It sprinkled yesterday morning--perhaps out of sympathy--but the sky was still clear enough for me to see the tree-furred hills around and the snow capped peak off to my left as I drove to the friendly market in Eagle Point with the friendly high school girls getting lunch.
Because it's not just Ashland. Everybody is friendly; strangers wave to me as I drive past them on the road. And with all *five* fingers, not just one.
And the stereo in the rental car is much better than mine--I'm hearing things in some of these songs that I've never heard before. I came as close to enjoying a drive as I ever have when it involved me sitting in the driver's seat.
Earnest was a functional production. It's one of the most polished displays of Wildean dialogue in existence, and one of the funniest. Cecily's actor reminded me of Miranda Richardson's Regis Elizabeth. And I've never seen an 'Earnest' with a bull fight in it. But it seemed far too much like the actors were delivering lines and then looking to the audience for the laugh. I think that, generally speaking, the play is a lot funnier when it's played straight, and you get the impression that the characters have no idea they're saying something absurd. It felt forced and presented rather than smooth, casual and understated. So I enjoyed it but I ached for the potential of something better. Perhaps it's because they've been doing this for eight months and they're tired.
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