Last weekend, as part of the Labor Day festivities, I went to see some Shakespeare in the park with my favorite cohorts. Every summer at Barnsdall park, they do three shows "in rep," as they call it. This summer it was Richard II, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream. We saw Midsummer.
Now, I went in with mighty-high expectations! After all, I had seen my auntie YEARS before in a park production of Midsummer. (She had actually performed in the same park!) She had played Puck and was miraculous. I have to say, her costume wasn't nearly as cool as this guy's though.
Let me see if I can describe it accurately. First, he was wearing shorts made of Elmo skin. Then he had bands of Elmo skin around each wrist and each ankle. Black tennis shoes almost finished off the ensemble, but the piece de resistance was the big silver nipple ring in his left nipple. (God, I love L.A.)
At the sight of him (and Oberon in his matching muppet skin cape and black jeans), I thought fleetingly of the wee bottle of pinot grigio that was still in my picnic bag. I soon changed my mind, though. For despite the uber simple set consisting of three walls and two aluminum ladders, and the woman playing Hermia who would have made the perfect spokeswoman for Prozac, I found myself having a fantastic time.
The place was jam-packed as it was their last show and the audience was beside themselves. The best part? It was FREE!!! Can you believe it? They did have buckets out for donations at the end and I dutifully put in my ten bucks, but still anything free in this day and age is pretty impressive.
So, here's to them, for convincing a skeptic and for the skill with which they skinned those muppets.
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