Oh Slings Icons, how awesome you are...
I'm slowly getting back into my lj.
Yes, its' been a year. Yes, I owe this thing approximately 80 million theatre reviews (okay, closer to 10). And yes, a ridiculous number of things have happened to me in the over a year since I've abandonned it. But you know what, I don't care. I'm not gonna apologize. Half the reason I wasn't posting is because I kind of felt guilty about the neglect. Which is RIDICULOUS.
I shall just type what I feel like.
However, I suppose I should give some sort of brief synopsis of the end of last year's Stratford Season.
Apart from the plays mentioned in my last post, I also saw Phedre, A Midsummer Night's Dream and A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Phedre was good. Depressing, and weird, but it's Greek. That's to be expected. Clearly everyone was sleeping with someone they shouldn't have been, or taking ridiculous stances against their own family members. Jonathan Goad was good (and, unlike everything else he appeared in that season, not wearing some sort of horrible costume). Seanna McKenna was amazing, and absolutely heartbreaking.
Then there was the Dream. Sadly no bleating, ironic or otherwise. However, So. Very. Awesome. One of my favourites ever. The fairies were punk rockers. I think that says it all. Okay, they set it in modern times, and the play opened with gunshots (continuing that year's trend of setting absolutely none of the Shakespeare in the correct time period, but at least it wasn't invasive/distracting in this production). The four lovers were all generally good, though I believe I preferred Hermia to Helena. May have that mixed up. I can never remember which one is which. But even if they were terrible I probably wouldn't have cared.
Tom Rooney's Puck was so very fabulous. All the faeries were good (oh, I see I'm not even spelling "faerie" consistently in one post. Ah well), but he was especially fantastic. And Gerraint Wyn Davies was hilarious (and awesome as usual) as Bottom. Pretty much all of his scenes were laugh-out loud funny. And the play ended with some rock 'n' roll, plus air guitar as the cast danced about on stage. Clearly that's excellent. And the play itself is funny, and I'd never seen it. Definitely worth it.
Lastly, Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Went with cousin plus the parents. It was my Dad's birthday present. He LOVES that musical (and is constantly trying to get my mother to watch the movie, though she hates it). I liked it more than I was expecting to. (I remember not being a fan of the movie when I was forced to watch it at age twelve. I admit, part of that may have been deliberate to spite my father). Sean Cullen was hilarious as Pseudolus (okay, I admit I had to look up character names for this one). And Stephen Ouimette was awesome as well as Hysterium. I remember having "Comedy Tonight" stuck in my head for literally days afterwards.
And afterwards marked one of my cousins and my more successful attempts to see actors in Stratford. We managed to be at the restaurant that about twenty of them walked into. Didn't talk to them (they were all in a group). But we were totally there! And we also saw bonus Darren Nichols! There may have even been a (probably audible) "It's Darren Nichols" hissed across the table. Because he shall always be known as his Slings character name. Much like Jerry. Sorry Don McKeller, but it's true.
So yeah, all in all, an enjoyable Stratford season. Perhaps in my next post I'll tackle the six plays I saw this year. I know you're all excited!
What else happened?
I finally got my Master's degree and am no longer a grad student. Which I am pleased about. I'm sure I read a bunch of books, some good, some not. Obviously none of them life-changing. Not that I can remember at the moment anyway. Underwent the world's most frustrating few months with my laptop, because as always, the universe still hates me. Decided editing a thesis is the devil.
Season two of the Mentalist was generally terrible, then Season 3 decided to be suddenly awesome.
Season two of Castle was awesome, except for the last two minutes. Season three is highly enjoyable though. Especially when the eps feature Detective Ryan in a vest.
I've started watching Glee, and absolutely surprsingly (and totally my roommate's fault) Criminal Minds.
Many other things have happened, but nothing else's springing to mind.
Now hopefully I update this in less than a year.