The School for Scandal and other amusements

[jaunthie]

Yesterday I went to lunch and a show with hiker_chick. The lunch was at Purple, and we were joined by miz_hatbox. We sat outside. The food was good; the service was slow but nice; our waiter obviously trying very hard to make up for the various delays. Unfortunately I was wearing a sleeveless blouse and no sunscreen, so the delays did contribute to some cooking of my shoulders. Oh well, no big deal. After lunch hiker_chick and I headed over to the theatre, where we ran into GreenMan and MasterKnitter, who were also there for the show. The show itself was good, if still rough around the edges. Sheridan isn't that hard, but all the actors had noticable flubs. Still, they carried it off well for the most part. And hiker_chick and I had a good laugh realizing that much of the backbiting gossiping behavior reminded us of certain people in our workplace.

I kept re-imagining my friends in some of the roles, though. Lady Teazle kept turning into Sanafi in my brain, and I could completely see monkeybard going to town with Lady Sneerwell. If Sanafi is looking for a non-musical to do with her kids, or Hose and Britches ever mounts another production, I could see them having a lot of fun with it. Of course the show has it sociological issues - it's Restoration comdedy, with all the baggage that goes along with the period - but it's a fun show nonetheless, and most of the really egregious problems with it for modern audiences can be addressed through interpretation. I do wish the production music (composed for the show) had used a real harpsichord instead of a synthesizer, though. Everything else on a synthesizer sounded okay, but the harpischord...ugh.

After the show, I was supposed to head over for a birthday BBQ for another friend. Unfortunately when I called in to check up with fisherbear on meeting up, I learned that our friend's party had been cancelled because his mom is in the hospital. I hope she's going to be okay. I also learned that my Mom had called multiple times, wanting to get the family together for dinner. I headed home, slathered my sunburn with aloe, and went to my folks' place. My sister is in town, and she made a very yummy Oriental chicken salad for supper (my day for salads, I guess!). We ate outdoors on the deck, enjoying the fine weather, the good food, and the excellent company. All in all, a very good day, even if I got a sunburn and didn't get enough work done.

Comments

[monkeybard]

Was that at Seattle Shakes? How was it?

[jaunthie.livejournal.com]

Well, as I said above, there were many noticable flubs, which detracted somewhat from the play. The woman playing Maria wasn't nearly strong enough for the part, and she spoke a disconcerting number of her lines facing upstage (the staging suggested this was deliberate, although why I cannot guess). The rest of the cast seemed relatively well-suited to their parts, and the actors playing Charles, Snake/Moses, Sir Oliver, and Joseph were quite good in their parts. The ensemble folks were good, too; one or two in particular stole a number of scenes.

As for the direction, I found some of the choices a bit odd (such as staging Maria to face away from the audience so often) and definitely wished s/he had worked a bit more with the cast on understanding the rhythm and flow of their lines (particularly Lady Sneerwell, who was good but didn't really have a feel for the milieu). The costuming was an interesting mix, and the set was both minimal and inspired. I definitely enjoyed the show, but at least some of that is due entirely to Sheridan.

[monkeybard]

Huh. Interesting. One of these days I might acutally see something at Seattle Shakes, but I think I'm glad it's not this one. I have great respect for people who can do Restoration Comedy well... And I'll just leave it at that.

[(Anonymous)]

Nice to know that my folks have 'official names' too. I guess I must be getting old when I enjoy the fact that my friends enjoy the company of my parents.

I got sunburned on Sunday too thanks to 8 hours in the garden and insufficent sunscreen around the tank top straps. Andrew says it looks like I've started to get some exotic tattoo on my back.

--Jake

[jaunthie.livejournal.com]

Doesn't everyone have at least one alias? ;-)

8 hours in the garden? Wow. I'm jealous. Your garden must be immaculate, since I can't see you letting it get into a state where 8 hours of labor would be required for just general maintenance.

[monkeybard]

Doesn't everyone have at least one alias? ;-)

Oh at least! ::counting up own and wondering why I'm not suffering from MPD:: Or aren't we? ... uh ... I? ;-)