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Robinson College: Cambridge Shakespeare Festival |
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| Right in the action |
From this point of marked attention, Willow and M's possible audience participation stress increased. Their rule is - be very quiet and wall flowerish until interval. Petal just turned up her i-pod and tried not to jig her head in time unless she was purposely trying to embarrass her sister by loudly telling her which of the One Direction songs from her playlist she was listening to.
Audience Participation Stress(APS) increased another level when we moved our picnic down to the front to make sure we didn't miss any of the funny bits. If only we'd know about the comic genius of the actor playing Thurio and his gift for codpiece antics. Watching him from the front row was like being at Sydney's Mardigras. (Check wiki for why Midlanders never ask for cod'n'chips even though Cod is the main fish to be found in chippies everywhere around here!) Each new scene of Thurio's, thrust his ever growing 'enhanced qualities' for audience attention with decorations, from silver butterflies to red roses, thus ensuring that his character was clearly defined as a wealthy, supercilious fop.
The play opened with the outlaws taking center stage and encouraging the audience to call out 'Oh no it's the outlaws' in typical panto style every time they took the stage. This lulled us into a false security for we thought the stage had been set for farcical group participation. APS decreased dramatically. However Pun-demonium broke out and all the low characters continued them all through the play. Petal got lots of eye-rolling practice in.
The story is basically about double crossing good for nothing, Proteus, who was made to follow his friend to the Emperors' court after discovering the love of his life, Julia and exchanging rings with her. His friend 'Valentino' had spurned love, his thirst for adventure and treasure takes him to the powerful court of Milan, only to fall hopelessly in love with the Emperor's daughter 'Silvia'. She returned his adoration but was being forced into a marriage with her father's friend 'Thurio'.
Proteus arrived just in time to help Valentino run away with Silver when he ficklely fell in love with Silvia and warned the Emperor of the pair's plans to outwit him. Valentino was banished to the forest and became the King of the Outlaws (remember comedy is oft ridiculous). Having rid Milan of Valentino, Proteus pretends to help the Emperor make Silvia appreciate Thurio's qualities but tries to woo her for himself. In the middle of one impassioned declaration Julia arrives disguised as a page and is hired as Proteus' servant to run love letters to Silvia. Silvia rips up these letters and throws them to the ground (telling the girls to put the mess in the bin.)
In the end there is a horse chase, a stag hunt and a very bad - so bad it is funny - fight in the forest but all the right combinations live happily ever after, Julia finally punching Proteus on the nose to a loud cheer from the audience before they had a big pash (more Laeticia eye-rolling) and Thurio is last seen being chased from stage, by the pardoned outlaws, shrieking and trying to protect his family jewels.
Amidst this plot line are Shakespeare's typical fools who take the stage to amuse and fill in the gaps. In this play they are the servants of the main characters and our favourite was one called Launce. He was played by a very charismatic she and was the owner of a dog named Crabb, who had some serious stomach problems. APS spiked when this actor (in guise of the a hotel owner) lay down on our picnic rug - at one time head on Michael's knee snoring while she was 'off stage' during a soliloquy. The tension mounted as we soon realised that we had lain our rug on a bit of lawn used for the stage right wing - a bit to close to the action Willow thought as Thurio leapt over her to exit. Luckily the Outlaws exited stage left because they nicked food from people's picnics and we were really enjoying our Brie and crackers!
It was with great relief that we picked up our bean bags and left - after the girls had cleaned up the letter pieces. APS, puns and farce had exhausted us, we all had a good sleep that night.
The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival is on until the 27th of August so maybe we'll go to Hamlet, Richard III or A Midsummer Night's Dream another night. I wonder if we'll be allowed to take Charlie with us.
We weren't allowed to take photo's of the actors so a shot of the host on M's knee was not possible.
From the Play:
“That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man, if with his tongue he cannot win a woman.”
"What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by? "
Still Reading: The Secret Listeners by Sinclair McKay Aurum 2012
Even in the 30's it was the young clever teens who outwitted the enemy with technology. The technology happened to be wireless radios and very early radar and the enemy German U-boats and the Luftwaffa rather than parents and teachers (Yes we know you're tricking us!). School and University leavers from 16 - 19 yrs learnt morse the fastest and were able to note down more words per minute than older, more experienced cryptographers. Girls were funnelled into the WRENs and boys too young for the navy were often billeted out to coastal families as civilian 'listeners'. All of them signed the secrecy act and weren't even allowed to tell their parent's until 30yrs after the war. Imagine being accused of being cowardly for not joining up and lazy for 'laying about in your room all day' and it not even being accurate. It was hard in those good-ole-days before the word teen was even a word let alone a condition!
A bit dry and skips all over the place and time but is very informative about an amazing time.
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| Bletchly Park where the codes were sent for breaking. Not far from Milton Keynes Ikea! |
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| Novel cover. |
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