This is a season for my favorite plays. A few weeks ago I saw "The Importance of Being Earnest" at the DTC. I knew the play inside and out, but I had never seen a professional performance.
Next weekend I'm going to see another favorite, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", by Tom Stoppard. It's a production of the Risk Theater Initiative. I've seen the movie with Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, and Gary Oldman, but I've never seen Stoppard's play on stage. I claim an ownership in this play. Good grief! Thirty-one years ago my best high school pal and I did a readers' theater of a coin-flipping scene for our senior English class. Because our last names were Papenfuss and Mastalir we related to the interchangeability of the names Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Because we both had a love of words and writing, we savored Stoppard's wit and philosophical pondering. Because we were both frustrated with English class busy work assignments, we relished the chance to complete our project by performing a reading during class. Because we both had names too difficult to spell, we ordered our take-out pizzas from Valentinos under the name of J. Stewart, for Jackie the race car driver. Do not ask me about Milton, Spenser, or Chaucer! Those were the good old days of Billy Jean King, Chrissy Evert, and Martina, Bjorn, Ilie Nastase, McEnroe, and Connors. I doubt that life was really simpler in those olden days, but at least we didn't have tattoos and visible piercings.
Next weekend I'm going to see another favorite, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", by Tom Stoppard. It's a production of the Risk Theater Initiative. I've seen the movie with Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, and Gary Oldman, but I've never seen Stoppard's play on stage. I claim an ownership in this play. Good grief! Thirty-one years ago my best high school pal and I did a readers' theater of a coin-flipping scene for our senior English class. Because our last names were Papenfuss and Mastalir we related to the interchangeability of the names Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Because we both had a love of words and writing, we savored Stoppard's wit and philosophical pondering. Because we were both frustrated with English class busy work assignments, we relished the chance to complete our project by performing a reading during class. Because we both had names too difficult to spell, we ordered our take-out pizzas from Valentinos under the name of J. Stewart, for Jackie the race car driver. Do not ask me about Milton, Spenser, or Chaucer! Those were the good old days of Billy Jean King, Chrissy Evert, and Martina, Bjorn, Ilie Nastase, McEnroe, and Connors. I doubt that life was really simpler in those olden days, but at least we didn't have tattoos and visible piercings.
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