![\"Engelstad](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/07\/IMG_2466.jpg\")
<\/a>(Photograph by my wife)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Somewhat spontaneously \u2014 we didn\u2019t make the decision until last night \u2014 we drove down to Cedar City today to catch as much as we\u2019re able to catch of this year\u2019s Utah Shakespeare Festival<\/a>. \u00a0Owing to our crammed travel schedule last season, we were unable to attend. \u00a0Prior to that, though, we hadn\u2019t missed the Shakespeare Festival since, I think, sometime in the first half of the 1990s. \u00a0It had become our end-of-summer ritual. \u00a0And we didn\u2019t want to miss it yet again.<\/p>\n This afternoon, we caught a performance of Silent Sky<\/em><\/a>, based on the inspiring but rather sad story of the pioneering female astronomer Henrietta Leavitt<\/a>. \u00a0She was the first person to notice a pattern among Cepheid variable stars that enabled astronomers to scientifically estimate celestial distances for the very first time. \u00a0Here\u2019s something I wrote about the play here back when I first saw it in 2022:<\/p>\n One quibble:\u00a0 The play, written by Lauren Gunderson and dating to 2015, depicts Henrietta Swan Leavitt as agnostic or indifferent toward religion.\u00a0 I would need to return to the two books mentioned above in order to check what they might have to say about the issue.\u00a0 But she was, as the play itself depicts her, the daughter of a Congregationalist minister and, much more to the point, the Wikipedia article about her says that \u201cHenrietta Leavitt remained deeply religious and committed to her church throughout her life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And here\u2019s at least one clue suggesting that her family as a whole may not have been exactly anti-scientific fundamentalists: \u00a0Near her grave in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is that of her uncle, a prominent engineer who was named Erasmus Darwin Leavitt<\/a>. \u00a0The name is interesting<\/a>.<\/p>\n This evening, we saw a performance of Shakespeare\u2019s Henry VIII<\/em>. \u00a0Afterwards, I asked my wife if she didn\u2019t, honestly, think me rather a better husband than that Tudor monarch. \u00a0After giving it a great deal of thought, she allowed that, on balance and all in all, I probably am somewhat to be preferred over him. \u00a0It\u2019s a small victory, to be sure. \u00a0But I\u2019ll take it.<\/p>\n Both of us were most impressed with Cassandra Bissell<\/a> as Queen Katherine (Katherine of Aragon). \u00a0She was funny in the prologue and epilogue, and very affecting in the scene that is set just prior to her character\u2019s death. \u00a0Both of us are almost certain that we must surely have seen the play before \u2014 by now, it would be almost impossible that we haven\u2019t seen the entire Shakespearean canon \u2014 but it certainly rang no bells with either of us.<\/p>\n It was fun, too, to run into several old friends and acquaintances at this evening\u2019s play. \u00a0But I want to mention a scene that caught my attention. \u00a0It is a \u201cdeathbed vision\u201d granted to Queen Katherine in Act 4, Scene 2, as, divorced and exiled and surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting, she nears her end:<\/p>\n GRIFFITH<\/span> The\u00a0Vision. There was important temple-related news today:<\/p>\n \u201cChurch seeks fairness for plans to build McKinney Texas Temple:\u00a0Representatives say the proposed temple is necessary because membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has quadrupled over the past 40 years\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJudge Gives Final Go-Ahead For Controversial 101-Foot-Tall Cody LDS Temple:\u00a0The drama and legal wrangling over a controversial 101-foot-tall LDS temple in Cody, Wyoming, appears to be over \u2014 at least for now. A judge has ruled against a temple opposition group, clearing the way for construction to begin.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I close with a couple of items from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122:<\/p>\n Out of Africa: \u00a0\u201cLocal Mayor Praises Members of the Church for Their Community Service: Entire Community Encouraged to Sustain the Efforts of Church Members\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n
\nShe\u00a0is\u00a0asleep.\u00a0Good\u00a0wench,\u00a0let\u2019s\u00a0sit\u00a0down\u00a0quiet,
\nFor\u00a0fear\u00a0we\u00a0wake\u00a0her.\u00a0Softly,\u00a0gentle\u00a0Patience.
\n\u231c<\/span>They\u00a0sit.\u231d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nEnter, solemnly tripping one after another, six Personages clad in white robes, wearing on their heads garlands of bays, and golden vizards on their faces, branches of bays or palm in their hands. They\u00a0<\/span>first congee unto her, then dance; and, at certain changes, the first two hold a spare garland over her head, at which the other four make reverent curtsies. \u00a0Then the two that held the garland deliver the same to the other next two, who observe the same order in their changes and holding the garland over her head; which done, they deliver the same garland to the last two, who likewise observe the same order. At which, as it were by inspiration, she makes in her sleep signs of rejoicing and holdeth up her hands to heaven; and so, in their dancing, vanish, carrying the\u00a0garland\u00a0with\u00a0them.<\/span>
\nThe\u00a0music\u00a0continues.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSpirits\u00a0of\u00a0peace,\u00a0where\u00a0are\u00a0you?\u00a0Are\u00a0you\u00a0all\u00a0gone,
\nAnd\u00a0leave\u00a0me\u00a0here\u00a0in\u00a0wretchedness\u00a0behind\u00a0you?
\nGRIFFITH<\/span>
\nMadam,\u00a0we\u00a0are\u00a0here.
\nKATHERINE<\/span> It\u00a0is\u00a0not\u00a0you\u00a0I\u00a0call\u00a0for.
\nSaw\u00a0you\u00a0none\u00a0enter\u00a0since\u00a0I\u00a0slept?
\nGRIFFITH<\/span> None,\u00a0madam.
\nKATHERINE<\/span>
\nNo?\u00a0Saw\u00a0you\u00a0not,\u00a0even\u00a0now,\u00a0a\u00a0blessed\u00a0troop
\nInvite\u00a0me\u00a0to\u00a0a\u00a0banquet,\u00a0whose\u00a0bright\u00a0faces
\nCast\u00a0thousand\u00a0beams\u00a0upon\u00a0me,\u00a0like\u00a0the\u00a0sun?
\nThey\u00a0promised\u00a0me\u00a0eternal\u00a0happiness
\nAnd\u00a0brought\u00a0me\u00a0garlands,\u00a0Griffith,\u00a0which\u00a0I\u00a0feel
\nI am not worthy yet to wear. I shall, assuredly.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/a>