my library / was dukedom large enough

[aamcnamara]

I went to see The Tempest in our amphitheater on Friday evening, one of those productions buoyed up more by good spirits and a love of Shakespeare than any particular urge toward a masterpiece of theater. Since I like Shakespeare, I liked the show. I hadn't seen before, or read it since age ten (I got precisely one thing from it: an excellent insult), so it was interesting to watch it unfold. I might have to read it now--I suspect they had to cut it severely, and I'm curious about what they left out.

(This time, it gave me the line that is the title of this post. Mm, libraries.)

Leaving that, we ran into four people who, as they emerged from the campus center, were doing an impromptu a cappella version of "Don't Stop Believin'". As I commented at the time: "I feel like I'm at college."

I also spent some time this weekend putting near-finishing touches on "As Large as Alone". I will send it out this week, dammit--despite the fact that almost all my non-real-finals final projects/essays/papers are due this week as well. Which is what I'm avoiding working on right now. So.

(Despite the way I feel like I've wasted most of this weekend, and not even in any fun or socializing manner, I have in fact gotten done most of what I wanted/needed to get done. Plus a couple of hours' worrying about what I am going to do with all my stuff this summer, which is always lovely.)

Comments

re: tempest

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Actually, when I saw them do a run-through last week, they didn't cut anything. :)

Re: tempest

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Really? Huh. I guess I always think of Shakespeare plays as being as long as Hamlet, which is probably not true.

Re: tempest

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Haha, that's how I felt the first time I read Macbeth. It was such a letdown. XD But, yup. I was following along in the script. :3

Re: tempest

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

I should probably read it anyway--Shakespeare is so wordy that I think often things get lost in performance unless you have really really superb and practiced actors doing it. On the other hand hearing/seeing Shakespeare is really the ultimate way to experience his work. It is an eternal paradox!

Oh, dear. I've never read Macbeth, though I have been intending to for a while.

Re: tempest

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

:DDD Do not worry. You do not have to Brush Up Your Shakespeare for me--my reading/viewing is patchy at best. This is why I asked my dad to send me my Riverside... :(

Re: tempest

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

(Also I did like Macbeth a lot better after I saw Slings & Arrows and reread it last month.)

Re: tempest

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

The Oh dear is in case I am disappointed by Macbeth! I do not think you expect me to have read/seen all of Shakespeare.

(I should try Slings and Arrows again--the first episode starts with the Tempest, I think? and, well, see under: having not read it since age ten.)

Re: tempest

[aliseadae]

Slings and Arrows starts with Hamlet. And you should! I've seen all of it as Magpie showed it to all of us.

Re: tempest

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

I thought they did Prospero's speech from Tempest in the first scene? Could be remembering wrong, though.

Maybe I will watch it this summer? Along with, y'know, all the other things I intend to do...

Re: tempest

[aliseadae]

Oh, I mean maybe. What I meant was that each season has a show and first season's show is Hamlet.

[araken.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiosity, in the production of The Tempest you saw, who was the protagonist and who, if anyone, was the villain? I've seen two productions of it, and the way it was acted and directed each time gave completely different answers to those questions.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Protagonists--almost everyone? The production didn't have any particular focus in that regard. The villains were Antonio and Sebastian, but they were also comic relief.