Well, my Summer of Shakespeare kicked off on Saturday. I’m just determined I’m gonna get my classy on this year. And considering I read a lot of Wild Bill Shakespeare in college, I’ve seen pitifully little on stage (yeah, English degree with most of my coursework in Shakespeare, and a history minor – I was reaching for the stars career-wise; if anybody knows of a Elizabethan noble looking for a crack executive assistant, hook a sister up). And this is a great year for Shakespeare in the Big D, so I’m working it like a wench.
Trinity Shakespeare started up again over in Fort Worth, and as they offer air conditioning with their Bard, I jumped in. The choices were either Twelfth Night or Romeo and Juliet. And since I’d rather take a poke in the eye with a codpiece than sit through R&J again (Seriously, Juliet is 14. I keep expecting Chris Matthews to walk in and tell Romeo to have a seat over there), so Twelfth Night it was.
12N is one of the “cuter” Shakespeare plays. In fact, it may actually be where the term “meet cute” came from. It’s one of those girl-disguised-as-a-boy plots, and involves a romantic pentagram, or possibly Venn diagram, and a lot of girl-on-girl and boy-on-transvestite action. It’s like As You Like It without the fratricide. And it’s funny enough today, but I always imagine how it must have played with the girl dressed as a boy was played by a boy. Those Elizabethans sure knew how to get their freak on.
The show was really well done. My fave was the kid playing Sir Andrew. He was like a very young Hugh Laurie (think Prinny in Black Adder III or Bertie in Jeeves & Wooster) and just so adorable that I wanted to stick him in my purse and run out of the theater with him. Since the same cast also alternates doing Romeo and Juliet, and he plays Romeo, it almost made me want to sit through the Teen Titans of Tudor Tragedy again (but, you know, the codpiece-to-the-eye thing). And even though it was billed as a “Victorian” interpretation, there were boys (real ones) in knee pants (a mild fetish of mine), so plenty to look at.
So, my first Shakespearean salvo was a success. Looking forward to the Merry Wives of Windsor (TX) on Thursday, good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. And given that it’s a genuine Shakespeare in the park, and the weather has been so whackadoodle this year, that creek bit is a real consideration.
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2 comments:
I'm still better that DC lost in Shakespeare in the Patk last year - it was a good 15+ year run - but damn, why did the corporate donors have to pull out (surely they should have made cuts elsewhere like in their lawyer depts) and WHERE are the stimulus dollars to bring it back?
Oh, my god. I hadn't heard. That is a big loss. Hopefully some hearty hippie will figure out a grassroots way to fill the void.
This is one of the reasons I'm making more of an effort to donate to arts causes this year. You can't depend on the suits. Their priorities are just messed up. And I think people should make an effort to cut the corporate out of their arts. Buy a painting from an undiscovered artist instead of a mass produced picture from a store. See one play instead of two movies. Go see a band live at a small venue and buy one of their CDs from a roadie instead of downloading something from iTunes.
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