Memorial Day

May 30, 2010 — I spent a very pleasant day today with my sister and niece as we placed flowers on the graves of our parents and paternal and maternal grandparents in two cemeteries, a Memorial Day tradition we've been observing for many years. After finishing our work in the cemeteries, we stopped for lunch at Joe Fish, a favorite dining establishment. After lunch, we went to Winnekenni Castle and walked around the grounds for awhile and took some photos. A music recital was going on in the castle. The day was quite warm but a good breeze kept it from being oppressive.

"Othello"

May 26, 2010 — I'm not really qualified to be a Shakespeare critic, but I do know what I like, and I liked the NorthEast Shakespeare Ensemble's performance of "Othello" at the Sawyer Center Theater at Colby-Sawyer College, New London, New Hampshire. This was not a student production, but a professional theater company with professional actors. There was thin attendance at today's performance, barely more than two dozen in the large, comfortable theater. The A/C was just barely able to overcome the 94-degree heat outside.

The only thing in the production I really objected to was the costumes, a mix of period dress and modern attire. Shakespeare is often done in modern dress and placed in modern settings, but I never saw the old and the new mixed before. Othello and Iago were dressed in period military garb, but some of the actors wore modern jackets and ties. Roderigo wore spats, and I'm pretty sure they didn't exist in the 16th and 17th centuries.

As far as the performance goes, I thought the acting in the early going was just a little stiff, but in Othello's final intense, powerful scenes, the actors were more than up to the challenge, and they were breathtaking.