The Misanthope
NETWORK CONNECTIONS are admonishingly slow right now. In fact, the images in this wordpad-ish form have just now, as I wrote now, finished loading. And without reason, without provocation--things were wonky this morning, but then fine this afternoon, and now again they are unreasonable.
So showing off Ping Pong in ENGL104 didn't work out this morning. That was as bad as the day got, though, and chances are bright that I do, indeed, have another chance to try again Monday. The speaker system wasn't working--so, even if speakers still aren't working on Monday, I think I might just try dubbing the speaking myself. I had 10 minutes to troubleshoot the speakers in class today, and the professor called an "expert" in to help who figured everything I figured out by moving electronics around longer than the three minutes I took to decide it was the speaker system that was the problem. A kid came up when the professor and I were still struggling to try to pull things together when class ended and offered wisdom regarding Windows Media Player--though with good intentions, it was slightly dismaying (probably for both of us) how I, in fact, knew what I was doing. But I suppose it was a nice gesture.
But the amazing thing happened much later. And, actually, I was somewhat thinking of skipping it and just sleeping my evening away. I saw, "The Misanthrope," in the O'Connel Theatre at 7:30 and was blown away with the performace: acting, material, stage design; everything was excellent. The plot deals with an eccentric man who vows never again to tolerate anything his heart cannot tolerate--to tell off even rich and powerful court folk who could, this play was written somewhere around 300 years ago, have him killed through unfair trial. The man is also desperately in love with a largely vain girl he knows is flawed, when a virtuous girl, whom he respects, admires him.
In a way, it is a hauntingly accurate representation of what my past has felt like and what my future likely promises to be. Eclecticly profound, the protagonist disowns himself from general society early in the play and uses that throughout as a core theme through the end. Also haunting, though not necessarily accurate, was the loveliness of the secondary female--half the scenes she appeared in she stood to the side for much of, and it was then her performance was absolutely astonishing. She, as an actress, reacted just as the character (in my mind) should have been reacting without saying a word. Without, even, moving her legs--through limited expression of her hands and arms and through a full vocabulary of facial expression, she portrayed grace, despair, knowing, love, and everything inbetween. I will likely be depressed because this girl is a senior here--chances are likely she won't be performing at NIU next year. Hopefully, though, she'll be performing somewhere bigger and more (or less if, say, Hollywood) real.
Then I came back and watched the first episode of Fraggle Rock.
Tonight was grand. Solitary, but grand.
So showing off Ping Pong in ENGL104 didn't work out this morning. That was as bad as the day got, though, and chances are bright that I do, indeed, have another chance to try again Monday. The speaker system wasn't working--so, even if speakers still aren't working on Monday, I think I might just try dubbing the speaking myself. I had 10 minutes to troubleshoot the speakers in class today, and the professor called an "expert" in to help who figured everything I figured out by moving electronics around longer than the three minutes I took to decide it was the speaker system that was the problem. A kid came up when the professor and I were still struggling to try to pull things together when class ended and offered wisdom regarding Windows Media Player--though with good intentions, it was slightly dismaying (probably for both of us) how I, in fact, knew what I was doing. But I suppose it was a nice gesture.
But the amazing thing happened much later. And, actually, I was somewhat thinking of skipping it and just sleeping my evening away. I saw, "The Misanthrope," in the O'Connel Theatre at 7:30 and was blown away with the performace: acting, material, stage design; everything was excellent. The plot deals with an eccentric man who vows never again to tolerate anything his heart cannot tolerate--to tell off even rich and powerful court folk who could, this play was written somewhere around 300 years ago, have him killed through unfair trial. The man is also desperately in love with a largely vain girl he knows is flawed, when a virtuous girl, whom he respects, admires him.
In a way, it is a hauntingly accurate representation of what my past has felt like and what my future likely promises to be. Eclecticly profound, the protagonist disowns himself from general society early in the play and uses that throughout as a core theme through the end. Also haunting, though not necessarily accurate, was the loveliness of the secondary female--half the scenes she appeared in she stood to the side for much of, and it was then her performance was absolutely astonishing. She, as an actress, reacted just as the character (in my mind) should have been reacting without saying a word. Without, even, moving her legs--through limited expression of her hands and arms and through a full vocabulary of facial expression, she portrayed grace, despair, knowing, love, and everything inbetween. I will likely be depressed because this girl is a senior here--chances are likely she won't be performing at NIU next year. Hopefully, though, she'll be performing somewhere bigger and more (or less if, say, Hollywood) real.
Then I came back and watched the first episode of Fraggle Rock.
Tonight was grand. Solitary, but grand.
posted by SJ at 2/04/2005 11:28:00 PM
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