Richard III

Richard III at the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival had great reviews and I was feeling nostalgic. Tara acted in several productions when she was in high school, and I was in the mood for Shakespeare. Emily lives a couple of blocks away from the theater, which is a transformed old church next to a cemetery. We had dinner with Emily and Robert and Nathan, lighted the menorah candles and sang a song, and walked in the cold to the theatre.

Unfortunately the play had been shortened and abridged and all the humour was cut out, so the performance was unrelentingly dark and depressing. Nathan and Maya were disturbed and uncomfortable, so we did not stay past the intermission. I would have stayed if I was there alone, but truly I wanted Maya out of the theatre long before that. I will have to try again before the end of the run, but then again, I am not so sure I want to be reminded of how evil men can be.

My day did not work out at all. I had arranged to have my car serviced at 7 AM, and was told that it would be ready in two hours, so I had hoped for a whole day to shop and get ready for my house guest. Instead, I stayed home and cleaned house, finished my office billing, waited for a phone call, and finally got the car at 3 PM. I had gone to my Toyota dealership Friday and was horrified at the price of my 80 000 mile check up and that my front light had burned out. Firestone did the job for far less, but were unable to deal with the light, so I will have to return to Toyota anyway and pay the money. I wonder if I should just trade in my car for a new one!!!! I have been eyeing a new Prius for some time now, but red this time!

By the time I had transportation, it was too late to shop and I calmed down at a yoga class before dinner at Emily's. Eric and Maya got a Christmas tree, which is huge and marvelous. We will decorate the tree tomorrow.