It's a sunny, though chilly day at the farmette. Only 10 degrees Celsius, and fall is definitely in the air. Yesterday, Rob and I travelled down to Stratford to take in King Lear, with Paul Gross in the lead role. While we rarely go twice(!) in one year to the theatre city, we just had to see this performance. And are we ever glad we did.
We arrived well before our noon reservation at Romeo's Diner, so we decided to take a stroll and discovered a lovely park that surrounds the Festival theatre. I had no idea that the part we discovered even existed, despite the umpteen times I had been to see productions.
One very interesting bit was this sign telling people about how the Boy Scouts planted trees to commemorate King George's coronation in 1937.
The picture above shows how much those trees grew in the ensuing 86 years. Pretty impressive.
Tucked into the park, just a few steps from the busy streets was this waterfall. Rob took this shot while I was trying to be cubby photographer.
Of course, Stratford is known for its beautiful flower beds and the people who live there seem to take great pride in keeping up their yards. Cripes, even the dandelions are pretty in that town.
On our way back to the restaurant, we happened to spy a whippet who had framed himself perfectly in the window of one of the gorgeous houses that line Romeo Street.
After a lovely lunch, we took the car the one kilometre to the theatre, where Rob decided to splurge and park basically at the front door.
Rob's looking pretty happy in the hour or so we had to take in the sights around the theatre before the performance.
The show itself was spectacular with a very spare set that meant the acting was the centre piece. It clocked in at almost three hours, with only one brief intermission.
Gross was amazing, putting everything into being the egotistical, mad, misguided old king whose daughters (except one) were the bane of his existence. As Rob says, it's a good thing Shakespeare wrote in some fun bits (the insults were hilarious), because it would be a very dire experience otherwise. As with most of his tragedies, everyone dies in the end.
What an adventure, and another great time travelling not too far from home. Until next week.
Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Hobbes, who really enjoys his summer naps on the deck.
