22 June 2013

I Love You, Summer. And You Too, Mr. Shakespeare.

We have a big, wonderful park In Town with a pool and playground and band shell and hiking trails and waterfalls.  When we moved here, I asked Steve if they hosted a Shakespeare in the Park program and he told me that it wasn't that kind of town and I wept tears down my face.  My friend who does community theater here asked around about Shakespeare in the Park and got nowhere.  I was sad in my heart.

Thursday we were in the bakery buying snow-on-the-mountain cookies (canNOT find a recipe for them--anyone?) and saw a poster advertising a free performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the park directed by the hometown Hollywood hero (she's been in a bunch of movies I've never heard of). 

It looks like we'll be able to live here after all.

I attended the performance last night by myself, which is the problem with having only one person who watches our child and having that person be 65-years-old and having that person come down with sciatica.  Our little 11-year-old friend found me a few minutes into the play, though, so I had a play companion with the inside scoop on all the fairies, including her best friend who is attending her birthday party on Tuesday.

The production was surprisingly good, better than the community Shakespeare in my parents' large city (which is not a high bar to surpass).  The actor who played Bottom was excellent and bore an eery resemblance to MarmotDad and there were several other strong performers.  Because the play is largely set in the woods, we moved to six different locations during the course of the production.  I understand why this was a good decision.  Why not set forest scenes in the forest?  BUT if one is pregnant and came early and staked out a great spot on her blanket in front of the band shell, she feels a bit sad when she ends up standing in the woods for 45 minutes to watch the action.  I imagine the elderly people near me had similar feelings.  Still, I am so pleased with this development, this small gift to sweeten our rural living experience.  (But don't tell me about your trip to Cedar City and the lemon tarts.  It will make me cry.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

At the bottom of every cashew there is a reward, it just takes a lot of sacrifice to enjoy it.

KWB

Anonymous said...

Next week we will be in Cedar City. We went to see "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Downtown West.

Love

Dad

Anonymous said...

Did Bottom resemble me with or w/o donkey ears? Must know. --MarmotDad

CSIowa said...

Our Shakespeare in the park has been relegated to the high school auditorium due to flooding risk. I am still hoping to make it to Hamlet tomorrow night. I'll think about being grateful for staying in one seat the whole time.

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