We pack up and are ready to go down the hill about 11:30am.
There's a big black cloud overhead but the rain keeps away. Vicky drives and gets us back to Cedar
City with no problem.
We get set up at KOA again and relax. We attend the evening performance of
"Henry VI Part 1" (of 3) at the open air Engelstadt Theater, which is
modeled on London's original Globe
Theater. We have great seats on the
front row of the balcony, which I booked months ago. The theater is more than half empty and
there's nobody on our row so I needn't have booked early - but we have the same
seats all week.
Henry VI Part 1 is one of The Bard's early plays and not
considered one of his best, but this performance is outstanding. like
everything else here. The king is a
teenager, being manipulated by his uncles, and the actor playing the role, Jim
Poulos, captures this character perfectly, displaying petulance at times, along
with a basic insecurity. As the play
develops you see his confidence gradually developing.
But this play is really about Joan La Pucelle (Joan of Arc),
who captures the attention - and the respect - of Charles, the Dauphin of
France who has been proclaimed king, by defeating him in combat. She inspires the French army and defeats
Talbot, the English "general;" in France,
letting him go when she could have killed him.
This eventually leads to her capture and execution by the English. Shakespeare, for reasons that may have been
political, displays her as a witch, even conversing with demons at one point,
but Tracie Lane creates a
very believable, even sympathetic character.
The endings of the two Acts were interesting. The first Act ends with Joan, on a raised
balcony, surveying a scene where she's being discussed. A powerful directorial choice, it was
accompanied by loud rock music. This
disturbed some people. Neither Vicky nor
I could understand the words of the song, so the reason for the choice of music
remains a mystery!
The second Act ends with Henry and his soon-to-be-wife,
Margaret of Anjou, slowly approaching each other across the stage, while other
actors enter, re-enacting key moments in the story. This is indeed a powerful and thought
provoking conclusion for us.
11pm and time to
return to the cats. I have to be in the
office at 8am so it will be a short
night
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