Love's Labour's and The Winter's Tale in Staunton

Yesterday, I saw Love's Labour's Lost and The Winter's Tale at the Blackfriars.

Love's Labour's Lost did some surprising things. All the scenes with Armado and the two clowns were very funny, and I don't usually think they are. The scene with Costard's broken shin and he rhyming about the goose has not been this funny since the 1630's.

It made the scenes with the lovers kind of a drag. Usually, the parts with all the lovers together are the sweetest, but in this one, the girls and guys didn't really seem like they wanted to be around each other, so when they were around each other, th play turned to molasses. But whenever they were apart, they really wanted to be together. The scene in which all the boys read their love letters aloud was particularly clever and delicious.

Moth and Armado. I liked them.

John Harrel as Holofernes and Tyler Moss as Nathaniel were brilliant. Truly genius.

The Winter's Tale had a wonderful party scene. Made me want to be a shepherd.

Also, the trial of Hermione was frightening and heartbreaking. They had her in a dress that looked like someone had given birth in it for real. Intense.

Also, the bear chasing Antigonus hapened so fast and startlingly, it didn't get a laugh, which is refreshing. I kind of wished the Shepherd's son had been a bit more scared that he had just seen the bear tear the bloke's shoulder, but I was so happy that the bear didn't look lame, it was OK.