A Night at the Theatre

I rarely get to go to the theatre. And I'm not talking the movie theatre. I'm talking about the people-acting-in-person-in-front-of-you theatre. I love it. I love the feel of being there, of experiencing something that has been around for years. The only problem: Tickets are pricey. But, I just got paid and they were showing Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The ONE play I've always wanted to see. Couldn't pass it up.

And it was so worth the money.

The Indiana Repertory Theatre, in Indianapolis has one of the most awesome troupe of actors. (I may be biased since I live here, but the statement still stands.) And they did an excellent job with Shakespeare's comedy. They were casted perfectly. Lysander was adorable, simply adorable. And Puck...he was perfect.

But while watching the play it hit me. Shakespeare wrote this play, over a hundred years or so ago, and it is still making people laugh. How many authors or people in general can say that about their work? I giggled at how Lysander and Demetrius were fighting over Helena. I laughed as Puck ran about the stage, making mischief. I had tears in my eyes as the players were trying to put on their play for the wedding party.

The fact that Shakespeare can make people laugh, cry, and feel even in a completely new century and country, is amazing to me. People all around me were in tears, and you could see on the actor's faces that they were enjoying themselves. At one point they were evening stifling laughter themselves.

Granted, it was sometimes hard to understand what they were saying, through all that old English and flowery language, but the gist of it was there. And Shakespeare knew his audience. He wrote both for the nobility and for the common people, and therefore had aspects that appealed to both.

As a writer, this is a skill I would love to learn. I want to make people smile, laugh, cry, yell, feel with my writing. This is my ultimate goal.

My night at the theatre was time well spent. Not only did I get a lovely couple hours of fun entertainment, I also came away with a sense of purpose as a writer.

I highly recommend going to the theatre when you get the chance. It's a different style of storytelling, that could impact your own. And if A Midsummer Night's Dream is showing, go. \

Just go.

"The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact,"
-Theseus, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream