By the end of the 2+ hour performance of this Shakespearean comedy, my girl was not laughing along with me. No, she was on the verge of tears and sleep: dually confused by the early modern English and bored by the tricky verse speak. It was my fault for not properly preparing her. I told her the barebones of the three part story, but I neglected to warn her about the flowery language and all the thys, thous and thees. That was both an intentional and a selfish decision. I didn't want her to change her mind about seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream: a work that is one of my favorite.
I loved this performance. The modern interpretation was clever and smart especially for a largely high school audience. There were selfies and Starbucks....skateboards and strobe lights. Oberon was a brilliant combo of Sid Vicious and the Joker. Puck was a little sprite of a girl, and Lysander was a girl playing a girl, which defied 400 year old gender expectations. The cast was amazingly talented, and that part Miss Bit honored with appropriate awe.
She was happy when the house curtain descended. When we got in the car, she turned off the radio and starting firing questions at me. She got more out of the show than I thought, and was no longer panning the performance. That's all I can ask for. And that she trusts me when I assure her she will love West Side Story next week.
