Ha! Little did I know that Shakespeare could hold the attention of a 5 year old!
She sat on my lap the whole time (except when she was trying to escape and go sit on the front row). She was mostly enraptured! It was fun to watch!
I didn't tell her much about the story. I only said that it was a play, it would be dark where we were sitting, and there would be lots of talking and no singing. And that she'd have to be very quiet and if I said we were leaving, she couldn't whine. About 5 minutes into the play, she turns to me and whispers in my ear, "They are talking and talking and talking. Too many words."
But then that scene changed, and the lovers appeared. She was watching everything they did. She would turn and ask, "why is she mad" or "why is she sad" and I'd say, just watch. I couldn't really explain in the middle of things.
When Puck appeared and began climbing on the trapeze they had set up for her (the character was played by a girl), Joy was just frozen watching her! And the fairies came out and all the lights changed. And they sang a song - she looked at me and smiled this big smile, like, see? I knew there would be singing even though you told me there wouldn't be!
She made it all the way through the first half and then wanted to go see where all the actors went backstage.
She did a great job through the second half too! When the two girls fought onstage (Hermia and Helena for those of your following the plot), Joy hid her face in my shoulder. But that was the part she talked about (and talked about, and talked about) all the way home! She wanted to know why they were fighting. I tried to explain they were mad & they were jealous, and that's why we don't hit people when we're mad, which is something she likes to do.
I don't think the play helped my cause though! What she seemed to see was that it was exciting and the audience reacted to it.
The other thing Joy talked about all the way home was why did Zach marry a different girl from Heather, his girlfriend??
She was really quite upset about that!
Well, Heather was playing Titania, the Fairy Queen and Zach was Theseus, so they didn't even have any scenes together. When Zach came out in the last scene with the girl playing the Duchess dressed in white, Joy was upset that it wasn't Heather. I tried to explain that it was all pretend! I thought it was funny that Joy wasn't bothered by Heather as Titania sitting with Bottom (with his Donkey head) - she thought that was just funny!
So, even though we had a tired little girl this morning, she had a great time and really enjoyed getting to see her big brother on the stage. She also got to play on the set after the play, thanks to Mr. Von. She even got to sit on the trapeze!
Oh one more cute thing - when she was on the set, she picked up the fake flower that Puck and Oberon had used to put the love potion on the eyes of the lovers and Titania. She was quite disappointed that it wasn't real. When I said that on stage, we use pretend things, she asked if it was pretend magic too. I said, yes it was. So she said, pretty sure of herself, that there was a flower somewhere with the right magic in it, and they should use that flower the next time!
here's a picture that doesn't really show how nice the set looked
I also wanted to post a few pictures of Joy in her new raincoat. It's been raining here the last few days and she's gotten to wear it, and her rain boots. This picture also shows that she's not afraid of Scarpia, who is barking! We're getting ready to go for a walk, and he's ready to go!
One More picture - think she's comfortable with Katrina too?
Katrina is asleep on Joy's stomach, while Joy watches cartoons upside down, her favorite position!
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