.

(Right: Diana adding finishing touches to Jazzy's ensemble)

After kicking out Howie, us girls caught up with food and games. Haven't seen Shauna in ages so it was great to hear about the state of things, and her trip to Ireland.

After the food - time for more games and presents! There was definitely a theme in Jazzy's gifts (Below: Combination of scrapbooking, and lace).

By the end of the night, my cuthroat (annoying) ways won a prize. The group headed out for bowling and I went home.

Next day, through a whirlwind of last minute planning during the week, I was taking Celina to Shakespeare in the Park's "As You Like It". Sophie, Rhianne, Dave, Steph, Catherine and Andrea were going too.

It was a gorgeous day with blue skies and sun. We ate ice cream sandwiches while waiting in line for tickets, and had popcorn during the show. Rhianne kept Celina busy as I tried to understand the "twisted" plotline. It seemed like another sad commentary on how people treat each other, and how we end up "loving" the wrong person, mixed with gender switches and song and dance... ending with Christopher Marlowe's poem set to music (Catherine: "I wonder if the Free Will Players were making a comment on the TRUE identity of Shakespeare . . . dum dum dummmmm. (dramatic music)"). I definitely liked the costumes.

Headed home and in the car Celina complained about the heat. I asked her what she thought of the play. Surprise! Singing, dancing, comedy and action did not equal excellent. She said it was o.k. and what she really wanted to was to see some swordfights. Mental note: Tragedy next time.

Back her house, we start a game of Scrabble with Kevin. Celina shows off her trash talk skills - which I have to admit make the game a little more um... lively. They must be practicing when I'm not there - strategy, spelling, and vocabulary are much improved (and no more trying to use the letter "Z" to pluralize).

More minor worries about Celina turning into a "teenager": I wonder if when she tacks on "No offence" when commenting on how I'm not good at piano or driving, etc. is because she thinks it constructive in some way... or if she's figured something out... like in Dilbert:


Hm... that would make me the pointy-haired boss.

And in baby news: Baby J was baptised this weekend. Congratulations, Char!

I Ain't Dead Yet

"The voices in your head are not real. But they still have some really great ideas." ~ Happy Bunny

After another an intense weekend of dance I can say: "I ain't dead yet"... though people may have suspected a little when I was slumped over a Yellowpages at St. John's around 6 p.m. on Saturday. That was the aftermath of the UADC In-House competition.

After waking up relatively early after a night well spent with friends, food, and song (another lovely Friday Feast), I was in a panic to pack and get ready for the event (What the heck was I going to wear?!). Things felt like they were on a grand schedule - got to St. Basil's and proceeded straight to make up and changing (hm... closing the blinds in the dressing room is a good idea). Nothing was going to stop Jim Jenkins from starting the event on time. Things were rolling at a fast pace, and so we danced, did much cheering (I'm sure our section was the loudest), did many pictures... and then it was over...

Catherine and I then headed over to Joey's Tomato's on Jasper to meet up with people from the competition. And after dinner she delivered me nicely back to St. John's to start the DSAB fundraiser. I was sitting there by myself - everything was so quiet. I always feel a bit sad after such excitement and energy. But the two bronzes in my pocket felt pretty good :) That's when I fell asleep. But, luckily, nothing important happened. I woke up with only 15 minutes or so missing from consciousness. And in time for the dance - and "got down with it" (bar dancing style) to songs like "Memphis woman and Chicken", "I like to move it" (which some one asked "What's the name of this song?"), and "Why Haven't I Heard from You." And after some yummy cheese cake - decided finally to call it a night and head home. There was more to look forward to on Sunday afterall... didn't want to be late for the wedding.

And it turned out I was the first to show up at Rem & Steph's for "Much Ado About Nothing"- in which a whole lot of cool insults get traded between Benedick (Rem) and Beatrice (Lindsey), Hero (me) gets married (at some point) to Claudio (Chris), some fooling around between Margaret (Nader) and Borachio (Simon), all to the tunes of Balthasar (Malcolm). Anne, Steph, and Eva round out the rest of the cast as we played through a faked death, evil half-brother plotting mischief, love letters, mistaken identities, and fools. Gotta love Shakespeare ;) Thanks again to Rem and Steph for hosting the party. I had lots of fun, though I think maybe Chris was disappointed that we didn't all go "Hey nonny, nonny."

The party went on as I headed out for our Formation dress rehearsal. Only 2 wardrobe malfunctions to report of. And we managed to recover. Though it was again very hard to discern exactly what Delphine's expression meant.

Anyway, thank you again to our awesome cheer team! You guys made smile extra big :D And of course, a big thank you to Darren for being such a great dance partner.

It's off to TA class with me. [exeunt]