So he's been home a whole year now, and I haven't taken him to see any Shakespeare at all yet, but tonight we had to plunge in, because it was Scott's night out, and Edward and I are scheduled to see fourteen classic shows this summer (mostly Shakespeare with a few Greeks, a Chekhov and a Moliere), and we are behind already due to crazy sickness last week, so off we went (Eddie, Izzy and me) to see The Merry Wives of Windsor by Hudson Warehouse at 89th and Riverside.
I brought lawn chairs, because they stage on the marble steps of the war memorial, and I can't bear to sit there for two hours, but Eddie preferred to climb the walls and watch from up high, while Izzy was happy to sit on the free cushions. I worried that the boys might be bored, but Izzy was really into it, asked appropriate questions, referred often to the photos on the program cover -- "she is married? she is getting married? he likes her? he is funny?" He laughed in appropriate places, carefully absorbing everything the audience did in response. He was surprised by the humor and the physical comedy that the actors provided. He will do the hip-thrusting "Dr Cassius dance" for the next few years I'm sure!
Afterwards, Izzy was thrilled that love won out, and the girl got to marry the boy she wanted. Eddie, my romantic, couldn't understand how the actors could stand being pawed on stage by people they didn't really love in real life. Izzy got to punch Falstaff in his padded belly. Eddie got to quote Shakespeare all the way home calling himself "an ass"! Izzy recounted most of the play accurately to Papa before bed. Eddie loved how Ann Page's true love recited Shakespeare's sonnets to heavy metal music. And I have two Shakespeare fans at home now, happily fast asleep!
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