Sleep Spent

It appears I was a bit too optimistic when I predicted pictures would be up in the “next few days.” Sorting through these, naming them and then providing interesting and relevant comments is a daunting task.

In the mean time, I should let you know what I’ve been up to. Several essays are due soon. I’m going to write one of them on the history of the London Underground, one of my favorite topics of late. I bought and read Down the Tube: The Battle for London’s Underground, which investigated the Treasury’s Public-Private Partnership plan to modernize the Tube. It was fascinating reading, chock full of interesting anecdotes about the construction and maintenence of the Tube.

On Monday, I went to see Shakespeare’s R&J, a modern re-telling of the classic Romeo and Juliet. There were only four actors in the play, but they performed all the characters from the Shakespeare version. The setting was a Catholic boys’ boarding school and the actors were four students. Yes, this meant that when Romeo and Juliet kissed, it was shocking for some. Some of the guys I’ve talked to say they have been haunted by that image since seeing the play. :-)

Far be it from me to dis a gay-themed version of a Shakepeare play, but I didn’t really like this performance. The actors were very good, and the premise was mostly believable. Instead, I had trouble with the way the playwright executed the plot. In many cases, I was confused. Sometimes the boys were queer bashing, sometimes they were all going along and having a good “naughty” time. (Romeo and Juliet was clearly something the boys weren’t supposed to be reading, probably because of its themes of love and lust.) Sections of dialog, in the new context, took on completely different meanings.

I guess it’s true that a big part of my problem with the play was the fact that it wasn’t in any way traditional. I just finished Romeo and Juliet during my recent trip to Italy, and I wanted to see how actors would handle the scenes as written. I wanted to get more out of the play than you can by just reading it (something I experienced dramatically when I went to see The Taming of the Shrew.)

This was not that. It was new, it was innovative, it was energetic. It just wasn’t what I wanted. Perhaps I’ll see the play again after I see a traditional version of Romeo and Juliet and see what I think then.

As an interesting side note, I had wanted to see this very play last year when it was in San Francisco. Ian told me about it, but I didn’t have enough money at the time, so the plans fell through. I was glad to finally get to see it.

I got to see another play last week, this one on Wednesday. Pericles is not one of Shakespeare’s best-known plays, but I am keen to read it now. The performance was awesome, set in modern times with tuxedos and trench coats. It is 16th century Jerry Bruckheimer, with three separate nautical disasters and a whole scene in a bordello. Despite some plot inconsistencies (at one point the narrator asks us to “use our imagination” to explain how somthing happens so quickly), it was a moving tale of adventure and lost love. Pericles leads an exciting yet depressing life: he is led to believe that the two people he loves most, his wife and daughter, are dead. The play is about the hardships all three of them endure apart, and the disbelief and joy the experience when they are reunited.

I really enjoyed Pericles. It’s going on the list right under The Taming of the Shrew for Best Shakespeare Performance.

Two more plays next week: another Romeo and Juliet (also untraditional) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

This was a London Weekend, meaning we needed to stay in town. That was fine with my pocketbook. We took a bus trip to Stonehenge and Stourhead in the west; pictures of that are forthcoming as well.

So much to do, so little time. I need to get to sleep. I’m going to visit the London Transport Museum tomorrow as part of my research for the Undergound essay. Should be fun!

I’m getting tired, so I will bid you all good night. Check back in a few days, and I’ll see what I can cook up in the way of eye candy.