Hopefully the start of an Annual Shakespearian tradition
Last night, after eyeing the weather suspiciously, we went to see "A Comedy of Errors" in Robinson College Garden - which was a suitably enjoyable farce of mistaken identity, unsubtle innuendo, random fighting and running around screaming.
The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival obliging put on three or four of plays every week of the summer in different college gardens, and it's been about fifteen years since I last went to one. The price has gone up steeply since then, but I reckon the quality of the acting has too :-)
I cajoled everyone into going because
a) we go to Edinburgh to do random culture, and enjoy it, so it's stupid not to look on our doorstep
b) it makes a nice change from the Disney Channel
c) it hardly rained at all
d) in eight weeks of run, we can't be too busy/too tired/too disorganised every night!
The Comedy of Errors is essentially Shakespearean crack - two pairs of twins separated at birth, and coincidentally given the same names is a pretty massive coincidence - but none the worse for that. The actors attacked it with considerable brio, and as far as I could tell the original language. DR certainly understood most of it, and CE sat and watched happily - since we were on a rug at the front the MIB gathered him in as the swordfight went past ;-)
According to the program, the serious message of the play is about the meaning of identity and reputation and how shocking it is when that breaks down - I guess it was, but mostly it was just jolly. The alternative choice of play was Othello,which would have been a lot harder to explain - I think we may need to work up to tragedies.
Robinson gardens are very pretty - especially the lake they have tucked away there - and they have a very simple but effective little open air theatre.
The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival obliging put on three or four of plays every week of the summer in different college gardens, and it's been about fifteen years since I last went to one. The price has gone up steeply since then, but I reckon the quality of the acting has too :-)
I cajoled everyone into going because
a) we go to Edinburgh to do random culture, and enjoy it, so it's stupid not to look on our doorstep
b) it makes a nice change from the Disney Channel
c) it hardly rained at all
d) in eight weeks of run, we can't be too busy/too tired/too disorganised every night!
The Comedy of Errors is essentially Shakespearean crack - two pairs of twins separated at birth, and coincidentally given the same names is a pretty massive coincidence - but none the worse for that. The actors attacked it with considerable brio, and as far as I could tell the original language. DR certainly understood most of it, and CE sat and watched happily - since we were on a rug at the front the MIB gathered him in as the swordfight went past ;-)
According to the program, the serious message of the play is about the meaning of identity and reputation and how shocking it is when that breaks down - I guess it was, but mostly it was just jolly. The alternative choice of play was Othello,which would have been a lot harder to explain - I think we may need to work up to tragedies.
Robinson gardens are very pretty - especially the lake they have tucked away there - and they have a very simple but effective little open air theatre.