Claire and I celebrated our one-year anniversary this evening with a trip to the new Guthrie, which had its grand opening last weekend. The first official production, The Great Gatsby doesn't open until 21 July, and previews don't even begin until the fifteenth, but a touring production by the Druid Theatre Company of Galway, Ireland, is breaking in the McGuire Proscenium Stage this week. The rather complicated run of DruidSynge involves the presentation of some combination of plays, varying nightly, by writer John Millington Synge. Claire and I saw one-act The Shadow of the Glen followed by the more famous The Playboy of the Western World. Claire and I both struggled to follow Shadow on account of the actors' thick brogue but enjoyed Playboy, which offered more meat to the plot, more time for adjustment to the accents, and more cushion for those lines that were lost upon us.
If the show itself lacked accessibility, the overall experience in the new Guthrie made up for it with a vengeance. The new building was both gorgeous and functional [I'd like to address the architecture in a separate post], and the enthusiasm among the other attendees was noticeable. Claire and I, being on a tight budget arrived without tickets and instead took our chances with the rush line, which sells all tickets at $15 a piece starting 30 minutes before the start of the show. I made certain we arrived early, and we claimed the first spot in line, making us the first Friday night rushers for the new theater. The manœuvre paid off: we snagged sixth-row center-section seats (valued at $55 a piece). After the show Claire and I enjoyed magnificent deserts at the Level 5 Café and enjoyed each others company at the end of the endless bridge, overlooking the Mississippi river.
I'm looking forward to returning to the new Guthrie. And, of course, I'm looking forward to spending another year with Claire.
3 comments:
How early did you have to get there to be the first in the rush line? It was a Friday night as well?
JAMES!!! You really need to update your blog more often. I am very disappointed with your lack of dedication to electronic journaling. How's Bermuda's mystery been treatin' ya?
We arrived around 75 minutes early. The next guy arrived about three minutes after we did, but no one else came for at least half an hour after that. I'd wager that 45 minutes would be a-okay nine times out of ten.
And yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I'm slacking, but logging on through AOL here at home takes the fun out of it. I'll try to catch up once I'm back in the 'cuse.
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