Oh vacations are tiring. Coming back and having to deal with Comcast...also tiring. Although I must say they are always on time and always very helpful. Obviously I am back. Be of good cheer, Starrlight is here!
The plays were great. Our fellow audience members...interesting.
Romeo and Juliet was first up. They actually played a good deal of the lines for laughs which is a rather fresh approach I thought. They did take some liberties with it ala the costumes. The older generation wore traditional Italian Renaissance clothing while the younger generation (Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, Mercutio et all) were dressed in modern clothing. It worked. And I am a purist. The whole feel was a definite nod to the
Baz Luhrmann version and had a few sly references to other versions including a tiny musical moment from Mercutio with the classic fight music from
West Side Story. It was a nice touch.
The acting was good. Not great, with the exception of the guys who played
Benvolio and
Mercutio. The guy who played Mercutio also played Caliban in
The Tempest. And let me tell you, he was good. Looking at his credit it looks like he goes for the character role rather than the leading. I sure hope he is back next year because he was excellent.
Now the kid who played Romeo also played
Ferdinand in
The Tempest. Not a bad actor but SO FUCKING TOM CRUISESQUE. And we all know I fucking hate Tom Cruise. I kept expecting Romeo to start jumping on a couch and shouting "Help Me Oprah!!" and that was just disconcerting, ya know?
Both Juliet and Miranda were well played although they seemed to be virtually interchangeable. And let's face it, neither of them are the brightest chickies around either. Juliet talks way too much before sucking down the knock out poison. And Miranda is somewhat dingy. Which irked kidlet since of course I named her that. I had to explain to her that I picked the name cause I loved it and the story of
The Tempest. Had I gone for a sharp character it would have been Kate. As it was my three choices were all Shakespearean. Miranda, Cordelia, or Portia. And I could have named her Ophelia, and god knows she more than slightly dim :P
For
The Tempest, both
Prospero and
Ariel we excellent and made that play along with an excellent supporting cast, and mercifully the Tom Factor is lower than in
Romeo and Juliet due to Ferdinand being a much smaller role.
We ate well on this trip too. Had lunch at an English pub where Kidlet was stunned and overjoyed to be able to order a plate of mashies and peas. I had fish and chips. For dinner our first night we ate at
Larks where we had a crab fondue that is very nearly heaven on earth and had a sinful chocolate creme brulee with kirsch soaked cherries. Now that, RR, is Yum Oh you silly twat. That aside was for Matt, just for the record :P
And we ate at
Chateaulin and it was beyond wonderful. Kidlet and I had Filet and Mom had the lamb special. And we had salads and a ridiculously expensive bottle of wine
that was amazing.Now then, our fellow audience members were less than fab. First night I had a massively farty man next to me. The second night I had a man with a freakishly large head in front of me, while mom had a tourettes kid next to her. It was so very David Lynch.
Now no trip would be worth writing home about without bling, am I right ladies? So with that in mind, I forced myself to get this for myself

The line is from
R+J and the full quote is
"With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out"
And this one for Kidlet, from
The Tempest"We are such stuff as dreams are made on"

And now I am off to watch a new documentary on Titanic and have my coffee. I love the History International Channel!