Project 365 New Things: Day 7

Yes, I know, I'm a day late. Sue me. In my defense, day 7's new thing wasn't done until it was technically day 8.

Last night, I saw the Shakespeare Theatre Company's rendition of a Shakespeare play that I'd never seen before: Measure for Measure. It was pretty good, but I feel like the director overemphasized the, er, bawdy nature of the text way too much. (All I'm going to say about this is that as an intelligent and observant human being, I can tell that the setting is a 1920s stripper club without the presence of: a) enough actual cigarette smoke to make even my non-asthmatic lungs gasp in vain for sweet oxygen, and b) actual strippers). However, that being said, once the awkward, scantily-clothed, tobacco-infused pre-show was over and the actual play began, things started to look up. The set design was just beyond incredible. The acting was fantastic. And the writing wasn't half bad, either. ;)

(Disclaimer: if you are younger than about 15, I would not recommend even reading this play until later. STC's interpretation was one thing, but to be fair, the actual text invites quite a lot of innuendos and 'adult' situations. It is, of course, full of beautiful language and it has an interesting plot. However, think of this play sort of like a 16th century cousin to Looking For Alaska: a brilliant, eye-opening read that explores the human condition, albeit a read that must be swallowed along with a certain amount of wordiness).

One of the best things about seeing this play was that I got to meet several members of STC's Young Company, and they're all just really wonderful people, as far as I can tell from our brief time together last night. For those who don't know, I was accepted to this acting and educational program earlier in the summer, and I'm pretty much over the moon about it. We start this Monday and I am trying not to explode from joy and anticipation. I am just really honored and lucky to be working with what I can tell will be an amazing group of teachers and students.

Today's post will be posted later today, as per usual.

~Maddie