An Evening in the Park

My apologies, yet again, for the long delay between posts. On top of it being a very stressful semester (since February) the past two weeks have been - not good. Once the final mopping-up is done all will be well.

A welcome high spot was a twilight picnic with friends at the Old Zoo Meadow in Griffith Park, to see the Independent Shakespeare Company do "Julius Caesar." It's not my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, but I always enjoy the ISC (who are in a different union than the Screen Actors Guild, and they came out and announced their solidarity with SAG and the Writers before the show). The production was wonderful - in many ways very Shakespearean, because it was all done on a single stage with nothing but four or five cubes for props; all done with words, and sound effects, and lighting, and sheer excellent, creative direction. (The costumes had a vaguely Klingon vibe that was very effective). I had a couple of minor quibbles with some of the choices made in the production, but nothing that detracted from my enjoyment of the show. And, instead of the crowd of extras yelling things like "Hail, Caesar!" and "Kill those guys!", they had two TV screens posted and they instructed the audience to yell "Hail Caesar!" and "Kill those guys!" when the prompts were flashed on the screen. It was that kind of production.

And an A+ for the battle scene.

Besides - flocks of wild parrots screaming in the treetops as the sun went down? The sweet, cool feeling of the air after a stinking-hot day? The concrete fake cave-mouths along the south side of the meadow, where the bear and lion cages used to be? (With secret stairways - locked and gated - down which zoo employees used to feed the inhabitants?)

An AMAZING picnic of middle-eastern chow? (I have talented friends). 

The production is FREE. The actors get paid - and the show put on - via audience contributions. They've been doing this for 20 years. Go to their website - look up Independent Shakespeare Company in Los Angeles - and if you're in LA, and want a swell picnic in the warm dusk with wild parrots going in the background - go check them out. They're doing "Julius Caesar" this month, and my absolute favorite, "Midsummer Night's Dream" in August, and they're really good and a lot of fun. (And there are bathrooms on site, but no concessions, so bring your own water as well as your own chow).
 

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