Random Cultural Show and Tell(er)

So here's some of what I've been doing . . .

Teller at the Folger

Teller, the normally silent half of Penn and Teller, was in town at the end of February to discuss his co-directing duties for the production of Macbeth that is currently running at the Folger Theater, and which I’ll luckily get to see next week (the full run sold out really quickly!) The discussion was held the night before the play opened and we were able to grab a quick and grainy photo at the end of the hour. I had never head him speak before and he seemed extremely bright and witty, and we could have sat and listened to him discuss Shakespeare and magic and other things all evening if possible.

Chicago 10

This part documentary/part animated film did not really fulfill the potential of its premise very well. It tried to do a lot of things and most of them not very well. It is a good jumping off point for a lot of good discussions and further research for the background and history of the 1968 Democratic Convention, but I wouldn’t advise any young people to watch it as a stand-alone history piece.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

This is one of the few movies that I’ve ever attended where the audience burst into applause at the end. After a few months where most of the movies I’ve seen were either deep, bloody dramas or political documentaries, it was such a breath of fresh air not to leave the theater feeling emotionally drained. A funny, poignant film that I highly recommend you go see if it’s playing in your town – it definitely deserves wider notice.

Major Barbara

I saw this George Bernard Shaw play at the Shakespeare Theater Company last Thursday. It is a wonderful production which was only marred by the fact that the play ended at 10:50 PM and the nearby parking garage closed at 11 PM – therefore we could not really pay attention to the last 10 minutes of dialogue because we were freaking out, ardently hoping the play would end in time for us to run the three blocks to retrieve the car. We didn’t even stay to applaud the actors: as soon as the scene ended and the curtain went down, we hightailed it out of our row, down the steps, out of the theater and ran like heck. Of course, because Mr. Random has been running forever, he was able to zoom ahead easily, while me and J . . . well, we were a bit slower. We did make it to the car with a few minutes to spare, but the moral of the story is to always check a play’s running time before you find a place to park.

More to come . . .