Shakespeare and Sunsets

Last night Julie and I and Blake and Amy and her new roommate made our way to UM’s Oval to watch Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” According to wikipedia it was first cataloged as a comedy but later re-assessed by some as a romance. In this production at least it was the comedy that held center stage as Caliban, a fish-man (comically labeled as a ‘monster’), and Trinculo and Stephano, a jester and a drunken butler, funbled drunkenly through a plot to take over the island.

Even the budding love between young Miranda and Ferdinand was as much comedy as it was romance. Miranda, who has been shipwrecked for most of her life, cannot remember sight of a single man, save her father. So when Ferdinand appears on the scene, her dialogue is littered with those foolish things we all have said in our youths whilst in love. “What untruth could come from a temple such as this?” she asks, wondering why her father is suspicious of young Ferdinand and staring doe-eyed at the handsome young man.

Alonso, King of Naples, grieving for the (apparent) loss of his son, Ferdinand, in a great storm in the Mediterranean.

Trinculo, the Jester; probably drunk.

Trinculo and Caliban, the fish-man monster, most definitely drunk.

Stephano and Caliban discuss a plot, drunk, of course.

I’ll let you guess what’s going on here (yes they’re all still drunk).

And lest I forget I live in heaven itself, Julie and I were greeted with these skies as we rode our bikes home along the river. Now, often enough I will fool around with pictures to bring out colors or crop out certain parts, but these (as with those above) are completely unaltered.

And, just for fun, the end of the evening featured a gorgeous, nearly full moon. This photo is most definitely altered. It’s a composite of a fast shot, getting the detail of the very bright moon and a a slow shot, brining in the clouds. If I put some work into it on photoshop it might look realistic, but for now, this’ll do. And, for our planet-lovers, that is Jupiter on the right.

A tale of loss and re-discovery, of new love and old friends, of living in the moment and steadily plotting for a better day. Shakespeare, as usual, wins us over. And another sun sets, another moon rises. And life moves on.