Tastes like chicken.
The weekend was over way too fast.
Ben asked if I was interested in seeing King Lear (for free) in Cleveland on Sunday, and (of course), I was game. We left at 1, and the heat was oppressive, even with the windows down. The noise, actually, was also oppressive, and we are men well-used to the sound of the wind at 80mph.
Lucy met us there, her living so close, and we ate at a cute little mexican restaurant named Luchita’s. My single a la carte burrite was more than enough to best my recently-lunched belly. The storm came upon us fierce and fast as we made our way to the outdoor venue with our fold-out chairs, and Lucy did a noble job of not looking like she was going to cut-and-run. The clouds were really impressivel ominous, but as it turned out, the venue had an indoor option, and we stepped in a mere minute before the sky (briefly) opened up.
Had I been alone (and not about to see a play), I would have stepped outside into it. The air needed cooling and so did I, and there is something about a heavy rain that, like snow, makes me feel blanketed, comforted. The fog of heavy rainfall makes everything more intimate, as you can only focus on those things near you.
When I was nine or so, there was a massive rainstorm at my grandma’s house, where I spent every summer. My cousins and I could barely contain ourselves – we jumped into our swimsuits (used daily on the lake) and dove out into a downpour so warm it felt like the lake itself. Which, I suppose, it was.
What I remember most about our play that day was my cousin putting his head under the spout from the roof… and getting a huge pile of muddy leaves for his trouble. :D
The play wasn’t King Lear. Due to some mistaken calendar-reading, that day’s play was called Sweet Love, Adieu! Ben grumbled for awhile, but admitted he has seen KL a number of times, and though he was afraid of the potential for serious yuck regarding a modern play written in blank verse/iambics, he was curious. Lucy was relieved at the change from doomy drama to comedy, and I was just there for the tea and crumpets. Okay, there was no tea. Or crumpets. Where was I?
The play was … well, it was really great. Frankly, I’ve seen scores of plays, most of them community theatre, and I usually consider it a score when the main characters do a reasonable job of keeping their lines straight. These people warmed to their iambics within a few minutes, had many funny little modern interjections, and had excellent characterization. The girls were cute and the Earl was creepy with his gigantic codpiece/purse… and I laughed frequently. I have my minor critiques, but they’re just minor, really. It was worth the drive from Detroit, I’d say (especially ’cause I didn’t drive it!)
Oh, and the ass-kicking girl with dark hair? Hot. Lucy agrees. :D I swear I remember her from somewhere. Perhaps the MIFC (film conference) that the film boys and I used to go to every year, before they closed? We said our congratulations as she walked by, and she seemed pleased – as she went back inside, she gave out a blessed be, and I couldn’t help but laugh and say, “I knew you were a pagan!” On second glance, perhaps somewhat indiscreet, but …meh.
We both acquired (different) T-shirts for our donations – Mine says “SHAKESPEARE: tastes like chicken” and Lucy’s involves Che Guevara/Shakespeare puns.
Seriously.
If you’re near Cleveland in the next few weeks, you like shakespeare and you have a tongue firmly planted in cheekOzy, go see it.
been watching the rain hit the minirivers it creates in the street, drop after drop. each one distinct, and still so many of them that when you watch the drops and the motion at the same time, it begins to look like static from a channelless television, only much cooler.
in related news, i have also been tactile-ly enjoying the heavy rainstorms.
It’s one of those experiences where it can be fun to just blur your eyes and feel it as a whole.
I wonder if you know any of the people in the play. :) It was held in Shaker Heights, technically, at something called the Collonade, which was pretty much just a bunch of columns outside.
anything’s possible. :)