July 2008 Theater Outing: An Ideal Husband (Wilde)

Several of us had read the play beforehand, although not all. (I was glad I had, since it made the somewhat iffy acoustics less of a problem.) It is very interesting to see how much difference, not just in tone but in meaning, the interpretation of a line can bring! Although this was not the best performance I'd ever seen at CalShakes, it was lively and nicely staged, and a good time was had by all.For August, we had chosen to read poetry. At our June meeting we selected the Billy Collins collection, Sailing Alone Around the Room. However, since that meeting, there has been a new development. As part of their orientation to Smith, incoming Smith students have been assigned Natasha Trethewey's Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of poetry Native Guard, which explores the complex memory of the history of the American South. As you know, we generally read along with the incoming students. So I suggest we read both for our August meeting. (Trethewey's book is 64 pages, in paperback. Collins' is 192 pages. You can always skip around a bit, but you might want to get started!) Since poetry is often best appreciated as a spoken form, everyone is invited to pick a poem (or one from each book) you'd like to read aloud to the group. ~ Sherrill