Weird & Weirder

Part of the "Try New Things in 2016" plan is saying yes when your friend calls and says, for instance, "Do you want to go see Sense and Sensibility at the Folger Shakespeare Library - they say it's going to be like Downton Abbey on roller skates...?" Ordinarily, No would be my first instance, but Yes was the answer I gave.  I had never seen the Folger Shakespeare Library so that was definitely a plus.  I'm not a Jane Austen fan like most girls are so that was a check in the con column.  However, when presented with something that's like "Downton Abbey on roller skates" you sort of have jump in and see what the night brings.

As it turns out, even with the addition of "roller skates", I should have gone with my first instinct. 

The theatre was gorgeous and reminded me a lot of the Swan in Stratford Upon Avon, and we had fabulous seats.  I only wish my seats were that good when I saw Richard II at the actual Swan.  This time around, it was a negative - we were too close to the stage to risk dozing off.  I may not have loved the show, but no need to offend the actors.  

To put it mildly, the show was bizarre and a half.  As it turns out, there were no roller skates.  All of the tables, chairs, windows, etc. were on wheels.  I'm assuming those were the skates.  The actors were pushed, pulled, catapaulted across the stage on wheelie set decoration. What?  Then at some point, "Uptown Funk" started playing and the cast - who was dressed in full Elizabethan garb - started a dance party on the stage. What?  And if that wasn't enough, the part that confused me more than anything at all, was the mumbling.  During some scenes and in between others, the entire cast would start yelling/speaking/mumbling different things all over each other which made deciphering the point and what exactly they were saying, quite impossible.  

I suppose I could say the cast was quite good, and really sold their parts.  If the creatives that staged the show would have just let them act, it could have been quite good.  But the addition of all sorts of weirdness definitely put this show on my least favorite list.