Merry Wives of Windsor...
Aug. 4th, 2005 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishWell, my attempt last Wednesday to expose my offspring to the joys of Shakespearean theater met with mixed results. I arrived home to find John frantically cooking "Krabby patties" so everyone could have something to eat before we left. I took over for that, and he got them into clean clothes. Then he remembered there was a new show on the Sci-Fi channel, so I had to scrounge for a tape and set it.
Got there after it had started, but found our friends right near the back, so we just quietly set up our folding chairs, and got settled to watch. By the way, the "Sunken Garden" at the Westminster Civic Center? Two steps down to a square grassy area with a tree at each corner surrounded by sidewalks, some shrubs, and a few benches - seems like quite a fancy name for a place to sit and read the paper when you're on a break from jury duty. Orange County West Court is the building a few dozen yards away, behind the trees, where I've spent a few long boring hours.
I always have to make my mind switch gears to figure out what they are saying. Angus completely wrapped himself up in the quilt we brought, and the other two tried flopping on top of him like a pile of puppies. They took turns climbing onto my lap to watch, and also took turns stage-whispering, "When is this going to be over?" There were other kids there, playing and trotting around the outskirts, but for the most part being quiet. When I laughed at something funny in the play (when Falstaff was protesting being dumped from a laundry basket into the river), Angus demanded I explain it to him.
When intermission came, I encouraged them to run around on the grass a little bit, to get it out of their systems. In the corners of the concrete steps up to the Senior Center, we must have found a dozen crickets, which got them all excited. They wanted to catch a bunch to take them home, but no, we have quite enough crickets at home already. The insects were having quite a competition with the actors on stage, though.
We started watching the second half of the play, but Avalon and Gareth wanted to keep running around on the grass, which would have been ok if they could have done it quietly, but they kept getting loud. Finally John called it quits and we put away the chairs. My friends from work insisted they weren't being bothered, but I'm sure other people were. Angus started getting upset because he was starting to get into it and actually paying attention, but his siblings are just a little to young, I think.
We'll try the A Midsummer Night's Dream DVD we have at home first, I think.
Got there after it had started, but found our friends right near the back, so we just quietly set up our folding chairs, and got settled to watch. By the way, the "Sunken Garden" at the Westminster Civic Center? Two steps down to a square grassy area with a tree at each corner surrounded by sidewalks, some shrubs, and a few benches - seems like quite a fancy name for a place to sit and read the paper when you're on a break from jury duty. Orange County West Court is the building a few dozen yards away, behind the trees, where I've spent a few long boring hours.
I always have to make my mind switch gears to figure out what they are saying. Angus completely wrapped himself up in the quilt we brought, and the other two tried flopping on top of him like a pile of puppies. They took turns climbing onto my lap to watch, and also took turns stage-whispering, "When is this going to be over?" There were other kids there, playing and trotting around the outskirts, but for the most part being quiet. When I laughed at something funny in the play (when Falstaff was protesting being dumped from a laundry basket into the river), Angus demanded I explain it to him.
When intermission came, I encouraged them to run around on the grass a little bit, to get it out of their systems. In the corners of the concrete steps up to the Senior Center, we must have found a dozen crickets, which got them all excited. They wanted to catch a bunch to take them home, but no, we have quite enough crickets at home already. The insects were having quite a competition with the actors on stage, though.
We started watching the second half of the play, but Avalon and Gareth wanted to keep running around on the grass, which would have been ok if they could have done it quietly, but they kept getting loud. Finally John called it quits and we put away the chairs. My friends from work insisted they weren't being bothered, but I'm sure other people were. Angus started getting upset because he was starting to get into it and actually paying attention, but his siblings are just a little to young, I think.
We'll try the A Midsummer Night's Dream DVD we have at home first, I think.
