Current mood:	happy
Current music:	New Order - Slow Jam
Entry tags:	life, review

Robert Munsch & The Brothers Karamazov
I went with alex_the_greate to hear Robert Munsch reading some of his stories at Columbia lake. He's every bit as good as I'd expected him to be, even improvising details to suit the audience.

After that I went to see The Brothers Karamazov in Stratford with a_chatterbox, andukar and blue_lightning. Before the play began we had dinner at York Street Kitchen. This was my first time seeing a play performed on a Shakespearean stage (the kind that sticks out into the audience so people can see it from 3 of the 4 sides). Everything was in shades of brown, which tied in nicely with the Russian setting of the story. I was also quite taken by the fluid scene changes, which involved the actors simply moving the props around onstage without the need for a curtain being drawn.

The play is about 4 brothers; 3 of whom represent the 3 facets of humanity (intellect, emotion & soul) while the fourth represents the antithesis of humanity. They engaged in some very thought-provoking philosophical debates during the play and I enjoyed it very much as a result.

Quote-worthy: Here's a wee snippet of conversation between Margaret & I from intermission.

Me: That Smerdyakov character reminds me of Iago.
Marg [aggravated]: How can you compare one of Dostoyevsky's characters with a parrot from a Disney movie!!!?
Me [confused]: What the hell are you talking about...?
Marg [sheepishly]: Oh, you meant Iago from Shakespeare's Othello, didn't you...