Picnic - Part II

Yesterday's real life picnic and Shakespeare was lovely. We set up our spread in the center of Balboa Park near the Air and Space Museum and the International Houses. I, of course, had to take a few pictures...

Tom was very patient, but he was hungry and he has his limits...

Tom: "How about we eat our dinner instead of just documenting it?" (Or something to that effect.)

And so we did, and it was delightful.

I am quite the witty dinner companion.

We gorged ourselves on fruit, salami, bread (that I baked myself, thank you very much), and three kinds of cheese. Did you know that there is a word for someone who loves cheese? I think that it is safe to say that Tom and I are both turophiles, or according to Merriam-Webster's online, fanciers of cheese. 

After dinner we headed up to the Old Globe for Taming of the Shrew. The Old Globe has a new program called Twenty Under Thirty where you can buy any ticket for their Shakespeare festival performances for $20 as long you are under thirty years old. We got in just under the wire! They also offer on-stage seating for only $10 if you are part of the Twenty Under Thirty Club.

We were about seven rows back, but there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. The theater is open-air, so it got pretty chilly, but they had blankets available for rent, and boozy coffee drinks to warm up with during intermission.

The cast interacted with the crowd as everyone took their seats.

The play was a lot of fun and all of the actors were excellent. One actor in particular seemed oddly familiar, and Tom must be given full credit for identifying him...

Yep, Geoffrey, the long-suffering butler from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is actually a classically trained Shakespearean actor named Joseph Marcell. He played Gremio, one of Bianca's suitors. So, yeah, celeb-sighting.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening.

PETRUCHIO

You lie, in faith; for you are call'd plain Kate, 

And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst;

But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom   

Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate,   

For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate,   

Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;    

Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,   

Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,   

Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,   

Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.