HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLY!

Today is Shakespeare's birthday! The classy age of 448. So, after having brunch at Hudson's with the awesome Jones duo, which was crazy delicious, we headed to the Folger Shakespeare Library to attend his birthday party. Yes, they threw him a birthday party. It was kind of awesome. There were tons of birthday guests and they had lots of activities. You could make your own shield, garland for your hair, ruffly thing for your neck, dress up with his clothes, or practice your quill writing. I mean, it was Elizabethan heaven. We took tons of pics!

They had balloons and food trucks out front.

Inside, the library was beautiful! Stained glass, mahogany everything, chandeliers, it truly was beautiful!

Brad tried to conduct the string Quartet that was playing. They were classy; he was creepy.

 Yep, this is a woman holding a bear. This was never explained.

They had "Spontaneous Shakespeare" where people could come on stage and recite lines from his plays.

There were jugglers!!!

We also saw the First Folio (first set of plays by the man, the myth, the legend) which Folger's has more copies of than anywhere else in the world. A very nice guide told us that the rest of the copies are in their underground vault along with the only original copy of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus that is worth about $15 to $20 million now. That is insane!

We had a great time and I am happy to say that I spent a Sunday afternoon celebrating a 448 year old man!

Chelsea

Spring Starts with a Winter's Tale

American Shakespeare Center - Alden Theatre - McLean, VA

April 7, 2012

Brad: A
Chelsea: A

McLean, Virginia, is known for two things:  Shakespeare traveling shows and barbecue.  We can now say we've enjoyed both.

So, Chelsea and I have developed an amazing ability to arrive at a theatre, park the car, retrieve tickets from will call, and be seated within seven minutes.  We have developed this skill out of necessity because, most of the time, we arrive at the theatre about seven minutes before the play starts.  This day, however, we were determined not to be the last people to be seated.

To ensure timely arrival, we left for McLean an hour and a half early for our six mile drive.  Once we located the theatre we looked for a quick lunch spot and we stumbled upon Boss Hog's Barbecue. This restaurant is known for McLean style barbecue.  Such barbecue has a unique combination of pulled pork, ketchup based sauce, and conservative ideology.  Needless to say the barbecue was as delicious as it was fiscally responsible. 

After lunch, we arrived at the Alden Theatre at the McLean Community Center.  Because we showed up with plenty to spare --- read 10 minutes --- we got to look around a bit, and we found an amazing piece of art:

I think it should be named:  "Life in Panem?" (Yes, the question mark is part of the title.)

We also got to enjoy the pre-show music.  Like the show we saw in Staunton, Virginia, at the American Shakespeare Center, before the show, the cast performs acoustic versions of modern songs that relate to the play.

Here, the cast was singing, Guns n Roses Sweet Child of Mine.  It was actually really, really good.  But what does this song have to do with A Winter's Tale? 

Well, A Winter's Tale starts out with King Leontes of Sicilia and King Polyxenes of Bohemia fawning over each other.  The Bohemian King is preparing to return home after a long stay in Sicilia, and the Sicilian King does not want him to leave.  The Sicilian King then urges his pregnant wife, Hermione, to convince the Bohemian king to stay a bit longer.  She succeeds, and the Sicilian King begins to think she succeeded because she and the Bohemian King are having an affair.  He goes crazy with jealousy.  He instructs one of his underlings to kill the Bohemian King and he sends his wife to jail.  They consult the oracle to determine whether Hermione has been unfaithful, and the oracle acquits Hermione of any wrongdoing.  King Leontes ignores this finding, and he promises consequences.  But before he actually does anything both Hermione and her adolescent son die, though at King Leontes' instruction, Hermione's newborn daughter is left on a mountainside to fend for herself.  After he has nothing left, King Leontes realizes he was wrong and promises to repent everyday for the rest of his life.  While King Leontes' man who was charged with leaving the newborn on a mountain to die is killed --- wait for it --- by a bear.  Yup. A random bear.  Just eats him.  An old man and his son discover the newborn daughter (and the mounds of money left with her), take her to Bohemia, and raise her as a sheep farmer.   Sixteen years go by and Leontes' daughter has fallen in love with the King of Bohemia's son.  In the end, the two elope to Sicilia and meet King Leontes.  He eventually discovers that this bride is in fact his daughter.  He takes his daughter to see a statue of Hermoine, and Hermoine (somehow) comes back to life.  And everyone lives happily ever after...

This production was fantastic! Every actor was great.  And every actor could sing and seemingly play an instrument.  During the second act, there is a dance.  Out of nowhere, the entire cast performed the climactic dance scene from Dirty Dancing (RIP Swayze), complete with an acoustic rendition of "I had the time of my life."  I know this sounds cheesy, but it was great.  The American Shakespeare Center is great. There was no difference in the quality between this show and the show we saw in Staunton.  The play, however, was a bit weird.  The first half of the play was very serious, somber even.  But the second half was hilarious.  Very strange dichotomy.  But I kinda felt like I got to see two plays for the price of one.  So, all in all, not bad!

The next day was Easter, so Chelsea and I decided to go to the Obama's church, the National Cathedral:

Doesn't she look excited?  Here is the inside:

But the most important part is us inside:

It was definitely a neat experience. The church was packed; the music was great; and I wasn't the only person there in a bow tie.  It was a good Easter.

I also got  to go see my Cincinnati Reds play last week.  It was the Nationals' home opener, and accordingly, the Reds let the Nationals win it.  They are so classy.  And the Nationals' had a giant flag:

But you heard it here first: The Reds will win the 2012 World Series.  Trust me.  It is their year.  This isn't a popular prediction amongst the Shakespeare/Baseball fan sites.  But it will happen.  It will.  And of course, keep checking into our littel blog for all of the Shakespeare/Reds news this season.  

Brad of Bohemia

Happy Birthday, Edward De Vere!

Today is Edward De Vere's 462nd birthday! 

Who is Edward De Vere?  Well, for starters, he was the 17th Earl of Oxford.  He was an Aries.  And oh yeah, he may have written all of the plays popularly attributed to William Shakespeare!

In honor of De Vere's birthday (and his distinct mustache and eyebrows), I post the following YouTube clip about evil children:

I will be celebrating De Vere's birthday by watching the Cincinnati Reds destroy the Washington Nationals.  How will you celebrate?

Julius Caesar - "Et Tu Obama?"

The Acting Company - GMU Fairfax, VA
April 1, 2012


Brad - A
Chelsea - B-

So! After our excursion to Washington and Lee (which Brad won't let me talk about...I have no idea why, I think I am an amazing critic and I have important opinions about that one!) we spent our Sunday with a much closer trip. First, we got the pleasure of seeing these cuties!

Brad's sister, brother in law, and nephews spent the weekend in DC and we got to go to some museums and, for Brad, the zoo with them!

It was really great to have some visitors to so we could play tourist in our town. After seeing every dinosaur bone in the world we heading to Fairfax about 20 minutes away to see Caesar. It was a traveling show from a company in NYC so we were really excited for it to be great! It was at the George Mason Preforming Arts Center which is an impressive theater.

As you can see it was set in modern day and used a bunch of backgrounds of the capital building and Washington Monument. The set was a minimal with a set up of 8 TV screens that were constantly changing backgrounds. For a traveling show that seems like a great idea. They could change places and moods without any movements of set. We tried to sneak a pic but Brad is not the best secret agent photographer.

Here the plot, and yes, I know we all already know this one:
Caesar has returned for war and is gaining public support. All of his senators conspire to overthrow him and spend the first half convincing his most loyal follower, Brutus, to be part of their conspiracy and kill the brute! Caesars wife has a dream that something horrible is going to happen to him and tried to convince him to stay home. It almost works but then like most Shakespeare plays he calls her a silly woman and heads to work. He is also warned by a soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March." I'm pretty sure that term was stolen from the Ryan Gosling movie. He is brutally murdered by a whole slew of senators including the conflicted Brutus. Mark Antony is not involved and is disgusted with what is done. He gives an AWESOME speech at Caesars funeral to rally a rebellion of the people against those who killed Caesar. A war breaks out and the chaos of Rome ensues!

Story: timeless, so well written. Production: not so much. Brad and I left thinking that the company may have taken the easy way out. They played up the politics and had the cast in the slick modern suits of "The Hill" but it just didn't have that kick it needed. The play lends itself so much to modern and political that it was just kind of predictable. The cast was amazing and it was good but it just didn't grip us. The Antony speech is so good, everyone should go read it out loud to themselves. Yep, that was a lame suggestion but hey, you may be that bored some Tuesday night. The dialogue was also a bit too grandiose for my taste. I'm pretty sure one of them was channeling William Shatner.

But, all in all. It was good. I see why Shakespeare (cough, De Vere) is a master. This had master writing all up in it!

I also tried to take a picture without multiple chins but that did not work out in my favor.

We also explored and Brad made me take yet another picture with a statue

Chels
Play photos from Fairfax Station Review

King Lear: Never Have Kids

Washington and Lee Shakespeare Society Lexington, VA
March 31, 2012


Brad: A
Chelsea: *-



So, during my internet hunt for all of the Shakespeare plays, I just barely came across this production. Washington and Lee's Shakespeare Society produced it. It was student funded, directed, and acted. And it only ran for one weekend. It was definitely a project of passion for the actors and director. The theatre was small and the set was minimal . . .

BUT the cast's energy, effort, and ambition were enormous (though it doesn't appear that they used spell check on their posters (goverment?)).

This production reminded me of my short (thankfully) college acting career. My biggest role at C of C was that of Freddy the Bar Tender in Picasso at the Lapin Agile -- if your character's name is always accompanied by his occupation, you know it's a good role. I had to fake a Boston accent and grow mutton chops. I barely succeeded at either task. But I loved it.

Similarly, you could tell the folks in King Lear loved what they were doing too.

So, King Lear is about ingrate children.  At the outset of the play, King Lear gives his two sycophant daughters his kingdom, but he disowns his third daughter because she refuses to lie about how much she loves him simply to get a piece of the pie.   Meanwhile, Edmund the Bastard --- note: role with name tied to occupation --- the illegitimate son of Gloucester, a wealthy noble, devises a plan to turn his father against his brother, Edgar, in order to acquire his father's favor and wealth.  As the play moves forward, Lear's two daughters, who now own the kingdom, decide they don't babysit King Lear who is slowly succumbing to dementia and going crazy. Since there are no good nursing homes near, the sisters fight over who will take care of him until Lear runs away during a bad storm.  As the french attack King Lear's kingdom, the two evil daughters get caught up with Ed the Illegitimate.  Through lies, deception, and trickery, the three plan to kill off the King, the good daughter, one of the evil daughter's husbands (so she can take a shot at Edmund), and anyone who gets in their way.  By the end, Gloucester loses his eyes, all of the daughters are dead, Lear is dead, and Edmund is dead. 

Note: a lot of dead bodies on stage. This summary gives no justice to the strength of this story, but  the need for brevity is to blame for this loss, not me.

So, in this production,  there were two stand-out actors: Gloucester and Edgar, though Edgar occasionally slipped into a Jack Sparrow imitation.  I didn't really understand the set, but at the talk back after the play, the director briefly explained it.

YES, we stayed for the talk back, and I even asked a question. My question was this: where did the actors stand on the authorship question? My question immediately got a response from the cast. A majority of the cast ascribed to the Stratfordian theory, though two members confidently rejected it. One actress, the girl who played an excellent Kent, explained to me that the answer didn't matter.

Hmm... I guess I disagree...

After the play, Chelsea and I wandered around Washington and Lee.

We tried to see Robert E. Lee's grave in this church, but it was locked.

We had to settle for seeing his horse's grave instead.

And yes, they buried the horse upside down. Then we saw a statue of me.

We also found the Virginia Military Institute.

Just for the record, that is a stunt double-chin. This is Virginia's version of the Citadel. It is directly next door to W & L. Imagine if the Citadel was across Calhoun Street from C of C. That is how VMI and W & L are set up.

Finally, we had a little snacky at a tapas bar in downtown Lexington.

On our way out of the restaurant, a quartet of middle-aged, mid-day wine drinkers stopped us to chat. They were great. We explained our project to them and they loved it. Our brief conversation reminded me how much I miss the friendly folks in the south. The last time someone stopped me in DC to chat I ended up with a ticket for talking on my cellphone while driving.

Brad the Bastard

*At the request of the editorial board (me), this grade has been redacted to prevent a defamation lawsuit by W & L.

Why Authors Change the World

So, I am reposting this from a blog I love because it made me so happy:

Back in 1989, on a rainy afternoon, seven-year-old Amy wrote a letter to Roald Dahl. Using oil, coloured water and glitter, Amy sent the author a personal gift: one of her dreams, contained in a bottle.

Here's Roald Dahl's wonderful response:

I love this! I also had an amazingly long Roald Dahl love that may make this hit close to home. But, after seeing so much Shakespeare I can't help but love the brain of authors! What wondrous caverns and what amazing things they bring out in us.

*This is post is from A Cup Of Jo, the picture is from Pelayo Lacazette, and the letter is from Amy on Twitter.

Chels

The Hank Trilogy: Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V

Playmakers Repertory Theatre - Chapel Hill, NC
March 3, 2012


Brad - A
Chelsea - C+

Yes, Chelsea struggled with this chair.

So, after our night in Staunton, Virginia, we drove to Chapel Hill to see three history plays in a single day.  Even better, my good friend from high school joined us for the matinee.

I've known Will since seventh grade geometry class with Mrs. Kimbell.  Nowadays, Will is a fancy lawyer for UNC, he plays in a blues band in Chapel Hill, and he has a very cute puppy.  So, Will joined us for the matinee performances of Henry IV Parts One and Two.  We did, however, excuse his attendance for the 7:30 production so he could watch UNC whoop Duke. GO HEELS!

So, a quick summary of Henry IV Part One, Henry IV Part Two, and Henry V:  We meet King Henry IV and he is concerned about attacks from Scotland and other lands.  Having acquired his crown by force, he is concerned about protecting his crown.  His son, Prince Hal, is a goof.  He spends a majority of his time with Sir John Falstaff drinking and "whoring."  As tensions rise between England and its enemies, the King calls for Prince Hal.  Hal eventually agrees to grow up a bit and fight England's enemies with his father.  They eventually defeat their enemies, and during battle, Hal kills one of the leaders of the enemy, though Falstaff takes credit for the kill.  But the King is clearly proud of Prince Hal.  The King then dies and Prince Hal takes over.  Though Prince Hal's former drinking buddies see this as their coronation too, Prince Hal --- now King Henry V --- banishes them from his presence.

One more terrifying rabbit picture just to make sure you are still awake! So, Henry V decides he should take over France.  In the opening scene, a minister goes through an extensive legal analysis of Henry V's claims to all of France.  Then Henry V takes his troops to France to take over.  On Saint Crispin's day, the English troops defeat the French.  Henry V then takes the French Princess Kate as his bride and the play ends, though at the end we are warned that later kings would lose France.

So, a couple of thoughts about the productions.  First, it is awesome to see a trilogy of plays that all involve the same characters played by all the same actors! Usually, you would see three different actors play Prince Hal/Henry V.  But seeing them in repertory like we did, the same guy played Prince Hal/Henry V for each play. Second, these productions were great.  The production was very minimalist given the capabilities of their stage, but the special effects they used were very effective.  For example, when King Henry V gave his famous Saint Crispin Day speech, it had just rained on stage.  Though the on stage rain was over, it really felt like a dreary day that needed an inspirational speech by the leader of the forces.  Finally, Falstaff, a hilarious and lovable character in the Henry IVs, was played by a quasi-famous actor.

Chelsea is pointing at him on the poster, but here is a better picture:

Yes, Chris and John, he is from Gilmore Girls.  Chelsea was star struck, and I thought he was a great Falstaff.  He was funny and memorable.

After 7+ hours of Shakespeare history plays, Chelsea and I were beat.  On Sunday, we drove home, and for nearly two hours of the drive, Chelsea helped me prepare for my appellate argument set for the next day.  All in all, it was a great weekend, and we are now 13 plays in.

Only 24 more to go!

Brad IV Part 1