Distillation

Thus far, we've seen Shakespeare's "Winter Tale", "The Diary of Anne Frank", "Bus Stop", and Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." T'was my third viewing of Winter's Tale, and I was surprised to find myself appreciating most of it. Bus Stop was good, Earnest was all right, but the biggest gut check was Anne Frank. I read it long ago, when I was the same age Anne was when she first had to go into hiding, 14. Saw a movie version of it. Was not prepared for its emotional impact, seeing it now at age 55. Felt I would dissolve with weeping. The Oregon Shakespeare company is so talented, and the productions so excellent, that almost anything would be worth seeing, unless it's Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet for the umpteenth time.
Tomorrow night we see Cyrano de Bergerac, then King John, a rarely performed work of Shakespeare's. My last play will be Intimate Apparel, a new work by a playwright named Lynn Nottage. A dreamland of drama.
Exit stage left, chased by visions.