Recovery - Day 29

Friday 19th Mar 2006

I was still really tired when I woke up today, but managed to get to the gym for an hour and upped the resistance on the exercise bike which pushed the knee a bit. The session down the gym livened me up and by the time I left to go to work I was feeling better than I had all week. This time I didn't forget my wallet although it was still really cold! One of my trains had a platform alteration which meant climbing down and up the same two sets of stairs twice; I could have just stayed on the platform I came in on. It made me want to hurl my crutch at someone.

After work I had two tickets to go and see my friend Sarah's production of Much Ado About Nothing. I wasn't up for going on my own and thankfully my colleague Jenny rearranged a few things to come along which was really appreciated. However, if I mention Jenny in this blog I'm duty bound to mention Jas who would have come if she didn't have other commitments elsewhere. I'm not sure if I'd have gone on my own as it meant getting back late and staying out after work can sometimes make the day seem incredible long, especially when it's that extra struggle to get in and you've been low on energy all week. However, in this case it was an excellent evening.

I've never seen Shakespeare performed live before and I quite enjoyed the experience. You have to concentrate to get into the language and it helps that the performers at this play spoke clearly throughout. The amount of words they have to remember is significant (well so it seemed to me), so it must be even harder to deliver them as natural speech rather than reading from a script. Now being an amateur production, some are better at this than others, but none were bad. Beatrice particularly stood out as a believable character, with a fast wit and feisty character. Claudio also performed with gusto and commitment to the role. Not having read the play means I cannot comment on the plays departure from the written word, but it kept me entertained and, crucially, wanting to investigate further. The productions simplicity of set and costume meant that you had to focus on the performers and the dialogue, which, I think, is the whole point of Shakespeare. Saying that I thought the revelry scene was a nice touch. Might want to be careful with that bench though! All in all I was very pleased that I went and it was great to catch up with Sarah.