The past gives up its secrets dearly

This, my ducks, is a little gem of game theory wisdom that I passed on to my LiveJournal audience some ten years past. Use it as you will.

Thinking about my game, which had its most recent session on Sunday. I'm already working on plotting the next adventure (Next weekend should wrap up 'Start the Revolution Without Me'). I am concerned with party unity, and was trying to think of ways to bring them more together. I'd put a lot of work into a plotline where they are required to work together by a boss who offers them a lucrative position working for hir. And about twenty minutes ago, I thought to myself "Fuck that shit. You know what brings a party together? Pain. Terror. Fear. Isolation. Feeling helpless. The threat of death and the reminder of mortality." So I am now scribbling notes frantically and slamming together what I suspect is now the next adventure.

From the fields of Bosworth

Quick day one report: Enjoying the shows.

Comedy of Errors with the Harlem Renaissance as a backdrop: At first I wasn't sure if it was more minstrel show than Redd Foxx, and began to think that maybe I'd run out of ways I could see the show presented. By the end I was far more at peace with it. Plus, Cab Calloway as the Duke of Ephesus. Your argument is invalid.

Richard III: There are two ways you can go with this show. There is the BAD THINGS AND TRAGEDY emotions at eleven because everybody is dead way, or you have Richard sniping at everything (including himself) and running snide commentary to the audience. Doing both is tricky. Dan Donohue, a recent star addition to the repertory, is a very good actor whose style I do not care for (but wherefore I know not, precisely). He does his best to run the balance, but the production feels uncomfortable.

Don't hate the *gamer*. Hate the *play*.

Day Two Report: The Reportening

The Tempest
Possibly one of the wackiest Tempests I have ever seen. Also, perhaps not coincidentally, one of the most enjoyable. Fairly bare stage, with some impressive effects (including one early on with what looked like a parachute.) Also poked at a few of the awkward bits or loose threads, not necessarily offering solutions or alternatives.

A Wrinkle in Time
This production was my motivation for trying to get a whole bunch of people out to Ashland this season. And the one point where I am not disappointed for the amount of fail my plan accumulated. If the script had looked more like the poster I showed you earlier, I would have been tremendously pleased. As it is it played more like a Blue Peter Pantomime. There was a lot of frenetic dashing about that didn't seem to accomplish much, way too many characters wandering on stage with no real business. After the effects in Tempest, it was a shame to see aWiT looking like amateur theater budget. The play looked like it was targeted for five to eight year olds, which is a perfectly legitimate choice, but it should then also be marketed as such.