"Straw Hat Revue"

June 9, 2011 — The day was sweltering, mid-90s with storm clouds building, when I left for New London, New Hampshire. Violent storms were roaming about the state and power was out in many areas. Radio bulletins were advising people to seek shelter and keep away from windows. I was wondering if this trip was foolhardy, but I had a reservation for the 54th Annual Red Hat Revue at the New London Barn Playhouse, and after the second day in a row of temperatures in the 90s, I just wanted to get away for a few hours.

About five minutes from home, the weather caught up with me. The wind picked up, lightning flashed and thunder roared and the rain was coming down almost horizontally. The temperature dropped from the mid-90s to mid-60s in minutes. I eventually rode the storm out, and by the time I got to New London, the rain had stopped, clouds had thinned and it was refreshingly cool. I had time to kill, so I strolled around the picturesque college town for awhile. I had dinner at my favorite New London restaurant, Peter Christian's Tavern.

The Barn's "Red Hat Revue," an admission-free performance that launches their summer show season each year, was excellent. It featured songs and dance numbers from Disney, Broadway shows and Gershwin, performed by a very talented young cast of twelve. The orchestra was also excellent, better than average for summer stock theatre, but a little overpowering at times. Overall, a great evening's entertainment, and the price was certainly right. A bonus: the New London Barn is air conditioned for the first time this year.

Evening in Southwest Harbor

May 31, 2011 - I'm comfortably ensconced in my room at the Seawall Motel in Southwest Harbor, part of the Bar Harbor area in Maine. I just had supper at Scotty's Dockside down the road a piece. I came here to check out the Seal Cove Auto Museum, almost a five-hour drive. It was well worth the trip. The museum, inconspicuous on a rural road, houses some of the most beautifully preserved and restored brass-era cars in America. You can view my photos of these stunning automobiles at this link:

http://www.linwoodstreet.com/sealcove/

Tomorrow, I'll start wending my way home after spending a little time exploring Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island; that is, if predicted thunderstorms don't interrupt my sightseeing.

Memorial Day Weekend

May 30, 2011 — I'm enjoying a quiet, albeit hot and humid, Memorial Day at home. I made a reservation at a motel in Bar Harbor, Maine for tomorrow night. I'll be heading there tomorrow morning to visit the Seal Cove Auto Museum. There will be a full report on that in my next post.

Yesterday, as has been our tradition, my sister and niece and I met and visited cemeteries, placing flowers on the graves of the parents and all the grandparents. Following that, we had dinner at Joe Fish, a favorite restaurant in the area. My haddock Florentine was absolutely delicious.

" 'night, Mother"

May 13, 2011 — For its last show of the season, Theatre Kapow presented Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, " 'night, Mother," at the Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire. This is not an uplifting play. In fact, it's fairly devastating. After spending some time carefully laying things out in her aging mother's house, making arrangements for grocery delivery and other things she'll need when she's left alone, the daughter matter-of-factly informs her mother she's going to kill herself. There's some humorous dialog up to this point between the two rural southern women, before the mother accepts the fact her daughter is serious.

Carey Cahoon as the daughter and Donna Goldfarb as the mother give masterful performances as the mood of the play turns from lighthearted banter in the early going to denial, recrimination, anger and grief as the mother realizes her daughter is on an irreversible course. Tonight was the first of three performances of the play. I usually avoid a first-time performance, not wanting to witness first-night jitters, but I needn't have worried. The performances by the two actresses were emotionally shattering and the direction by Matthew Cahoon perfect.

Following the play, the actresses joined representatives from the Center for Life Management, NAMI-NH, the Connect Project and the Support Group for Survivors of Suicide Loss for a question-and-answer session about suicide prevention with the audience.

"The Pillowman"

March 13, 2011 — The Players' Ring is near the waterfront, on the edge of historic Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Housed in an unpretentious brick building, seating only 70, it provides an intimate theater experience. There is no stage as such. The seats surround three sides of the small, square performance area which is at floor level.

I'm having trouble finding a way to describe "The Pillowman" by Martin McDonagh. It breaks many taboos, making the blackest of black humor out of mental retardation, child abuse and murder, religious tradition and ethnicity. With its profanity-laced dialog, subject matter and violence, it's strictly for mature audiences.

A writer is being held for questioning in some unnamed dictatorship. No Miranda rights or lawyers here — he's completely at the mercy of two sadistic interrogators, one a detective with a penchant for playing cruel mind games, the other a thuggish police officer prone to violent outbursts. At first, it's not clear what he's being held for, but it's gradually revealed that a series of child murders have occurred which bear stark resemblance to stories he has written. He vehemently denies any connection, but when his retarded brother arrives on the scene, everything changes.

The performances by four male actors are excellent, as are the direction and production values, remarkable considering how little there is to work with in the Ring's limited space. A couple of slideshows illustrate parts of the story. The audience was spellbound throughout by the alternately shocking, violent, humorous presentation. If you're into black humor and the trashing of social values, you'll love it. If you have a more sensitive nature, you might want to avoid it.

"The White Liars" and "Black Comedy"

February 27, 2011 — The weather cooperated nicely for a change. Friday, we were blitzed by an all-day mixed snow and freezing rain. The weather cleared Saturday so I had no trouble getting to the Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, where I had a reservation for an afternoon performance. Today, Sunday, it's snowing heavily again in one of those late winter storms New Hampshire seems to delight in clobbering us with just when we think winter is over.

Saturday, Theatre Kapow presented two short plays by Peter Shaffer at the Stockbridge, "The White Liars" and "Black Comedy." The gentleman who introduced the plays said a common theme joins the two plays. It being a college, he jokingly told the audience their assignment was to figure out what it was. My take on it is that deception and pretension are the common threads that run through both plays.

"The White Liars" concerns a fortune teller with grand pretensions who conspires with a young man to deceive his friend who he believes is stealing his girl. The scheme backfires in many ways, and everyone involved is exposed as being less than truthful, about themselves as well as others. Gail Angellis is excellent as the fortune teller. The play was a little too slow-paced for my taste, and seemed longer than its actual time of less than an hour, but for the most part I enjoyed it.

"Black Comedy," in sharp contrast to the first play, was fast-paced and riotously funny. Lighting played a major part in the presentation. The players' light was the audience's darkness and vice versa. (Don't ask. You have to see it.) Suffice it to say, the play was a triumph of timing, stagecraft and stunts. Stumbling actors, furniture-moving and mistaken identities prevailed. The multi-talented Carey Cahoon appeared. I saw her last year as Hedda in "Hedda Gabler." Her comic turn in "Black Comedy" was quite a departure from Ibsen's tragic heroine. Carey is also a director and costume and set designer.

Theatre Kapow is a small company with impressive talent all around. Their next production will be " 'night Mother" in May. I plan to be there.

February Following January's Example

February 2, 2011 — The first two days of February promise more of the same that January threw at us. An all-day snowfall yesterday left about 5 inches, not really excessive, but it was added to the mountains of snow already on the ground, not to mention adding to our winter fatigue. Today, a more intense storm accumulated to about 8 inches. During today's storm, much of the precipitation was in the form of ice pellets. All precipitation ceased around 3 p.m.

There's an icicle the size of a small tree trunk reaching from the roof to the ground on the back corner of my house. I tried to break it up by whacking it with my snow shovel, but the shovel just bounced off it.

More snow predicted Saturday. And on and on it goes.