The Winter's Tale

This year's Shakespeare Festival show was The Winter's Tale -- not one of his more popular plays.  I normally go see the show with G&G, but they opted out this year.  Failing my normal plans, I took advantage of the fact that my college alumni group and several of the local charitable organizations in which I participate were going on the same night.  Food and drink abounded!

The show itself was interesting, and a bit confusing.  It is a bit of a dramedy, as so many movies these days get categorized.  (Maybe this is just one more example of how Shakespeare was way ahead of his time.)

In a nutshell it goes like this:

Act I: King thinks Queen is cheating on him with King's Friend.  (She is not.)  Instead of poisoning King's Friend, King's Helper warns King's Friend of King's suspicions, and King's Friend escapes.  King's supposedly illegitimate infant daughter is banished, Queen dies, and Prince dies.  King realizes the error of his ways. 

Act II: Everyone is happy.  Dead Queen is still alive.  A bunch of people get married.

So...odd, right?  A plethora of accusations and death in Act I.  Raucous joyousness in Act II.  Despite the strange contradictions, it was an enjoyable show, in part because I had never seen it before.  And it was a beautiful night, so that's hard to beat!