Merely Players: A Shakespearean Life

"Sit by my side, and let the world slip: we shall ne'er be younger.”

Daughter #1 as Bianca

Daughter #2 as Petruchio

"Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,

And for thy maintenance commits his body

To painful labour both by sea and land,

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,

And craves no other tribute at thy hands

But love, fair looks, and true obedience,

Too little payment for so great a debt."

So the girls performed their play last weekend and did an amazing job. I'm surprised that Taming of the Shrew is still performed; it isn't very modern to come to the conclusion that wives should appreciate their husbands.

This is their sixth year in the Shakespeare program, and the sixth year I haven't paid for the dvds. I didn't buy the dvd for their six Nutcracker ballets, either. I didn't pay extra for official choir photos. I didn't buy them flowers. It can exhausting, all the extras. Shakespeare is certainly not as bad as ballet. 

The Nutcracker costs $200 for each dancer (while they are also paying for classes). Tickets to the actual ballet cost $25 per person. Then, parents buy ballet telegrams and flowers to be delivered at intermission. It is obvious which parents don't treat their dancers. Then, photos and dvds can be purchased. And the audience is given a lecture before every performance, "Ticket sales only cover one third of the cost of renting the theater; please donate extra..." I have no 'Catholic guilt,' but parental 'I-refuse-to-pay-one-more-dime-when-gas-is-almost-$5-talk-about-blood-from-a-turnip' guilt. We have to be satisfied with the snapshots I take and the memories they make. In any case, they did splendidly well. HUZZAH!