It's Hot.
August Heat has arrived on our Island in the Pacific just off Canada's West Coast.
The true west coast here on Vancouver Island.
31C but no Humidity.
The sun is prickly hot.
We lather on the sunscreen but sometimes one's cheek's and ears still become beet-red after a day of exposure. At the end of the day, I apply lots of skin cream to regenerate my skin.
Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.
Its my mantra...
Even though it's warmish we've been to the ocean, the farmer's market and to theatre- outdoors.
A festival called 39 Days of Summer is wrapping up here in the Cowichan. 39 days of music and fun and theatre.
We slipped down to Charles Hoey (rhymes with phooey) Park the other evening to watch four hours of Shakespeare in the great outdoors. Two of the Bard's best were presented- Much Ado About Nothing and Measure for Measure. I had originally thought it would be bits and pieces of the plays that start a two week run at a farm just off Koksilah Road but to our surprise we saw both plays in their entirety.
Well almost...
The director of Much Ado told the Mister and I after the play, that she had cut a bit.
12 pages!
I knew dialogue went askew because I was following the script on my mobile. The director told us it was purely for time. The play would have gone almost three hours at full length.
Since Shakespeare is Public Domain- meaning a company pays no rights, the director can slice a bit.
I mean really, unless one was following along- like I was, a few hither and yon's and perchance's would never be missed. In fact if the slicing is done right it helps the play move along a bit faster.
Old Bill can get bogged down in flowery words and sentences not to mention scenes that have almost nothing to do with the overall story. These are usually Bill's attempts at humour and bumbling characterizations.
Sometimes they hit and sometimes they go flat.
In the second play we saw this was the case.
I had not seen Measure for Measure before and to be fair maybe it was the actor's or director's interpretation that fell flat.
To be fair again, I have never been in nor directed a Shakespearean ditty.
I am not sure that I ever will.
It's a lot of "language" to learn, yet some actors- like actors in these two presentation, learn parts in two different plays and perform them during the run.
I have had dialogue from two plays swirling in my head at the same time. I can only imagine what it would be like to have two of Shakespeare's.
Yikes!
Anyhoo, it was an enjoyable four and a half hours and I came away wanting to get back on stage again. Even Much Ado's Director said-
"Sounds like someone is itching to do more theatre."
Maybe...
 |
| Waiting for the Fat Lady to sing or recite Shakespeare |
His eyes lit up when I mentioned it.
He said- "I'm all about community and we should definitely talk!"
I am thinking.
I am a little hesitant but one can start small, dipping one's smallest toe into the waters before jumping head first into the raging stream!
Already I am wondering how to raise money.
Who to cast.
What show to do and more.
Stay tuned.
There could be more news soon. Right now I have to go throw some baby powder on my dampish underarms.
Whew! It's a scorcher!
It's tough living on this Island Paradise...
