Spring break! Woo!!

"Up here, Michael. Up here."

After discovering that the MA spring/Easter break was *not* one week as had been advertised, but was - in fact - two weeks, I realized that I needed to put something together, so that I wouldn't spend two weeks sitting alone in the Halls. (Which do get *quite* creepy when empty) No longer being in Seattle means that a two hour plane ride would land me just about anywhere in Europe, rather than... well... Canada or Spokane, so I decided on a week in Germany, visiting my friend Julia (from here in the Halls) and Katy and Ryan Strange (fellow SPU-ites - Katy and I worked together in the costume shop and lived together Junior year; Ryan did some of the shows as well). 

First, however, I would be remiss in not mentioning my third trip to Bath. What on earth would take me to Bath for a third time, you might ask?

Hells yeah! :) My second time seeing Patrick Stewart on the boards, after seeing him play the titular role in Antony and Cleopatra in Stratford during my study abroad. (Well, playing Antony, that is) Interestingly, we had SRO (standing room only) tickets for that show, too... 

US John and I took the train in the morning, waited in line once the box office opened, grabbed up our tickets, and then spent the following two hours getting a Sally Lunn bun (I will never, even onto the ending of the world, stop praising these buns) and seeing the Roman Baths and Assembly rooms, then wandering up to the Royal Crescent and finally back to the theatre via the Gardens. Apparently, it only takes me living in a city for a week, then visiting for a day trip, then coming back for the third time for me to finally be able to find my way around without getting horrifically lost! (I even gave someone directions!) 

The play was exquisitely done - the set was a lovely, dilapidated old theatre on a partial rake, with the flylines exposed on the sides. The lighting was lovely, though the sound was sadly sub-par (when the theatre is small and the actors aren't mic-ed, there is no excuse for lame sound effects pumped too loudly and too obviously through the back speakers), but the costumes were lovingly distressed and - after all - this is Beckett performed by Stewart, McKellen, (and Simon Callow, as well, as Pozzo!) - much can be forgiving, though - thankfully - little needed forgiving. 

I should note that, for those who have never seen him in anything but Star Trek, Patrick Stewart is one of the most masterful Shakespearian actors of our day. He subscribes to the Ken Branagh school of Shakespearian acting, which not only 150% understands completely what the words and phrases mean, their attendant emotions, whether the character is speaking truly or falsely or ironically or sardonically, and can convey all of this to the audience, but still retains the absolutely gorgeous musical quality of the lines - they manage to sing without making us doubt the truth of the words one iota. That said, possibly because of this, it took him a bit of time to warm up into the character - for awhile, he was playing Beckett with the slight theatricality that is required for Shakespeare. That said, by the arrival on Pozzo, he was fully sunk into the character, and we were right along with him. Ian McKellen, on the other hand, was the sweetest, most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen - the sense of hopelessness and futility he carried with him... simply fantastic. Fully invested from the first second of the show, struggling over the wall and painfully pulling his boot from his swollen foot. 

We didn't have much time after the show ended, so we headed straight back to our train. Upon arriving home, we made pizza, I "packed" and we watched two Dr. Who episodes. (I seriously have become completely obsessed. It's fantastic)