Shakespeare for Dummies

Sarah and I saw went to Pittsburgh to see our friend JT in a performance of "A Midsummer's Night Dream." The cast did a stellar job, and by the end of the show we (and the rest of the audience) were howling with laughter. Because neither of us are well-versed in the Bard and his style, we had a little trouble figuring out what was going on. This was through no fault of the cast...I blame the playwright who sometimes rhymes, sometimes doesn't, sometimes uses flowery analogy I don't understand, and sometimes backwards speaks. I freely admit, there were portions of the play where I needed help. I just wasn't following ya, Bill. What was the deal was with the King and Queen...Fairy? I think? And who in the world was "the boy" they were fighting over? And what the eff is Puck?

Also, it was the only time I'd ever been to a play (let alone a Shakespeare play) where I was sitting next to a couple totally making out during the show. I guess that's what we get for going during Valentine's weekend, but come on. If you're in your thirties, you'd think you'd at least have some theater etiquette. But not these two. They showed up 10 minutes late, the lady took a phone call during the show, and then they sailed through the second act playing tonsil hockey like a couple of kids in the 1950's at a drive-in movie.

Yikes.

During the intermission Sarah and I discussed the play so far and came to the conclusion that we know a lot about a lot of things but Shakespeare isn't one of them.

I feel the need to clarify that Sarah and I really did enjoy the show and, again, by the end, the audience was howling with laughter. We just wanted them to fast-forward all the dancing fairies and get back to our pal JT.