The Mighty Mighty Ashland Trip, Part II

[bardic_lady]

Continuing on!

Saturday night, lornelover took me out on a date. I think it was really the best first date anyone could wish for. Prime rib and seafood. Muzak covers of "Imagine" and "Maniac". Delightful company, scintillating conversation, and no pressure whatsoever. Charming. And then she made me watch Holmes. Way to spoil the evening. ;p

Sunday, we got up and went for early breakfast at a hippydippy cafe (there is very little in Ashland that isn't hippydippy) and then went to a park talk by the stage operations manager, who is basically the head of stage hands and runs all the changeovers between shows. Of which there are lots and lots, since OSF is a rep company with three spaces and a grand total of eleven shows running. He was... not a very good public speaker and probably told several stories he shouldn't've, but he was funny.

We saw Throne of Blood for Sunday mat, a stage adaptation of Kurosawa's film, using some Noh and Suzuki techniques. It was quite well done, the lighting was amazing. The acting was good, though not great, though the Lady M character was fantastic, just gorgeous. The use of projections was really interesting, too. The costumes went a little over the top sometimes, especially in the battle helmets, but mostly it was very well done, if not terribly fun. I did think that Washizu (the Mackers character)'s armour at the beginning made it look like he was wearing a tie fighter. it was short, only an hour and three-quarters, so we had time to wander the streets again. Which led, of course, to buying things.

We went into an adorable children's bookstore, at which I was once again surprised at the number of children's books that I consider classics and must-haves that other people, born in the same year as me, have never heard of. I bought a gift for spartacusjones's incipient baby, a copy of Witch of Blackbird Pond for me, and a frisbee made to look like a ring of skydiving frogs for my mum. And then, since lornelover took me out Saturday, I took her out Sunday night to this awesome "new world italian" place where we had amazing pasta. Mmmmm... cheese tortellini in garlic cream sauce with bacon and peas and fresh oregon gorgonzola for me, squash ravioli for her. And then, since we still had time before the evening show, we went back to the Tudor Guild... uh-oh... where I bought a Shakespeare in Ashland shirt, an anthology of lesbian plays by lesbian playwrights, a new play created entirely out of Shakespeare lines, and a novel about Horatio, which I am calling thesis research. A woman heard us conversing, I guess, and stopped me to tell me that I have a lovely voice and should get into radio or voiceover. So that was nice and different.

So then we saw Twelfth Night, which was utterly delightful. They set it late 1700s and the costumes were magnificent. the set was this big backpiece entirely covered in turf and pillars of turf and it was lovely.

Feste was a particular standout, they gave him several extra songs and he had a gorgeous voice. Malvolio was also really really good (the artistic director's husband) and Sebastian was very pretty and had his shirt of for part of it.

During intermission, a woman behind us asked a question and then lornelover volunteered me as audience dramaturg and I spent the rest of intermission explaining about Elizabethan theatre practices and Shakespeare. (I know, I KNOW that not everyone knows the stuff I know about theatre, but for some reason, I at least expect people to know that there were no women onstage in Elizabethan theatre. It's unreasonable of me, but...)

Later, lornelover gave me one of the best compliments I've gotten. She said that she bitches about my tendency to go on and on about things, but she usually feels like if she has a question, she can ask me and when I'm done, she feels like she has the information she wanted. That means I'm doing something right.

Monday we got up and drove back to Portland, with a stop at a tiny deli in Roseburg for lunch. Roseburg is sort of scary right-wing, so that was fun. lornelover shushed me at lunch because I was making John Barrowman comments and she didn't want us to get lynched. I admit, I'm kind of a big city liberal girl, so I don't usually think about checking myself that way.

we both took naps when we got to the hotel and then we went out for German food, where I finished my whole alcoholic beverage and some of Katelyn's and was not tipsy at all. This was a first for me. Perhaps it will lead to me being more willing to have a drink in public, if I'm less scared that I'll lose control of myself.

Tuesday we got up and checked out and went to the Waffle Window for breakfast. I had a waffle with lemon panna cotta yoghurt, peaches macerated in lemon-lavender syrup, whipped cream, blueberry sauce and fresh blueberries. We did very good breakfasts. Saturday, I had french toast stuffed with lemon ricotta with raspberry syrup and Sunday we both had french toast stuffed with marionberries and sweetened cream cheese. Saturday, lornelover had a belgian waffle with bacon baked into it and walnut butter.

So then, we went to Powells which is still huge and fabulous. I got Come Fall, which is a new YA novel about what happens to the changeling child after Midsummer, Changeless by Gail Carriger, Mercedes Lackey's Snow Queen, Warbreaker by Brendan Sanderson, three books of wire jewelry patterns and techniques, the middle book of the second Kushiel trilogy, Sarah Vowell's latest, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, Scholar of Magics by Caroline Stevermeyer, three magnets, a Powell's pint glass, and a messenger bag to put it all into and then check at the airport.

We drove around Portland for a bit and then went to Nordy's where lornelover tried things on and I couldn't find anything that fit my boobs right. (Same story as usual) And then she dropped me off at the aeroport. PDX flight went entirely smoothly after I rearranged a couple things in my luggage. I had dinner at Ivar's at SeaTac, which reminded me of chowder Fridays at UPS and made me miss undergrad again. Got into Victoria at 11:45, was in a cab by midnight, and got home at about 12:30. Went fine, except that my cabbie was really chatty on the way home and I was too tired to make conversation, and I would've tipped him more if, when I said I was working with Shakespeare, he hadn't immediately started talking about the authorship question as if it was a foregone conclusion that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare. *sigh*

Got home to an Amazon box with Gentleman's Game, the first Queen & Country novel, College of Magics, the prequel to Scholar, and Soulless by Gail Carriger. SO MANY NEW BOOKS. (Here's a secret, I ordered six further books from Amazon at the airport, all the things Powell's couldn't provide me that were on my list) Oy.

In conclusion, it was a great trip. I had a fabulous time. I hope I didn't annoy lornelover too much. It made me realize just how much I miss my undergrad friends who were always around for chats and tv snark and post-play deconstruction and bitch fests and just to understand me. amaresu, lornelover, loblolly, spartacusjones, seino_chan, heart_of_man, shakegirl, dancingdrew, racetrack0 I miss you guys so very very much.

Post-script to the adventure: I went to the post office today to pick up a package from wao_wao which I will post about in detail with many pictures and much squee tomorrow.