A Nice Theatre Weekend

Coming off a lovely weekend in Cedar Rapids with our daughter and her family.  Thursday night we saw  Sophocles' Oedipus Rex at the Monmouth College Wells Theatre.  It was done with a "film noir" concept that was nicely carried out in the setting and the costumes. The rewriting for modernism muted some of the poetic impact, but the point still came through.  The setting of a city street was done with finesse though I felt that it was so large that it squeezed the actor's playing space and forced a lot of flattened compositions.  Still overall a noble effort and well worth the time.

We left for Cedar Rapids early Friday morning and were able to get some shopping in before we headed out to see Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at the Giving Tree Theatre in Marion. More theatre and a nice change of pace from Greek Tragedy.  The company was hobbled a bit by some inconsistent accents and a weak Ruth Condomine, but saved by an energetic Elvira and a magnificent Madam Arcati.  We might have had a brighter pace at times and the director missed some laugh line pointing, but it was overall a pleasant evening.

Saturday was spent doing some more shopping and watching the Cubs take another pasting. Doesn't look good.  French Toast Sunday morning, Fire House Subs for lunch and then back to Monmouth in time to watch my Packers lose by a point.  Only good thing is that as I write this the Cubs have a small lead in the fifth of their do or die last chance game.

Busy busy