It's always something...Shakespeare in the Park

[sistermagpie]

Got to see Romeo and Juliet last night in the park. I honestly didn't think we'd get in--or I wouldn't, because I was far back on the line from petiteseour. We got worried when it wasn't raining--for ten years it seems like every time we go to SitP it pours, so it seemed like a bad sign when it wasn't. This year we bought ponchos and weren't afraid to use them.

So it turned out there was just another problem. Curtain was at 8 but at 9:45 we were still waiting. There was a problem with the turntable thingie that took a while to fix. I was next to an interesting guy on line, though, who said he had just finshed a script on comic book history. I asked him what part and he said EC comics. I was all, "I LOVE EC comics! And a friend of mine in high school's father worked for them." I told him who it was and he was all, "OMG, he's awesome! Look, he's in my script!" Anyway, it was an interesting conversation--and his son was there too and we talked about the books he read in school that year that were all coming-of-age stories. Catcher in the Rye was his favorite, his least favorite was The Chocolate War.



It was great. Lauren Ambrose was such a goofy Juliet--she's been getting great reviews, but I loved Oscar Isaac as Romeo too. They were both very much teenagers for whom everything has to happen now and the idea of waiting five minutes for things to work out is just unthinkable. I remember once somebody told me they hated that play and that "Romeo and Juliet would have totally never have lasted" as if that was something that nobody had ever said rather than, really, the point of the play. Oscar Isaac actually caused me to find myself wishing Entourage to have Vince play Romeo. He reminded me of him in the way he was sort of easy-going but really looking for somebody to go crazy over.

There was a pond in the middle of the stage that was a little distracting. petitesoeur said it took up too much space--meaning imaginary space--and I think that was true. People kept walking through it, but that just made me think how uncomfortable it must be to be walking around with the cuffs of your trousers wet.

But in general, it was a great production that really worked. Juliet and Romeo were both adorable. I could sort of imagine them growing up into Marshall and Lily in How I Met Your Mother. That is, even though their love was dorky and adolescent, it was such a believable meeting of dorky and adolescent I really believed it could be true love. Had they lived they might not have been still jumping around giggling in 50 years but they might still like staring goofily at each other and always be on the same wavelength. They were a believable OTP.

Comments

[samaranth.livejournal.com]

Sounds fabulous.

But then, it always does.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

One of these days, we'll have to go together!

The Millstone

[nrmndy.livejournal.com]

Your LJ says 'current reading', but when I link to the actual entry it says 'current music'. If you are reading 'The Millstone' by Margaret Drabble I just had to say this is the worst book I ever read. If not, I apologise for bothering you!

Re: The Millstone

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

LOL! That is what I'm reading--I don't know why it changes back to music when you go to the actual reading. But it's funny you should say that, because I'm reading it and going...wtf?

Re: The Millstone

[roguenebula.livejournal.com]

The book annoyed me so much that even years and years later I am enraged that I wasted time on it. It is pointless. Every problem that might be encountered is sidestepped, no issues are addressed. Supposedly the protagonist finds herself in the difficult position of being an unmarried mother at a time when society frowned on such things, but she has no problems to face. Her parents, whom she may have disapointed, are away (for years). She lives rent-free in their house. She has a vague postgraduate course to follow which she can do in her own time with no requirement to attend anything at all. Ergo she has intellectual stimulation. The baby is seriously ill so is cared for in hospital so she doesnt even have to look after it.

She is not even sullied by having had sex, as she 'almost didnt notice it happening', as far as I recall. I can't check I was so enraged I believe I ceremoniously burnt the thing! Don't waste any more time on it, life is too short.

By the way I lurk most of the time and would just like to say I enjoy your posts enormously..

Re: The Millstone

[roguenebula.livejournal.com]

..and I am nrmndy, I dont use this id anymore..

Re: The Millstone

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I wanted to wait until I finished the book before responding (mostly because I don't yet know what to read next!) but--omg I could not agree more! WTF? And at the end she holds herself above the father of the baby, seeming to suggest that this experience has changed her when I couldn't see any change at all. In fact, I don't know if this was the point, but it seemed like part of what it showed was that this person was incapable of being close to anyone past in an infantile way, because babies just give you affection and need practical care. When it came to actual people did she connect with anyone at all? At one point she says that she likes Joe, and I was completely surprised--you do? Because she didn't seem to feel strongly enough for anyone at all to get the feeling she liked them. You never heard anything good about anyone; she just seemed to notice bad things about them. And then occasionally she'd vaguely worry about the less fortunate just enough to bring it back to herself again. I felt like once the baby grew up she'd be just as removed from her--note she never thinks about her own mother when thinking about the baby, wonders if she felt like this, gets any insight into her.

It was funny that when George sat up at the end and she's thinking how she'd kind of like to connect with him maybe, but not to the point where she can bring herself to care about anything about him. Yet I found myself wondering if he was actually a more likable character with more interesting problems.

[roisindubh211.livejournal.com]

wait, there was an actual pond in the stage and the players were just ignoring it? how odd

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

They weren't ignoring it, exactly. But there were a lot of places where stuff happened in the pond--which was probably less than an inch deep. So every time they had to walk through it I'd be thinking about how wet they were going to get. They didn't walk around it or anything.