Midsummer Night's Dream

With only a week of classes left I'm in the home stretch and very ready to be done. I'm a little worried that my body, having survived on adrenalin for the past year and a half, will collapse when my main source of stress is removed. I'll be like Jason Statham in Crank.

With the end of classes comes all sorts of award ceremonies and other shameless bribes to ensure that those soon to be alumni remember University with fondness when they are solicited for donations in the future. On Wednesday I'm getting an award for Outstanding Sociological Achievement presented at a Sociology BBQ, but yesterday I was invited to infiltrate the honor program's award dinner. A friend of mine was receiving the Lombardi Scholarship, which apparently entitles them to a two hours ceremony complete with name reading, compulsory walk down the isle, hand shake, and publicity photo. Thank goodness the Sociology Department doesn't take itself that seriously. The silver lining was a buffet at the tip top of the second tallest building on campus. The food wasn't anything to write home about, but the coffee and desert (shot-glasses of mousse) was to die for.

While eating we were entertained by a lecture on business management (snore) but managed to slip out before the a capella group began. From there it was off to the highlight of my Saturday: A Midsummer Night's Dream performed at the Rand Theater at the University of Massachusetts. This is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, mainly because of Puck, "the shrewd and knavish sprite", who manages both deep wisdom and fierce comedy. In this rendition the director set the piece in 1950's Athena, introducing clothing and music from the period. I hate to sound like an old fogie, but when it comes to Shakespeare I'm a traditionalist. Lysander is not meant to wear a leather jacket nor Helena sing rockabilly. If you're going to mess with the original than go the route of the BBC's Shakespeare Retold and really jostle the script. While I was not a fan of the additions made, the Umass actors were wonderfully energetic and I was blown away by their ability to memorize two hours worth of lines while simultaneously studying for finals. If you're ever in the Western Mass area, I highly recommend catching a show.