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Category: shakespeare
Atlanta – The Romances in Repertory
02/05/2014 – 02/09/2014 Miles MPG Average Speed 1291 45.7 48 Driving listening:
02/05/2014 – 02/09/2014
Priceline Retail $ Savings % Savings Evergreen Marriott Conference Resort (4-stars) $66.06
($54 bid)$ 178.08 ($159 pretax)
$112.02 63% Crazy Ron’s BBQ Old Hickory House BBQ Taming of the Shrew Romeo & Juliet Much Ado About Nothing Waterside Restaurant Wednesday
I arrived in Atlanta Wednesday and had just enough time before the Zoo closed to snap a picture of the pandas and send it to the girl-child in order to
torment her
UrbanSpoon, which still thinks I live in Atlanta, sent me to Crazy Ron’s for dinner. This is a typical, roadside BBQ stand, and I thought it would be good when I saw that the smoker was almost as big as the shack.
There I got a to-go box of chopped beef, with baked beans and
macaroni and cheese. The mac-and-cheese didn’t travel well in the cold (40-some degrees), but was still okay. The rest fared better, and I found the beef to be tasty and well-trimmed, with a good portion of bark. It was covered in a good sauce; what first appeared to be too much sauce, but there was enough beef under it to make a good mix. The beans were okay – I’m guessing they started life in a can, but were doctored enough to taste good.
Thursday
Thursday morning I had to start the day by finding a tire shop. The change in temperature from 80-degree Orlando to 40-degree Atlanta set off my tire sensors and I had to have nitrogen added. After that, I set off to find breakfast and Urbanspoon sent me to Rise –n- Dine. I’ve eaten there before, but, well … Urbanspoon said.
No sooner had I parked at Rise –n- Dine, I saw that I had a text from a friend in Atlanta that she was free for lunch. Since it was close enough to lunchtime to skip breakfast, I responded and left the restaurant, expecting to hear where to meet soon – but I heard nothing further, so I figured something had come up. By now I was getting hungry, so I decided on lunch at Dave Poe’s BBQ and headed in that direction.
No sooner had I parked at Dave Poe’s (a truly disturbing trend being established here), my friend texted again and I was off in a different direction. So, a bit cranky-hungry, I finally got some food at a Chinese place – no review, because lunch with me is odd enough without me taking notes and pictures of my food. I spared her that bit.
After lunch, I went back to the hotel where they had the firepits around the pool lit, and I spent the afternoon reading while curled up in the cold next to a warm fire.
The reason for the trip was that Shakespeare Tavern was doing three Romances in repertory. Thursday night was Taming of the Shrew.
Shrew was a solid production with a consistently good cast. Laura Cole, as Kate, shone like the sun … or moon, one.
Friday
Friday morning, I lazed about reading for a bit and had a banana in my room (this will be important later). Around 10:00, I decided to walk to the main Stone Mountain park for a thoroughly unhealthy lunch at the snack stands, so I set out for the Cherokee Trail and enjoyed a hike along the lake.
Now, from the resort to the Stone Mountain park is a 3.5 mile hike. It’s a pleasant hike, mostly level and easy-going. And, arriving around 11:30 after starting my day with a banana, I was quite looking forward to some greasy, high-calorie amusement food.
Oh …
A Friday in February is, apparently, not prime season for Stone Mountain … who knew?
And … I walked here. I am now 3+ miles, an hour and a half, and almost 500 more burned calories away from the nearest food. The banana is a distant memory, burned to cinders by my metabolism well before I ever crossed the lake that’s two miles away now. I hung around for a bit, thinking they might open at noon, but no joy. There was someone in the popcorn stand. I could hear them talking. I could hear the popcorn popping. I could smell the popcorn. But no sign of opening, so nothing for it but to schlep back down the trail.
All the way back to the hotel, I consoled myself with thoughts of a room-service hamburger. No, a cheeseburger. No, a bacon cheeseburger, with french fries. I am, after all, a thousand calories to the good with just this hike and they’ll deliver charbroiled goodness right to my room while I rest my weary feet.
Back in the room, I eagerly dialed room service and ask to place an order … only to be told that there is no lunchtime room service. Damn you, off-season resort staffing! Damn you!
Now please keep in mind that it is almost 2:00. I have been up for seven hours, I have walked six miles, burned almost 1000 calories, and I have eaten … a banana. If hunger is the best sauce, then I am about to eat the best food I’ve ever tasted.
This was the worst buffet I have ever been too.
After perusing a measly assortment of dishes, I settled on some anemic chicken-in-sauce and a salad, this being all that was remotely appealing. The peach cobbler was adequate, presuming you don’t mind canned peaches. The small cakes, however, were stale – to the point that they could not be cut with a knife.
Nasty, bad, and $20.
Friday’s performance at the Tavern was Romeo and Juliet – and I was finally able to get food, a Cornish pasty with homemade ketchup, and a rose-water panna cotta with raspberry sauce.
Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite plays, probably because it was the first Shakespeare I ever saw. The Zeffirelli version, which firmly established my love for Shakespeare – as well as a crush on Olivia Hussey in specific and brunettes in the literal.
As with most good productions of this play, Mercutio stole the show … at least until he died. I did take some issue with Nick Arapoglou’s performance as Romeo. My preference, and it is a preference, is for Shakespeare to be performed without emphasis on the rhyme and meter. Yes, it’s poetry, but it is, first and foremost, a play – it is characters speaking. So when an actor puts too much emphasis on a rhymed word in the middle of a sentence, as this Romeo did, it throws me out of hearing what’s being said and into focusing on how it’s said.
For me, the lines should be spoken by the punctuation and let the poetry flow more organically.
Annie Hester, as Juliet, played the role well, capturing the petulance of a rather spoiled 13-year old in the first act and the grief of a young woman in the second.
Saturday
The beans were very good – thick and heavy with molasses. And the stew is now top of the list for best Brunswick stew I’ve tried on these trips – rich and spicy, with crisp corn and tasty shreds of meat. I finished all of that stew and would have gladly eaten more.
Unfortunately, the meat on the plate didn’t measure up to the sides. It was cold, with some nasty bits still in it, and no bark at all. I’d hesitate to suggest anyone might do such a thing, but it seemed almost as if it had just been boiled and never saw the inside of a smoker. If I could have have taken the beef from Crazy Ron’s and had it with the Old Hickory House sauce and sides, it would make a near perfect meal, but this wasn’t. I did not finish all of the beef.
After lunch, I headed back to the zoo for a bit.
And then on to Shakespeare Tavern again for Much Ado About Nothing, the last of the three and the best.
This was the second time I’ve seen Ado at the Tavern and it is a joy. Andrew Houchins and Erin Consadine, as Benedict and Beatrice, both give wonderful performances and have perfect onstage chemistry for the roles. Drew Reeves gives a performance as Dogberry that rivals Michael Keaton’s in the Branagh production.
All in all, and despite starving a couple mornings, a great weekend. I do wish the Tavern would do more plays in rep, as three is far more fun than one. But I’ll be going back for one at a time – the Scottish Play in April, Comedy of Errors in May, and Antony and Cleopatra in June.
Atlanta–Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Christopher Titus
6/6/2013 – 6/9/2013 Miles MPG Average Speed 1100 46 54 Driving listening:
6/6/2013 – 6/9/2013
Priceline Retail $ Savings % Savings Marriott Atlanta Airport (4-star) $58.61
($48 bid)$94.08
($84 pretax)$35.47 38% The bidding for this trip put me in the Marriott across the street from the Westin I’d stayed at last time. They’re both nice hotels at the right price, but I haven’t been thrilled with the area – it’s pretty empty of anything but a few hotels and warehouses. So next trip I’ll likely spend a bit more for downtown or the areas north of Atlanta.
The point of staying so far out is to avoid the parking charges, but both of these hotels have the same parking rates as downtown hotels. Downtown, if I’m willing to walk a couple blocks, I can put my car at the Emory hospital parking lot across from Shakespeare Tavern for a third of the hotels’ parking rate.
This trip was a little different, because I was in town mostly to see three shows, so I did little during the days – other than one visit to the High Museum, I just relaxed at the hotel, reading and using the gym.
Dining
On the way to Atlanta (and again on the way home), I stopped for lunch at Smok’n Pig BBQ in Valdosta, GA. I’ve seen their billboards on previous trips, but never stopped before – now it’ll probably become my lunch on every trip in or out of Florida on I-75. I was a little worried when I first stopped, because the décor is reminiscent of the Sonny’s BBQ chain, with a large, shiny dining room in a huge building with a salad bar. They do have two locations, Valdosta and Macon, but there’s nothing “chain” about the food.
On both stops I got the sliced pork sandwich combo ($8). The pork was tender and lean, generously piled on a soft bun. I tried three different sauces: sweet, sweet & spicy, and original. Of the three, I thought the original was best, with even the sweet & spicy being a bit too sweet for me.
For sides, I got baked beans, Brunswick stew, and, on the return trip, sweet potato casserole. The beans were pretty basic, but the sweet potato casserole was very good and the stew was excellent. The Brunsick stew itself is enough to get a return visit from me.
On Friday and Saturday, I ate at a pair of restaurants because I’d read somewhere that the owners had originally been partners in one place, then each opened their own. BBQ being a competitive sport, I decided to try both and compare them.
Both places are storefronts in stripmalls – about the same size, with reviews, plaques, and porcine-topped trophies proudly displayed. It’s clear that both owners take their BBQ seriously
At Dave Poe’s, I got brisket ($9), with baked beans, mac & cheese, and Texas toast. At Sam’s, I got brisket, with baked beans, sweet tater tots, and Texas toast, but I also added a corn muffin. Dave Poe’s brisket was perfectly cooked. It was sliced unevenly, some thicker than others, but that was almost irrelevant, as the slices were fork-tender and shredded easily. The sauce was thin, sweet and spicy, with a strong black-pepper flavor. Sam’s served two distinct briskets on my plate. On the right was a lean flat – the left was more marbled. Unfortunately, both were served barely warm, so the marbled slices were quite chewy. The sauce was Advantage: Dave Poe’s The Texas toast lacked any butter, so it was pretty dry and only lightly browned. Sam’s Texas toast was well-buttered and nicely browned. Advantage: Sam’s Poe’s baked beans were thick and sweet, with a slight kick of heat at the finish. Sam’s beans were very thick and sweet, redolent with molasses. Good, but by the end of the meal I was putting only two or three beans on my fork, because it was just too much sweet and molasses. Advantage: Dave Poe’s The mac & cheese. Oh, Our Dear Lord of Dairy, the Dave Poe’s mac & cheese … Not elbow noodles, but huge tubes of pasta that oozed sauce. A sauce that had both a creamy texture that clung to the pasta, and a bit of stringy, chewy cheese that had incredible flavor. The pieces of dark brown mac & cheese crust were perfect.
Sam’s sweet tater tots were interesting, different, and tasty. Made out of sweet potatoes with a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar. It was some time into the meal, though, before I could appreciate their full flavor, because they were the hottest thing on the plate when it arrived. Clearly they’d plated the brisket, then the beans, and last the fried tots, which is the opposite of what they should have done to ensure everything arrived hot.
Advantage: Dave Poe’s So, on points, it’s Dave Poe’s, but the real test is what’s left on the plate at the end of the meal.
At Sam’s, I left most of the fattier slices of brisket and about half the beans and tater tots – not because I was full (there’s always room for BBQ), but because I just didn’t want any more of the items. I liked Sam’s, I’d return there, but it wasn’t enough to make me keep taking just one more bite.
At Dave Poe’s, I left a corner of the dry Texas toast and a plate wiped clean. If there’d been a scrap more brisket, a drop of sauce, a single bean, or the slightest schmear of mac & cheese sauce … I’d have happily sopped it up with that dry toast.
Entertainment
Thursday and Friday nights I was at Shakespeare Tavern for performances of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
For those unfamiliar with R&G, it follows Rosencrantz and Guildenstern through their roles in Hamlet, but since they’re rather minor characters they spend much of their time “off-stage” (though they don’t know it’s a play) wondering about what it all means and why they seem to be always waiting for something to happen.
Described as an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy … it’s just weird.
But seeing the two in repertory, with the same cast playing the same characters in both Hamlet and R&G was fun. The actors had the opportunity to perform their characters seriously in Hamlet and then with some comedy in R&G – seeing these on consecutive nights really heightened that effect.
The entire cast was wonderful, as always, but there were some standouts:
Nicholas Faircloth and Paul Hester as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (whichever is which) were great in both productions, but especially in R&GaD. These are marathon-roles, since the play, at almost three hours, follows their two characters almost exclusively.
Jonathan Horne as Hamlet. A great performance, subtly different in both productions. I can’t wait to see him next month in Fortinbras, when he gets to play Hamlet as a ghost.
Kelly Criss as Ophelia. Her part in R&G is small, but worth mentioning because it’s not every day an actress gets to walk up stairs and across the stage in a diving mask, snorkel, and swim fins (at Ophelia’s drowning). In Hamlet, she shined, drawing the audience in when Ophelia is crazy.
Next month they’re doing Fortinbras, the “sequel” to Hamlet, when all the dead characters get to come back as ghosts and pester the Norwegian Prince who came to rule Denmark by showing up.
Saturday was Christopher Titus at the Punchline. The show was hilarious and all new material. If you’re not familiar with his shows, check YouTube for excerpts – he’s a brilliant comedian.
Thai & Titus
No travel this weekend, for which the Big Bad Wolf is either grateful (that I’m home) or pissed (that she doesn’t get to play with Gary from Fetch!).
On Saturday, I had lunch at Thai Cuisine with family. We arrived a little before noon (when they opened), but the doors were open so we went inside. They weren’t ready to serve food yet, but did seat us. I ordered the pa-nang ($10), red curry and coconut milk (below), and we also got an order of pra-ram, peanut sauce (both with chicken), and beef fried rice.
I’d ordered the pa-nang medium-spicy, as opposed to mild, hot, or Thai-hot, and should have gone for mild. It wasn’t uncomfortably spicy, but it was hotter than I would normally like. A taste of the mild pra-ram was milder than I’d like, so go figure.
The flavor was good and there was plenty of chicken, but vegetables were lacking – only a few, small slices of carrot. The pra-ram could have used some more vegetables as well.
So it was okay food, and I’d go there again if I was in the area, but with so many other Thai choices in Orlando, I wouldn’t make a special trip to eat at Thai Cuisine.
On Sunday I headed for the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and stopped at Hawker’s for a quick bite beforehand. Hawker’s offers small plates, so I decided to get a couple of those, starting with Asian BBQ pork ($5), an out-of-focus picture of which follows:
This arrived lukewarm, not hot at all, but was still good. The pork was tender and salty, with a sweet sauce. My only complaint, other than the temperature, would be that the pork could have been sliced thinner or in smaller chunks.
Following that was stir-fried bean sprouts:
This arrived hot and was very good. The flavor was very mild, despite the chilies, and the vegetables were crisp – the bean sprouts still very crisp.
Today’s play was the final show of Titus Andronicus at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre.
Titus Andronicus is not typically viewed as one of Shakespeare’s better plays – in fact, it’s often referred to as his worst.
I don’t really see that – I like the play. It’s definitely different than the others, in that it is the bloodiest staging, but if you like murder, rape, revenge, mutilation, and the odd bit of cannibalism, then Titus is for you!
Arguably, for sheer number of deaths, Richard III or Hamlet should be less well-liked than Titus, and King Lear is ultimately crueler, but Titus has a baser feel, and I think that’s why the criticism came about. As Shakespeare’s plays moved from the masses (when Titus was quite popular) to a more hoity-toity audience, I think the treatment of the themes in Titus became less popular.
But Titus was serving human flesh to his unwitting dinner guests long before Hannibal … and Anthony Hopkins has played both characters … so keep that in mind next time Sir Anthony invites you to dinner.
Another reason it hasn’t been that popular might be that it’s a revenge-tragedy, but unlike other revenge-tragedies, the revenge doesn’t really result in further loss. In Hamlet, for instance, Hamlet’s quest for revenge results in the deaths of virtually everyone close to him.
In Titus, the quest for revenge doesn’t start until the second act, before which Titus has already lost everything – and really loses nothing in the second act, other than his life, but at that point his revenge is complete.
Unless … you look at it from the point of view of Tamora and her sons – maybe it’s their revenge against Titus in the first act that’s the real focus of the revenge-tragedy theme, since it sets up Titus’ revenge against them. That’s an interesting idea I might have to think about.
This production took the Goth theme and ran with it, having a heavy metal score and dressing the Goths as … well, Goths.
It was thoroughly bloody, with the backdrop having five rolls of butcher paper. They’d roll these down to catch the blood spatter and then tear them off and roll down more for the next scene.
In case this sounds like an excessive amount of blood for a play, here’s a quick rundown on Titus: Titus captures the queen of the Goths and her sons, so he kills one as a sacrifice. Then her sons kill the emperor’s brother and frame Titus’ sons. They (Queen’s sons) also rape Titus’ daughter, then cut out her tongue and cut off her hands. Titus’ sons are executed, but not before Aaron the Moor tricks Titus into cutting off his own hand, claiming the emperor will spare his sons if he does. Then Titus decides to get revenge, so he kills Tamora’s sons, bakes them into a pie, and serves them to her and the emperor.
Probably a death or two I missed.
Yes, it was Saw IV for the 16th century. Yay, Shakespeare!
